this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
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What We Talk About When We Talk About Sideloading (f-droid.org)
submitted 1 week ago by SavageCoconut@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] SnoringEarthworm@sh.itjust.works 58 points 1 week ago

Does this mean sideloading is going away on Android? Absolutely not. Sideloading is fundamental to Android and it is not going away.

This statement is untrue. The developer verification decree effectively ends the ability for individuals to choose what software they run on the devices they own.

...

Wikipedia’s summary definition is:

the transfer of apps from web sources that are not vendor-approved

By this definition, Google’s statement that “sideloading is not going away” is simply false. The vendor — Google, in the case of Android certified devices — will, in point of fact, be approving the source. The supplicant app developer must register with Google, pay a fee, provide government identification, agree to non-negotiable (and ever-changing) terms and conditions, enumerate all their current and future application identifiers, upload evidence of their private signing key, and then hope and wait for Google’s approval.

I'm glad to see this bullshit called out.