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  • Older iOS/iPadOS will require the reCAPTCHA app in the App Store

    From Maria Sophia@mariasophia@comprehension.com to misc.phone.mobile.iphone,comp.sys.mac.advocacy on Sat May 9 01:05:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

    Slowly but inexorably, Google is becoming Apple & Apple is becoming Google. This thread was posted today on the Android newsgroup by Richmond.


    Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
    Subject: Re: Google Broke reCAPTCHA for De-Googled Android Users
    Date: Sat, 9 May 2026 01:01:23 -0600
    Message-ID: <10tmm43$11ct$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>

    Richmond wrote:
    https://reclaimthenet.org/google-broke-recaptcha-for-de-googled-android-users

    "The company that decides whether you're a bot now also requires you run its software to prove
    otherwise.

    Google has tied its next-generation reCAPTCHA system to Google Play Services on Android,
    meaning anyone running a de-Googled phone will automatically fail verification when the system
    decides to challenge them.

    The requirement forces Android users to run Google's proprietary app framework version
    25.41.30 or higher just to prove they're human.

    When reCAPTCHA flags what it considers suspicious activity, it abandons the old image puzzles
    and demands you scan a QR code. That scan requires Play Services running in the background,
    communicating with Google's servers. If you're using GrapheneOS or any other custom ROM that
    strips out Google's software, the verification fails.


    I just checked, and apparently it's true.
    <https://www.androidauthority.com/google-recaptcha-play-services-requirement-3664806/>

    Even iOS is apparently affected!
    <https://support.google.com/recaptcha/answer/16609652?hl=en>
    "If verifying on iOS/iPadOS device with version 15.0-16.4, download
    the reCAPTCHA app in the App Store. After installation, return to
    the challenge to try again."
    <https://piunikaweb.com/2026/05/07/google-recaptcha-play-services-requirement/>

    This requirement kicks in only when reCAPTCHA escalates to the new QR-code verification step.
    <https://byteiota.com/google-recaptcha-breaks-de-googled-android-devices/>

    Slowly but inexorably, Google is becoming Apple & Apple is becoming Google.
    a. iOS 16.4+ can complete the verification natively
    b. It's only older iOS which requires the reCaptcha app

    My USA-unrootable Samsung is partially degoogled so I checked a few things:
    1. First I checked if adb was working (since I'm sitting at the PC)
    adb devices -l
    List of devices attached
    SERIAL device product:a32xsq model:SM_A326U device:a32x transport_id:1

    2. Then I checked if I have Google Play Services installed, which I do.
    adb shell pm list packages | grep com.google.android.gms
    package:com.google.android.gms

    3. Then I checked if Play Services was disabled, and it's not disabled.
    adb shell pm list packages -d | grep gms
    returns nothing

    4. Then I checked if my Play Services version is newer than required
    adb shell dumpsys package com.google.android.gms | grep versionName
    versionName=26.12.33 (190400-892550550)
    versionName=23.16.13 (190400-527363516)

    Google's new reCAPTCHA requires 25.41.30 or higher.

    5. Had it not been higher than required, I'd have to install the checker APK.
    <https://github.com/1nikolas/play-integrity-checker-app>
    <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gr.nikolasspyr.integritycheck>
    adb install play-integrity-checker.apk

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