Stop fucking calling it sideloading. It is called installing an app
This is Android's new 'advanced flow' for sideloading apps without verification, includes one-day waiting period
Submitted 2 weeks ago by real_username56@lemmy.ml to technology@lemmy.world
https://9to5google.com/2026/03/19/android-advanced-flow-sideloading/
Comments
Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I teach digital literacy and 99% of unsavory software i encounter on people’s phones come from the play store or app store
I will believe that they’re serious about protecting users when I see them do something about the crap ton of borderline scam solitaire and weather apps infesting their stores
SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Your wish is fulfilled. Google now requires the government id, full biometrics and shared gps location to publish apps in the store.
elucubra@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
See, that is fine. If Google wants to have a safe and curated, high quality store, (which it doesn’t), it is very logical that it would want to have the origins of software very well identified.
AS LONG AS it provides a mechanism for users to access other sources of software.
They are doing the opposite, allow bullshit apps in the “safe store” while hindering the independents.
We desperately need a decently comoetent OSS phone OS, iddf possible with a compatibility layer for Android apps.
imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I mean, yeah. They do. Would it be finally enough to stop all scammers online? All in on a clear “No”.
markz@suppo.fi 2 weeks ago
So, the idea is to make the process as annoying as possible.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No. It’s to make it very annoying. It’s not as annoying as possible, because it could always be more annoying.
BriniaSona@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
The idea is to make it so you get annoyed and pay for YouTube premium. Money is the only idea.
IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
“This is Android’s new ‘advanced flow’ for INSTALLING apps without verification”. Sideloading is such a bullshit term made only to confuse consumers. They can wrap that in sparkling wrapper, but it’s still security theater at best and definetly misleading. Apps from F-Droid or any other app ‘store’ are not any less safe than the ones at googles own offering.
freeman@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Without verification by Google. I am very much capable of verifying the origin and trustworthiness of the apps I install.
Ulrich@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
The advanced flow is not for “installing apps”. It’s for sideloaded apps.
undrwater@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Semantics, no? Side loading is an alternate way of installing.
IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Do you consider installing games to you PC from Steam sideloading too? What about downloading Firefox installer? It is installing software on your computer, no matter if that computer happens to be in a cellphone form factor, and always has been. Sideloading is a made up term to make it sound somehow dangerous or complicated in order to justify even bigger walls on the ecosystem garden and control how people use their own devices.
imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
To who that think it is a fair compromise: It is not.
Android already had one layer of this shit before. When installid freshly dowloaded apk, android would prompt you to confirm that the source of the apk is trusted. This was not like this before. Before you’d just install apk.
And I agree to a certain amount. But thing is, it was added for no specific reason. People who install apks form outside source, will keep doing it and they 99% of the time know what they are doing or being told to do so by someone who knows what they are doing.
Adding another layer to this wont solve the problem, except make users annoyed for 24h wait time. And this is only adding 1 layer now. Who the fuck knows what is going to be 1 year later. 5 years later?
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
No one thinks this is fair. Little old grannys don’t side load apps, so they don’t need protection.
j0ester@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The thing is, people who do it and trust others to say, “just do it” - are the crazy ones.
It’s like the bs Tech Talk in TikTok. Always telling you to run RegEdit and such… oof.
real_username56@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
They also had a protection where you couldn’t install apks when on a phone call
wewbull@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
So it’s on the same scale as buying a gun in the states.
I didn’t realise it was so dangerous.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not quite. The majority of states have no waiting period to buy a gun and there’s no federal law, either.
wewbull@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Oh. It’s more dangerous than a gun then!
chortle_tortle@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
Political power grows from f-droid
sours@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
It’s so weird that they don’t take comments on the android developer blog post… Almost like they think it’ll be hugely unpopular.
ikidd@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Google is the epitome of living long enough to become the villain.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They changed their “don’t be evil” motto years ago. I guess they must have kept two thirds of it.
omarfw@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
A motto was never going to stop them from going sour. Any corporation that gets large enough and is publicly traded is going to attract sociopaths, narcissists and other Patrick Bateman wannabes to the positions of leadership within the corp like sharks to chum. It is a matter of when that gradual shift from good people to bad people takes place, not if.
The problem is that our economy and corporate structures reward the scummiest people because they’re the best at making profits.
Gumus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
icedaemon0@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Meanwhile the scam apps and viruses in the damn play store: …
dustyData@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Exactly, scammers aren’t having people install unverified apks, they are sending people straight to the play store and they have the money to pay the verified dev process. It’s all automated and no single human checks applications. It is all based on paying.
Fizz@lemmy.nz 2 weeks ago
This would make sense if google play store wasnt full of malware. Scammers dont need you to sideload malicious apps they just get you to download it from the play store.
VictorPrincipum@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Worked in a phone store for a bit. And absolutely this.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Googles half the malware themselves.
