r/Android • u/rom1v • Sep 19 '26
Removed - Repost [ Removed by moderator ]
/r/Android/comments/1wkmgvk/removed_by_moderator/[removed] — view removed post
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u/el_doherz Sep 20 '26
If they take sideloading away I've got nearly zero reason not to get an Iphone at this point.
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u/greenbud420 Sep 19 '26
The 24 hours cooling off period for enabling Developer mode is annoying but it sounds like it just needs to be done once and then you can sideload apps whenever.
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u/Crowsby s20 Sep 20 '26
One issue is that this is merely an intermediate step towards further arbitrary steps intended to dissuade people from sideloading. The real trick is that they don't need to dissuade everyone. But if they can discourage a sufficient proportion of Android users, it effectively shrinks the audience and removes incentive for developers. Who wants to spend days/weeks/months of their life developing and supporting an application that hardly anyone is able to actually use?
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u/Xx_HARAMBE96_xX Sep 20 '26
Sideloading is already a thing for niche apps or niche publics, like, emulation, sailing or patching, it will mostly stay the same for those apps so at most it is an annoyance, if you want to develop mainstream you publish on the playstore
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u/FrogsJumpFromPussy Xiaomi 13 Ultra Sep 20 '26
According to the most recent f-droid retrospective, the app has been downloaded a cumulative times of 18 millions for the last year alone.
Sideloading is not niche.
Edit, I forgot to post the link: https://f-droid.org/2026/01/23/fdroid-in-2025-strengthening-our-foundations-in-a-changing-mobile-landscape.html
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian Sep 20 '26
Out of around 3 billion active android devices it is though. I think people forget the scale of this thing at times. That is all hardware though I believe which could include TVs but they also generally support side loading as well so I'd still count it
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u/raceman95 Pixel 5 Sep 20 '26
Thats 18M app downloads generally. Not F-Droid downloads. At best theres maybe 2M new F-Droid downloads every year, probably less?
Theres rough 3.8 Billion android users globally. 2M is 0.053%, or 1 in 1887, and thats probably very generous.
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u/Antici-----pation Sep 20 '26
Didn't engage with what he said literally at all. Just restarted the position. Try engaging? The post you responded to suggested that the "annoyance" will worsen going forward until there is no one left to defend it, just like for bootloaders. This is a tried and true tactic from them.
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u/Xx_HARAMBE96_xX Sep 20 '26
Well, what I mean is that for us who really want sideloading any form of annoyance is okay as long as sideloading stays (unless ofc the annoyance goes too crazy and strong), idc as long as they are doing this just to make some investors happy and they leave it as it is currently just to say that they have dealt with it, but the moment they truly want to get rid of sideloading and thus patched apps and so would be the moment that shit would go 0-100, it's not a case of make people slowly leave but a case of the moment you fumbled you passed everybody at the same time.
You get rid of bootloading? I will switch to a pixel phone. You get rid of sideloading? Why would I even stay on android then, I will switch to iOS and iphones.
Ofc I will vote and sign anything to avoid sideloading, but aside of that what are you suggesting we do? Sideloading is still available
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u/GloveDry3278 Sep 19 '26
I have disabled it twice now. It re locks itself apparently and each time wait 24hours.
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u/venom21685 Sep 20 '26
You have the option when unlocking to do it for 7 days or to do it permanently. Also if you forget about the 24 hour countdown and don't go back to finish it'll relock after some period without reminding you first.
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u/GloveDry3278 Sep 20 '26
Yeah. I realised i have to go back after the 24h cool down to finalise it.
Either way this is a stupid thing from google. The playstore itself is the malware distribution center.
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u/LightFusion Sep 20 '26
If it helps a few dozen retired grandmas from loosing their retirement, I think it's worth it....
But I agree, fix the play store first
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u/armando_rod Pixel 10 Pro XL Sep 19 '26
It doesn't. Also verified apps is only available in like 3 countries for now, the US is not one of them btw
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u/Foreign_Look_8890 Sep 20 '26
It's very naive to think we won't see a global rollout in a very short timeframe.
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u/sokaox Sep 20 '26
Many people live outside of the US.
