this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
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I echo the criticism of the term 'sideloading', before it started to mean just installing software, I assumed it meant using a separate device or software on the side, like a PC with a debug interface or memory inspection tools, to inject custom code into a running system or software.
Similarly to preloading libraries into games or other software to replace functions in order to change or enhance the game or software. For instance used with script extenders or game mods. There it is 'pre' because the software is not running yet. 'Side' would be on running software.
But installing applications (the distribution doesn't matter) is in no way side loading.
And I really hate that the press or whoever picked this term up from apple or google and ran with it without question.
And now, because that term is so strange and useless in that way, its definition keeps getting changed into whatever the industry needs in order to squeeze out more money and personal data, while taking away the freedom and rights of the owners.
That's what it is. I remember actually sideloading apps to my BlackBerry 10 devices (Z10 and Z30) (though it really wasn't that long ago not to remember it...) using a PC with a Chrome based browser (though it worked on Firefox too with some minor fiddling) to push and install .bar files to the phone. That is what sideloading to me.
Now this term changed, so everything you install from a different source than the built-in appstore is called sideloading, which is ridiculous IMO.