Cant install (random app name here, since we cant use X anymore as a generic thanks to his 13 year old obsession with naming everything X) app, without having 1500 different google bullshit data trackers installed.
saltesc@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Do usual dev.mod.shut…
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You then have to confirm that you aren’t being coached/guided/instructed by a bad actor to turn off the security measures.
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This is followed by a device restart and re-authentication that “cuts off any remote access or active phone calls a scammer might be using to watch what you’re doing.”
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A required “Security wait” takes one day to “confirm that this is really you who’s making this change with our biometric authentication (fingerprint or face unlock) or device PIN.” This is a one-time wait.
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Afterwards, you can install apps from unverified developers indefinitely, while there’s also a 7-day “Turn on temporarily” option.
I don’t think the wait is necessary. If someone were to continue being scammed after a reboot, they’d continue to be scamme tomorrow. An additional education piece after the reboot would be more effective.
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compast@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
fuck google. We immideatily need linux like alternative to android
pool_spray_098@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Is GrapheneOS a good enough alternative?
I am very interested in switching to that when their phone comes out… But I wish pure Linux were viable.
BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Graphene has some quirks, but overall experience is solid. Not perfect, but it does the job.
SailorMoss@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
We basically need an android compatibility layer before that can happen.
Lanske@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m interested in Jolla phones who develop this os: sailfishos.org
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
In these scenarios, scammers exploit fear – using threats of financial ruin, legal trouble, or harm to a loved one – to create a sense of extreme urgency. They stay on the phone with victims, coaching them to bypass security warnings and disable security settings before the victim has a chance to think or seek help.
Does this actually happen? Or they just trying to manufacture consent to all this bullshit?
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Do calls like that happen? Unfortunately, yes.
Is it a reason to lock down and enshittify every computing platform, every OS, every Internet-connected device until we own nothing, control nothing and can’t install what we please?
It’s an age old tactic of manipulation to start with something true, exaggerate the threat, and apply it everywhere possible.
SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
age old
Yeah for sure. I have to deal with a lot of tech-support and similar scam victims, and I always wind up explaining that this con is as old as civilization at least, it’s just the location and props that are new.
Lure you in with a benefit or problem solved, ensure that you get lost or disoriented, manufacture fear/uncertainty/doubt, offer a way out, trap is set.
Once upon a time I had someone try to run this same scam on me in meatspace, a big ancient city. Offer a solution to a logistics problem, get me lost in the maze, create new problem of changed conditions, intimidate with new people arriving, and pressure with intense sales tactics on a bullshit product. I wasn’t actually lost so just walked away, curiosity satisfied, but some people would have lost a lot of money.
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Never seen it and I’ve worked in banking which I would have thought it would be most prevalent. Seen lots of traditional scams, but never stuff that involves side loading apps. I think the attack surface is just not big enough to make it worthwhile.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That does happen. You can see stuff like that on scam baiting videos all the time.
signup@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
they do happen yes
moopet@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Well I’m sure we’ve all heard stories about it happening, and my FIL had someone walking him through a “Microsoft has detected a virus on your PC” scenario one time until he fucked up and lost the connection (fortunately)
osanna@lemmy.vg 2 weeks ago
Remember when you used to own shit? Wow. This is beyond fucked. Right now, it’s “one day”. But this is only because they got a shit load of backlash for disallowing ALL installing software without their permission. They WILL enact it. They’ll just wait until people are used to this. Then they will disallow it all.
Scrollone@feddit.it 2 weeks ago
I think it was just a technique for them to pretend they listened to the community: first, announce something extreme; then, back down a bit.
People will think they won while they’ve just lost.
rainbowbunny@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Sideloading Aka avoiding the monopoly app store with your own device
Scrollone@feddit.it 2 weeks ago
We should stop calling it sideloading as if it’s something bad. It’s just installing.
It’s my device FFS!
mPony@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
how DARE you threaten stockholder value like that !
;)
JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
It’s a term few decades old, and means transferring files between local devices.
You download the app on your pc, you sideload it to your local device (your phone) using ‘adb sideload file.apk’, and you use that installed app to upload pictures of your mom.
ITGuyLevi@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I’m so glad I don’t ‘sideload’ anything, never learned how. I have been installing software since the 90s though and it’s pretty much the same as always.
Joke aside, it really seems more like ‘sideloading’ when you go to a store, to ask it to install something on your phone instead of just installing it directly on the device.
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
it’s very clear we have to escape Android and Google entirely, there is no other option.