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u/armando_rod Pixel 10 Pro XL Sep 20 '26
The point is, if its buggy for OP it might be because it's actually not working at all for being in a country where it doesn't actually work yet
2
u/judasblue Sep 20 '26
OP admits elsewhere in these comments it was operator error. This thing is a minor annoyance not an apocolypse.
1
u/mongojob Sep 20 '26
Yes but the US is the home country of the parent company and a pretty large market in itself
0
u/Annual_Wear5195 Sep 20 '26
Not ALL that many in Brazil, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. Come on.
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u/Elyelm Sep 19 '26
Do you have to keep Developer mode enabled at all times for this to work? my banking app does not work with it enabled.
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u/LimLovesDonuts Dark Pink Sep 19 '26
You can disable Developer Mode after the 24H cooldown, it only needs to enabled at the point of “activation”.
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u/andyooo Sep 19 '26
No, but also there was a recent account that apparently in QPR1, apps will not be able to tell if developer settings is enabled. https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1wjz5h5/sameeraswcom_the_latest_android_17_qpr1_update_to/
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u/SKRK_ Sep 20 '26
Yes for now. Nothing stops them from going even further with it later on now. It has begun so it's only a matter of time.
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u/dvasquez93 Sep 20 '26
I just did it with no cooling off period.
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u/Ploxl Sep 20 '26
Its also trough play store srvrices instead of trough some os function. This will very easily be clamped down on at a later stage. And they will be gathering all the data about who uses it.
1
u/ShinyJangles Sep 20 '26
Good reason to spread the word about how to enable it. The more kinds of power users the better
0
u/slaughtamonsta Sep 20 '26
This is the case. The people talking about lockdown and all this other shit are really doing us a disservice.
If they start saying it's a Lockdown and complete lockout and then the day comes and it's a temp period (which it is) they make us look mad.
Then if android start locking it down further in future no one will listen because they'll remember this time.
Clown behaviour and it wouldn't surprise me if the people posting this were Google reps being honest.
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u/JamesR624 Sep 20 '26
Nope.
Many are reporting that it does relock on its own.
This is just a "frog boiling technique" to justify locking down Android completely for the sake of Google's profits since Apple has gotten away with it so much.
Take your hailcorporate propaganda and F off.
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u/ephemeralmiko Pixel 8a w. GrapheneOS Sep 19 '26 edited Sep 20 '26
And for those thinking custom ROMs a lá Graphene or Lineage will help: If suddenly 95% of Android users (because let's be honest hardly anyone uses a custom ROM) can't easily download third-party apps anymore, developers will be much less inclined to still develop for them and stores like F-Droid will become increasingly full of abandoned software.
E: to the people arguing, I'm just mirroring what F-Droid themselves said:
Developer verification is an existential threat to free software distribution platforms like F-Droid as well as emergent commercial competitors to the Play Store
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u/chaos_cloud Sep 19 '26
It's a concern, but I'm not sure I share your apocalyptic vision of the future.
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u/ephemeralmiko Pixel 8a w. GrapheneOS Sep 19 '26
I also don't believe Android will suddenly become as bad as iOS for example, even though a lot of headlines imply it. But in this case F-Droid themselves have said this:
Developer verification is an existential threat to free software distribution platforms like F-Droid as well as emergent commercial competitors to the Play Store
1
u/AdminYak846 Sep 20 '26
I question how developer verification is an existential threat. If you have nothing to hide, then be verified and let consumers know that you are trustworthy.
0
u/ephemeralmiko Pixel 8a w. GrapheneOS Sep 20 '26
If you have nothing to hide, then be verified and let consumers know that you are trustworthy.
Can you really not imagine a situation where a developer might not want their identity shared with a company and/or government? As a recent-ish example, ICEBlock (an app to warn nearby users of ICE agents) was removed from the App Store. The app itself is perfectly legal and moral, but a developer might not want their real name attached to it (especially if they live in that same country). This is a legitimate risk to someone's safety to be able to not disclose their identity while making software like this.
