Sorry, you’re well out of the loop on this one, boss. Sideloading has been common practice for thousands? millions? of users since the beginning of android. There are plenty of apps not listed on Google Play - the ones that come top mind are Fortnight for a time and now the Epic Games Store app, and some VPN apps that couldn’t offer features like ad/malware blocking in their Play store versions. Sideloading means downloading an executable install file (an .APK file in this case) rather than installing from Google Play. And they are SEVERELY limiting this ability next year.
Comment on ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’
jerkface@lemmy.ca 3 days agoThey’re not stopping it, they are planning to introduce it to the platform; no one side loads on Android today, because it’s not a walled garden yet.
Tilgare@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Lfrith@lemmy.ca 3 days ago
No one sideloads? Have you not heard of this niche indie game called Fornite that was removed from Google Play and Epic pushed sideloading means to install it?
uzay@infosec.pub 3 days ago
I don’t think people got your point. I assume you meant that people aren’t “sideloading” in android yet, because you just download an APK file and install it. Same as installing an EXE file in windows outside of the Microsoft Store is not called “sideloading” either.
GrantsGhost@piefed.zip 3 days ago
F-Droid is a staple of the FOSS community and it will effectively be shut down due to these changes.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/f-droid-project-threatened-by-googles-new-dev-registration-rules/
brbposting@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
Could the EFF or individuals sponsor apps from devs who refuse to identify to Big Goog?
Dev sends EFF the source code,
EFF registers with Google,
EFF submits the app,
Everybody’s happy except a number of people for obvious reasons but at least the app’s verified
brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
That sounds like just changing who is verifying the developer. Whether it’s the EFF (because they aren’t going to put their name and reputation at risk for unreviewed source code) or google, the issue is the same.
Someone has to be the middle man in deciding what is allowed to be installed.
artyom@piefed.social 3 days ago
No one said it would be shut down, the thing all these clickbait articles leave out of the headline is “as we know it”, which means it will change significantly.