Please donate to PostmarketOS if you have the means, it give us a true alternative that is completely community owned, it just needs our support to become polished and to add support for more phones.
shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Yes, I am more seriously than ever looking into using Postmarket OS.
glitchdx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
google doing their best to make me move to a different platform for my next phone.
anybody know of other options?
njordomir@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
How about a 24 hour waiting period for me to harden my OS before Google slurps up all my data.
batshit@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Important to note ADB is still unaffected
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They already showed their hand. Doesn’t matter if they’ve backed down. My new phone is going to use GrapheneOS and if this shit trickles down (Graphene is still based on Android) I’m going full Linux phone.
kalapala@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Is there EU petition against this already?
LightYagami@lemmus.org 2 weeks ago
This is not a solution at all. They want to make sick of users who have to wait a whole day ust to install a fucking app. Fuck them.
RoddyStiggs@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Completely unacceptable. Do away with this horseshit entirely or I’m out.
nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de 2 weeks ago
Even if it’s only a thing that needs to be done once: Either the one-day delay has to go, or Google.
There’s nothing redeeming about their plans.
BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So now what’s is my motivation to move back to android from iPhone if they are gonna do the same bullshit as apple, hopefully some manufacturers switch to more open android versions like lineage or something
maplesaga@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Motorola has Graphene OS soon.
vortexal@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
While I understand that Google probably hasn’t provided the answers yet, I have two questions about this. First, will I need to setup a pin for my devices? I don’t normally use any form of a lock screen on my devices and I’d prefer to continue not having them but I know from personal experience that some android devices don’t allow you to remove the lock screens after you set them up.
Second, during the 24 hour waiting period, is the device still usable? I know this might sound like a stupid question but Google’s vague wording has me wondering.
TheThag@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So it needs developer mode huh, plenty of apps dont work with that on, truly awful even if i can turn it back off after.
alekwithak@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Headline is a little misleading. There is a One day waiting period when you enable installing third party applications. After that you can install them indefinitely. It’s to stop active scams. I agree it’s BS, but it’s a lot less BS than I was expecting and what the headline/comments are making it out to be.
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
A one day wait period to install an app on your mobile pocket computer. Fucken bullshit.
Dojan@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
It used to be no time at all. You could just do it. From that perspective they’ve already taken a mile.
frongt@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
From zero to anything is infinite miles
AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I mean always starts with an inch but what people dont get is that compared to the 2000’s we are a mile deep and compared to rhe 80’s we are already in a dystopia.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
In the '80s we’d need a building to do a fraction what our phones do now. Even in the 2000s they would qualify as a supercomputer. I guarantee you wouldn’t be able to install whatever you wanted on any of those computers and even if you could, a days wait would be lightning fast in comparison.
Nester@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
It appears that the “security wait” will be a one time thing when you first allow installing from unverified sources. After enabling it it will remain on indefiniately.
Not quite as bad as I was fearing, but will kinda annoying.
potustheplant@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
“Not quire as bad”? My dude, you have to ask for permission from a corporation to installa an app on your phone that you supposedly own and paid for. On what planet is this not awful?
magguzu@lemmy.pt 2 weeks ago
Until you have to help someone install an app not available to them.
Xfinity stream for example is not on the Chromecast play store, even though an Android build exists on the Fire TV store. I had to guide my dad through this. In this case it wouldn’t be possible for 24 hours.
Had a similar issue with an app not available in a friend’s region.
I could live with the whole flow minus the delay. This is shit, just pure shit.
1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Well if you’re in the US you can head down to your LGS, buy a Glock 19 and do some plinking while you wait for the software to install on your phone :/
sonofearth@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
sushhh… the shareholders’ imaginary line has to go up.
hydrashok@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I think it is a reasonable compromise. They could have made it a day wait for any and every time you wanted to side load like this. It prevents accidental or malicious activation, while also giving you the feature you want with the smallest of roadblocks as confirmation you want it.
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
People this willing to let a corporate, self-enriching nanny state erode their ability to use the products they paid for terrify me.
grte@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I don’t need google telling me what I can put on this fucking phone I bought and paid for.
UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
What is it a compromise between? People who think they own the thing they paid for and people who don’t?
Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
A reasonable compromise would be not telling people what they can and can’t do on devices they paid for. If Google wants that level of control, they can buy my phone for me.
meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
No. Fuck all of that. I will not have some fucking Corp tell me what I can install and when on my own goddamn hardware.
If they want to implement something like this, make it an opt-in toggle during device setup to put the phone into nanny mode
alekwithak@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
One day wait period to enable installing third party apps. Afterwards no extra wait time or verification.
MrQuallzin@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
For now. Don’t fight to give them an inch
Nindelofocho@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
There shouldnt be any wait. Its stupid and completely arbitrary
imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
And that somehow supposed to stop users from inflicting their phones with virus software? Like, it does not make sense. Okay, force all devs to upload their IDs, no biggie (I guess). But do not lock users into the “tough luck, you cant sideload” system. 1 day wait will not prevent anything. They just added a mild annoyance for 24h, nothing more.
Rooster326@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Force all devs to upload their IDs is not a no biggie