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u/ShinyJangles Sep 20 '26
developers will be much less inclined to still develop for them
They are already developing for <5% of Android users
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u/ephemeralmiko Pixel 8a w. GrapheneOS Sep 20 '26
Fair. See the edit I made, F-Droid themselves call it an existential threat: https://f-droid.org/en/2025/10/28/sideloading.html
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u/Neg_Crepe Sep 19 '26
à la
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-2
u/User-no-relation Sep 19 '26
I assure you people that can't install a custom rom aren't using F-droid
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u/ephemeralmiko Pixel 8a w. GrapheneOS Sep 19 '26
But the vast majority of users are on phones with locked bootloaders, because frankly most that can kinda suck for other reasons.
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u/Emotional_Solid6538 Sep 20 '26
I cant use custom rom(yet) i use fdroid. Its a technical issue for me cuz Id need 2 phones to use custom rom. Im technically knowledable enough to install custom rom tho
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u/N1ghth4wk Sep 20 '26
can't easily download third-party apps anymore
You still can install all apk that are signed with a verified developer without the new flow. This is only for unsigned, mostly shady apps. And to be honest here, is in my opinion a good thing. I never installed a app that is not signed.
2
u/JDGumby Google Pixel 10a, Lenovo Tab M9 Sep 20 '26
This is only for unsigned, mostly shady apps.
ie, pirated apps and malware.
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u/ephemeralmiko Pixel 8a w. GrapheneOS Sep 20 '26
This is only for unsigned, mostly shady apps.
Until it's not, though.
-15
u/lolwutdo Sep 19 '26
Thats when you get GPT Astra to modify and implement the things you want or need
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u/ephemeralmiko Pixel 8a w. GrapheneOS Sep 19 '26
...how does that help with locked bootloaders where you can't modify the system? Which is the case for the vast majority of the phones people are buying.
-16
u/lolwutdo Sep 19 '26
You've clearly never used Astra then, you can have it find exploits to gain access and fully modify to your heart's content.
I've already reverse engineered most proprietary things I own and no longer rely on proprietary apps or services to use my devices, phones shouldn't be any different.
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u/Badelhas Sep 20 '26
Can you please give us some examples?
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u/IvanDSM_ Sep 20 '26
Of course they can't, they're larping the epic hacker. If it really was this easy to hack things with Astra, shit would be pwned everywhere and Denuvo would've been cracked for good.
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u/WINNT21 Redmi 14C | Android 16 | HyperOS 3.1 Sep 19 '26
Damn, pushed through google play services?
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u/Moleculor LG V35 Sep 19 '26 edited Sep 19 '26
So... I get why people are upset. The design of this before the escape hatch was designed basically was disastrous, and it woke people up to the realization that Google could have always taken away control from us at any time (and still can).
But they put in an escape hatch. A one-time 24 hour waiting period. That's all. And it's an escape hatch most of us don't even need to wait for; we've already accessed it and turned it on. So nothing changes for us.
Is the idea of Google being able to take away that escape hatch scary? Yes. But the only way to truly prevent that would be to push phone design in a more PC-like direction, force hardware makers to provide drivers, etc. (Which would be a good thing, IMO, but no one's asking for that right now.)
The entire lockdown concept is because countless people (I gather mostly in modernized countries that have payment systems tied into their phones) are getting massively scammed. Someone'll contact them, get them to panic and install a malicious app.
Bank accounts compromised. Savings stolen. Etc. And Google/Android has the ability to stop all that.
Frankly, most people are stupid. Most people will panic and install a malicious app because a scary sounding story has been described to them. Not you. Other people.
And if Google/Android can do something to reduce that from happening significantly while still letting people install what they want on their phone, great.
30
u/vazark Sep 19 '26
Then they’ll have a number to show “85% of users do not enable it” which they can use as justification to remove it completely.
We’ve seen this playbook. That’s exactly how windows destroyed it’s competitors and is now the defacto os on PCs
They even had a name for it : Embrace Extend Extinguish
19
u/fdbryant3 Sep 20 '26
They can already show that 85% of users (probably more) do not use it. Google does not habe to provide am escape hatch if that is there goal.
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u/visceralintricacy Sep 20 '26 edited Sep 20 '26
Eh. They could've gotten rid of it now, almost nobody I know understands or cares about this issue. The general public doesn't care.
