this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2025
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DeGoogle Yourself
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Not defending Google but I have a but (no typo - although I'm the proud owner of a double t version as well. But I digress.)
Google is not getting rid of sideloading. They are implementing a registration process for devs and then do a check if they have the info on record before allowing an app to be installed. It is possible for you to download an APK from wantsomalware dot com and install it as long as the developer registered with Google - as all the malware dipshits will manage to do on burner accounts, which will not curb the spread of malware, which is their stated aim. Technically, your bank could distribute its app on its website as long as they registered with the Goog. But it will render abandoned projects uninstallable and that's the rub.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like this either. Twisting their words though isn't helping either.
Corey Doctorow pointed out that it is mad that we call it sideloading. Installing an APK is the same, whether it's coming from Play, F-droid, or the dark web. There should not be this distinction. Lobby your politicians on this matter. G will not GAF about this petition - it's PR for the cause at best. Only the tag team of legislature and judiciary can set this right.
If it was about security, you could add an alternative signing authority from another org you trust to verify software. This is about giving them the ability to “turn off” revanced and other apps they don’t like regardless of where they are downloaded.
I think your definitions don't quite match common use. When people think about sideloading, they think about installing apps from a third-party source that are not approved by the primary vendor. That's precisely what Google is going to block.
You also mentioned that the rub would be that abandoned projects will be uninstallable. That's true, but that's vastly understating the problem. The real problem is not that abandoned projects will be rejected, because they would phase out due to version upgrades within a few years anyway. The real problem is that programs that would take power or money away from Google are guaranteed to be rejected or delayed for bullshit reasons. And even if they are initially accepted, Google can always pull a Darth Vader and reject them later, as soon as they feel threatened. And all of that shouldn't be happening at all on an open source operating system on a cell phone that we purchased when we're controlling it ourselves.
This is also an imperialistic move. What happens if someone from Iran or Palestine tries to create an account on Google's server? Will they be blocked as a terrorist? I think maybe they will. So then the only software that's allowed to run on Android phones is going to be software that's approved by Google, which is subject to pressure from the United States government. But we don't even have to go that far to find the badness. If a marginalized group has a software developer who wishes to remain anonymous that creates a perfectly good program that will help out that marginalized group, by Google's new rules they won't be able to distribute it.
That's the real rub. All of that. Google's strong desire to gain as much control over its own applications as Apple has on the iPhone. This is a massive grab for money and power, and we should never think of it as some minor thing that might mildly inconvenience abandoned projects.
See the end of my pervious comment. The fact that we call that "sideloading" in common parlance is a magic trick Google has already played on us and we ate it up. Resist.
The way I understand sideloading is installing an app through a way that isn't Play. So F-droid - as one example - is sideloading because you need to go through the overly dramatic warning messages to enable the install from unknown sources. If all the devs in F-droid's repository theoretically registered with Google, nothing will change. The only difference is that Google wants to know who made it. They make it harder and shittier and thus limit our choices, yes. But they don't block everything outright.
The problem arises for apps, whose developer doesn't want Google and by legal extension the American judiciary to have access to their information. That's a privacy concern that I find very concerning too. I'm not defending Google's choices here. I hate it. I also don't like the inevitable hyperbole going the other way.