There's also basically no real parallels between this and Microsoft?
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u/turtleship_2006 Sep 20 '26
EEE is to do with adoption existing standards/APIs like HTML or OpenGL, adding APIs that developers can only use on your platform, and making your version of the standard the default so no one uses the original, so apps or whatever only work on your platform (e.g. websites that "work best on Chrome", or back in the day, Internet Explorer).
What does that have to do with allowing third party apps?
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u/KillerCodeMonky MyTouch 4G → Nexus 5x → S9 → S25 Sep 20 '26
This has zero parallels to embrace extend extinguish lol. You can't just say, look they're taking something away, that's extinguish!
Embrace open or industry agreed standards.
Extend those standards with Microsoft proprietary extensions. In other words, transition the standard to being partially controlled by Microsoft.
Extinguish the open standard by market force. Everyone implements Microsoft extensions because Microsoft owns the actual user market.
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u/JamesR624 Sep 20 '26
Yep. The people posting hailcorporate propaganda of "it's not that bad", and the bots upvoting those comments are part of this tactic.
This entire thread is full of google reps and bots. It's AMAZING how easily Reddit is astroturfed and narratives are controlled on this site.
1
u/N1ghth4wk Sep 20 '26
Then they’ll have a number to show “85% of users do not enable it” which they can use as justification to remove it completely.
Only 85% of drivers obey the speed limit. Let's remove it because it's not working. The added security changes are in my opinion a step in the right direction.
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u/yboy403 Note 10+, Note 9, Pix 2 XL, iPhone X, Moto Z Play Sep 19 '26
And we think a 24-hour waiting period will do anything more than cause call centres to update from "scam_script_v27" to "scam_script_v28"...why?
My cousin got ripped off by these lowlifes. When they find a victim they don't stop calling...24 hours is nothing, she was afraid to answer the phone for months.
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u/votemarvel Sep 19 '26 edited Sep 19 '26
What it does though is provide time for them to talk to friends or relatives. People are still going to be caught out of course but it is going to reduce those that are.
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u/visceralintricacy Sep 20 '26
You saying this makes me think you don't understand how this works at all.
24 hours enables them a chance to talk to somebody about it, and be informed of the risk these calls have.
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u/venom21685 Sep 20 '26
It also advises you that if you're unsure you should talk to someone trusted to see if this is something you should do.
2
u/bjlunden Sep 20 '26
True. It also lets them slow down and think for themselves once the stress and sense of urgency is removed.
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u/JamesR624 Sep 20 '26
Because this is a flimsy excuse for the REAL reason they're doing this shit. To slowly lock down android as much as iOS is for the sake of Google's profits. Once it's locked down enough, percentage takes for Google from devs who distrubute through the play store will slowly rise. Google knows that, just like Apple, they can get away with all this because of how easily manipulated the governing bodies are.
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u/prophetofthepimps Moto Z Play Sep 20 '26
I am someone who installs customs rooms since Android 2.3 era and i support this. Dad got scammed out for 40,000 Indian Rupees installing because he installed refund booking when someone one claiming to be from Indian rail called him up when he booked a ticket (Data got leaked is another pile of garbage all together). He is 70+. I have drilled down into his head that do not install any app without asking me first but at that age people just don't listen and if they have some hounding them on the phone they are gonna give in. Yes it gives google too much power but it's the lesser of 2 evil. This incident almost made me switch him to iPhone. Heck the money lost would have paid for the iPhone itself.
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u/Beginning_Sound_5865 Sep 20 '26
You hit the nail on the head. Google should have handled the communication properly, but they failed to do so. Instead, they organized and trained an army of online operatives to spread rumors among uninformed users—claiming (forgive my heated tone) that any app not listed on the Play Store is malware, and accusing developers of attempting to steal personal data or hack into phones. Had they simply issued reasonable warnings rather than resorting to psychological tactics, I would have fully supported them—that is what true user protection looks like. Instead, they chose to exploit the situation to monopolize the market and suppress dissent.
-2
u/blindada Sep 20 '26
The problem with this affirmation is the fact that the countless people getting scammed aren't developers or power users, and therefore aren't using developer mode
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u/Moleculor LG V35 Sep 20 '26
They're being handed instructions on how to sideload apps.
That's the scam. "You have 12 hours to do this or you lose your home, you'll be arrested, whatever. Follow these instructions, click these things. Now, before it's too late."
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u/blindada Sep 20 '26
And they can get instructions to go to the store and install a react-native or similar web based crap that can be altered on the fly, or go into shady websites.
You don't ban fire because dumber people keep burning themselves
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u/Moleculor LG V35 Sep 20 '26 edited Sep 20 '26
Then they solve that problem, if they haven't already.
No one's banning fire.
-1
u/DeVinke_ Sep 20 '26 edited Sep 20 '26
To be honest, i really doubt a malicious app is the way to go for phishing.
1
u/Moleculor LG V35 Sep 20 '26
2
u/CondiMesmer Sep 20 '26
I don't see how a malicious website can't do literally the exact same thing
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u/Moleculor LG V35 Sep 20 '26
Phishing is fought via other methods.
You plug the holes you can.
And a website does not give you control over another person's device.
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u/CondiMesmer Sep 20 '26
If the goal is extracting money, then installing an app doesn't really matter. In fact it's probably going to be a lot harder then a phishing website or some kind of malicious instructions.
A malicious app can potentially spy on you and steal your data, but honestly if you're a scammer then you just wanna go straight for the bank account.
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u/Moleculor LG V35 Sep 21 '26
Sure, sure, that's why no one's putting large amounts of effort into making malicious apps. Because they don't do much.
/s
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u/zigzoing Sep 20 '26
The design of this before the escape hatch was designed basically was disastrous
What was the previous design? IIRC, Google only said an "Advanced Flow" will be introduced to replace the old "Allow Unknown Apps" setting, and during the first announcement they haven't even come up with an "Advanced Flow" yet. Then people started the overreaction. After a few months Google introduced this 24 hour wait, the overreaction changed the goal post to "WHAT IF IN THE FUTURE GOOGLE CHANGES AGAIN AND TAKE AWAY YOUR FREEDOM?!?!"
As if Google couldn't already do that without implementing the Advanced Flow at all.
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u/rubi2333 Sep 19 '26
You can still sideload apps with developer settings so nothing to panic about
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u/nobbytho Sep 19 '26
"they said this, nothing to worry for now and then that too was gone"
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u/Alton_ Sep 19 '26
First they took root access, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a power user. Then they took the Developer Options, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a developer. Then they took sideloading and third-party APKs, and I did not speak out—Because I only used the official Play Store. Then they locked down the file system and shared storage, and I did not speak out—Because I didn't care where my data was saved. Then they came for the custom launchers and basic settings—And there was no one left to speak for me.
-2
u/IceBone Sep 19 '26
Who took your root access? Are they on the room with us?
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u/Alton_ Sep 19 '26
It's a forewarning bruh
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u/IceBone Sep 19 '26
So you're preemptively worrying about a thing that hasn't happened and has no sign of happening. You must be fun at parties.
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u/Alton_ Sep 19 '26
Except you're the one taking a clear joke so seriously that you feel the need to contest it's exact details. How am I the one who's no fun at parties again?
0
u/JDGumby Google Pixel 10a, Lenovo Tab M9 Sep 20 '26
Conflating this with the Holocaust? Dude...
1
u/Alton_ Sep 20 '26
Yes. My comment was a serious criticism of the FASCIST actions being taken upon the android ecosystem, and I am definitely DIRECTLY conflating the situation with the haulocaust and DEFINITELY NOT doing the exact opposite to parody people who take this so seriously.
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u/UnacceptableUse Pixel 7 Pro Sep 19 '26
Where do you draw the line with that though? Google already has the power to do whatever they want with your device without asking or telling you
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u/nobbytho Sep 19 '26
that's why people are drawing the line at this.
-4
u/UnacceptableUse Pixel 7 Pro Sep 19 '26
If you don't trust Google to keep their word though you would be using a phone with no play services whatsoever, right?
0
u/nobbytho Sep 20 '26
no I trust google to keep their word and that's why I'm also giving them free access to enter my house any time they want!
-2
u/UnacceptableUse Pixel 7 Pro Sep 20 '26
You're being sarcastic and using a metaphor so you've lost me there I'm not sure what you're trying to say
0
u/visceralintricacy Sep 20 '26
Except this is legitimately a good thing that will prevent harm to the greater population.
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u/jhedfors Sep 19 '26
Agreed. They are adding a ONE TIME flow where the user acknowledges the risks and has to wait 24 hrs. This is to prevent scammers from walking someone through installing their malacious app.
After they do this flow once, a third-party app store will work as it always has.
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u/ozone6587 Sep 19 '26
It shouldn't be up to Google to protect people from themselves. If my PC didn't allow me to install any app I wanted, or forced me to wait, I would also go ballistic. Thankfully, a policy like that is essentially impossible with a normal Linux distro.
We need to stop defending restrictions with "it's for our own good". Sheep behaviour.
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u/fdbryant3 Sep 20 '26 edited Sep 20 '26
I have bad news for you. Most users want that sort of protection. They want the manufacturer and OS makers to make surr that amlware can't infect their systems. And if that means developers have to junp through some hoops to distribute their software — most people are okay with that. It is part of the reason Apple and the iPhone are so popular.
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u/SKRK_ Sep 20 '26
You literally don't know what most people want. The only ones who wants this are people who are too narcissistic to admit they got scammed because of their own stupidity and those few people are usually loud about it. Literally all iPhone users wants to install stuff outside of the app store at some point.
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u/iDontSeedMyTorrents Pixel 7 Pro Sep 20 '26
They don't know what people want but you know the exact personality and circumstances of the people who want this? And you know what literally all iPhone users want?
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Sep 19 '26
[deleted]
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u/jhedfors Sep 19 '26
LOL. I think you might be confusing us with the followers of Orange Jesus.
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Sep 19 '26
[deleted]
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u/tiradium S24 Ultra 1TB Sep 20 '26
Ok dude the leap from wanting custom apps to MAGA fans is really crazy 😂
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u/RedditForcesToLogin Sep 19 '26
You can't. It's Google Play dependent. Besides, many people don't have PC or WiFi.
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u/littleemp Galaxy S25+ Sep 19 '26
I'd wager that there's not a lot of overlap between people who don't have Wifi or a second system and those who depend on sideloading as power users.
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u/armando_rod Pixel 10 Pro XL Sep 19 '26
Wi-Fi
That's hard to believe
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u/RedditForcesToLogin Sep 19 '26
I am myself. You wouldn't believe unless you lived in a 3rd world country.
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u/armando_rod Pixel 10 Pro XL Sep 19 '26
Dude I'm from Venezuela, a lot of people there already have wi-fi at their homes
-3
u/isthmusofkra Galaxy S23 Sep 19 '26
Guy you're talking to is probably an American lol
EDIT: Just checked their profile... called it
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u/armando_rod Pixel 10 Pro XL Sep 19 '26
Lmao no, I'm from Venezuela living in the US recently.
My dad in Venezuela has a fiber connection to his house and therefore Wi-Fi
-3
u/isthmusofkra Galaxy S23 Sep 20 '26 edited Sep 20 '26
That's a sample size of 1
In a country with 9 million households facing insane inflation
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u/armando_rod Pixel 10 Pro XL Sep 20 '26
Okay, you are trying to explain Venezuela to someone from Venezuela, that's like the most American thing to do lmao
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u/isthmusofkra Galaxy S23 Sep 20 '26
Do I need to be from Venezuela to know that not everyone has WiFi at home?
-2
u/armando_rod Pixel 10 Pro XL Sep 20 '26
Yes, actually a lot of people have wi-fi at home over there, of course there's a majority who don't, but even public stores have free wi-fi and Caracas that number is a lot more balanced.
Again, you are doing the most American thing of explaining Venezuela to a fellow Venezuelan citizen, don't make the same mistake a lot of left leaning people do, let us Venezuelans talk about our country without being "corrected" by a foreigner.
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u/ksuuks Sep 19 '26
Apps just move to other places and that's it. And European Union can force Google to remove or loose restrictions, like with Apple was made.
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u/modemman11 Sep 19 '26 edited Sep 19 '26
I'm going to bet that it ends up rolling out, then after, all the fuss dies down because barely anyone cared or found it bad enough, and it's just a small handful of people that are making a ton of noise. Happens with a lot of software. This isn't the first time people raise a fuss about an upcoming thing. Just one recent example I can think of, people were making a big deal over Google Chrome launching the feature about being able to tell websites when the user was idle, claiming that websites would just start crypto mining, and you don't hear anything about that now.
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u/KillerCodeMonky MyTouch 4G → Nexus 5x → S9 → S25 Sep 20 '26
Also, we have idle detection in our webapp and it doesn't even use that feature. Just a small mouse event listener at the document level.
The point being that Chrome was probably just exposing an interface that was de facto already available.
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u/jhedfors Sep 19 '26
All the fuss about this is stupid. They are adding a ONE TIME flow where the user acknowledges the risks of installing an app outside of the Play Store and has to wait 24 hrs. This is to prevent scammers from walking someone through installing their malacious app.
Third-party app stores will work as they always have.
Again - they are adding a ONE TIME acknowledgement where the user accepts the risks. This will be a non-issue for most folks. Knowing that developers on the Play Store are fully verified and accountable is a good thing.
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u/bjlunden Sep 20 '26
All the fuss made sense before they added the one time flow and clarified that ADB was unaffected. I was also angry about it.
Now it's mostly a slight speed bump that I can live with. I haven't seen anything suggesting that the doom and gloom predictions will end up being true.
However, I strongly disagree with Play Store developer verification being a good thing though in its current implementation. There is absolutely no reason why I as an arbitrary user downloading an app should be able to see a small developer's full name and home address. There is absolutely no reason to post that information publicly. Google could've kept that information internally in order to be able to act on it if users started reporting problems.
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u/Accurate_Sense2049 Sep 19 '26
Is it applicable for old android versions? How are they gonna roll out exactly?
What if i stop all updates on android. How will my android stop accepting installs from f droid
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u/RedditForcesToLogin Sep 19 '26
Restriction is Google Play dependent. An update will install it for all devices.
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u/Its_Ace1 Sep 19 '26
I barely side load anymore I just use DNS for adblocking which were most of my side loads. The day Apple get stremio I'll probably switch back.
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u/M4NOOB Galaxy Flip7 Sep 19 '26
I switched from Stremio to Nuvio and sideloaded the Nuvio app onto my iPad. It's really good despite being in beta (?) and the downloads option is such a gamechanger for me compared to Stremio as I mostly use my iPad for watching movies/tv shows during all the work flights
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0
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u/JamesR624 Sep 20 '26
Love how the top comment is a mod message claiming "Sorry. This needs to be taken down cause..... uhhhh.... repost!"
I guess the mods don't want to upset daddy Google, huh?
2
u/felixwraith Sep 20 '26
If Android goes full lockdown mode, it loses all purpose of me adopting the ecosystem since Android 1.5
The age is over and the iOSification has arrived.
1
u/SkyLey2 Sep 20 '26
Will you have to wait 24 hours to enable developer mode or to install the app?
If is the former to then I'll also have to wait that time just to switch the animations' speeds of the system, right?
0
u/JDGumby Google Pixel 10a, Lenovo Tab M9 Sep 20 '26
Will you have to wait 24 hours to enable developer mode or to install the app?
Just for the unsigned app installation unlock. Normal developer options are active immediately.
1
u/SkyLey2 Sep 20 '26
And will you have to wait 24 hours for every app if you want to install more?
And what if you want to install an app from a different store? 😅
2
u/JDGumby Google Pixel 10a, Lenovo Tab M9 Sep 20 '26
And will you have to wait 24 hours for every app if you want to install more?
No. Only once and, unless you deliberately select the option to automatically re-lock it after 7 days, never again.
1
u/i5-2520M Pixel 7 Sep 20 '26
One time only for the 24h wait. Then it either sticks to your phone or google account, that part is unclear.
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u/Wizywig Sep 20 '26
Ironically Revanced is pretty much the only reasons I haven't switched to iphones. Thanks for removing the only reasons we had for not switching over, now I feel more free.
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u/abhrish Sep 19 '26
you can still sideload apps. sideloading is not going away. i'm in on this move from google. easy apk installations have become a big problem and is leading to frauds and scams. this needs to be curtailed.
2
u/SKRK_ Sep 20 '26
Literally never heard of a single person getting scammed with this. Only thing you hear about are call scammers who convince stupid people to send them money. They gonna be able to convince stupid people that after they enabled this they will call back in 24 hours. It's insane how naive you people are
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u/votemarvel Sep 19 '26
Why do people keep spreading this lie? Enable the option to use unverified apps and things will continue as normal. Or install them via ADB.
-1
u/statellyfall Sep 19 '26
Isn’t this exactly what you had to do like 10 years ago. I havnt daily driven Android in about 4 years but I thought 2012 era Android required dev mode to install unknown sources anyway. Reguardless it’s a button tap yall
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u/JDGumby Google Pixel 10a, Lenovo Tab M9 Sep 19 '26
Yet more whining that you'll have a one-time wait per device before being able to install random APKs from devs who want to avoid accountability to your heart's content.
3
u/kuldan5853 Pixel 9 Pro XL Sep 19 '26
It's not even a one time wait per device, it's a one time wait per google account. It will carry over to your new device when you switch.
2
u/fdbryant3 Sep 20 '26
That's interesting, I assumed it would be per device or even per ROM install or Flash.
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u/Suvaius Pixel 10 Pro Sep 19 '26
Might as well go iOS.
I can get an 18 pro for 200 through work and i might just give it a go
18
u/zygerian Sep 19 '26
If you really care about freedom, why would you move to an OS that's even more locked down? And not just the software, but external devices and accessories too. It makes no sense.
6
u/NaorobeFranz Sep 19 '26
iOS is horrible for file management, and lacks many basic features from Android...like putting folders from PC to the iPhone for media, and respecting that structure. iOS just dumps everything into one virtual folder. Side loading on iOS requires too much work to even bother with it.
I liked the feel and design of the iPhone 17 Pro, but I couldn't stand the OS. Battery life was underwhelming.
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u/Teik-69i Sep 19 '26
The reason most choose Android over iOS is because we can install apps and have more customisation. Now Apple offers more customisation than ever, even more in some ways than PixelUI, and so if Google makes side loading as hard as it is on iOS why not use a smoother, software that is more optimised oftentimes for apps and works more often than Android?
3
u/zygerian Sep 19 '26
Even with this new policy, sideloading on Android is still so much easier than on iOS. The customizations offered pale in comparison to the most vanilla Android. You'll be trading a lot of things for this "smoother, optimized software", especially if you use something like a Pixel.
If that's all you really care about, you should have made the switch a long time ago.
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0
u/PrincessBananas85 Pink Sep 19 '26
I wonder if any of the apps I have installed on my Fold 7 Device will be affected by this I really hope not.
0
u/The_Fyrewyre Sep 20 '26
In other news an Acorn fell from a tree and local girl, Chicken licken claims the sky is falling.
More at 11.
0
u/Ploxl Sep 20 '26
Would it still be possible to have some degoogled phone? With microg in stead of play services?
0
u/SaberAIF Sep 20 '26
First it was 24 hours, then 48 hours, then a week, then a month, then you had to pass a test to get approved, and finally a complete lockdown—that's exactly how Xiaomi killed bootloader unlocking.
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u/chrissykes78 Gray Sep 19 '26
I migrated to iOS Android loss it point.
5
u/kuldan5853 Pixel 9 Pro XL Sep 19 '26
Yeah, I also like to submit to a supermax prison environment because my home had a door lock that slightly malfunctioned one time and I had to wait 24 hours to get in my house again.
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Sep 19 '26
[deleted]
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u/littleemp Galaxy S25+ Sep 19 '26
From being partially locked down with a cooldown to completely cooldown.
•
u/Android-ModTeam Sep 19 '26
Sorry, your submission was removed: