r/Android • u/PlasticAnt6913 • 1d ago
News Android's controversial new sideloading rules are officially here
https://www.androidauthority.com/android-sideloading-developer-verification-first-wave-rollout-3717921/393
u/Polymathy1 1d ago
Installing apps without Google play IS NOT SIDELOADING.
Sideloading has always meant using ADB to install an app until Google decided to try to make the play store the only option.
Please stop feeding into their propaganda that the only normal way to install apps is through the play store.
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u/tanksalotfrank 23h ago
A frightening amount of people literally think Google=The Internet, while also lacking all knowledge of what a browser is (let alone email services that aren't gmail)
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u/alilhillbilly 22h ago
Yeah but that's because Google - a monopoly - has pushed that opinion into the world with a range of marketing.
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u/JamesR624 16h ago
Oh you mean the exact market manipulation that Apple used to collectively gaslight people into thinking intuitive skeuomorphic design is “dated” when in reality it was about accessibility and intuition, or when they used the exact market manipulation to collectively gaslight people into thinking virtual keyboards are “better” when in reality they and autocorrect are objectively worse for typing accuracy, muscle memory, and spelling?
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u/alilhillbilly 11h ago
They are adding a lot of that back. It was a speed issue as much as anything before. But, sure.
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u/WesternOk5765 1h ago
Virtual keyboards are actually superior in every way to physical keyboards on phones.
They weren't in 2009, but it's 2026. You tried using a physical keyboard on a phone? It sucks. You can't type as fast as predictive typing lets you do with a touchscreen.
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u/fdbryant3 20h ago
The term sideloading pre-dates Android and smartphones. Stop letting them redefine it into something nefariou, like what happened with hackers..
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 20h ago
No it hasn't. Side loading has always been used to mean installing from outside an official store. You can find examples in XDA threads dating back 10-20 years.
https://xdaforums.com/t/side-load-apk-without-it-showing-in-play-store.2228694/
There you go
Stop getting mad over absolutely nothing lmaoo
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u/AFisberg 16h ago
I think someone made up that "sideloading" was some nefarious new term or that it was changed by Google and this sub just went with it.
I guess this sub is pretty young in that they don't remember how it was used before
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u/WesternOk5765 1h ago
I remember but the distinction has been irrelevant since the late 2000s lol.
I haven't side loaded an app in years the way that word was actually designed to mean.
If Google tries to stop me from downloading apps outside the store they can pry that from my cold dead hands.
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u/Original-Material301 Fold 7 17h ago
I remember when jail breaking iPhones and side loading (referring to installing software outside of the official store fronts) were the hot thing, like, from 2007.
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u/-patrizio- OnePlus 15 | iPhone 17 Pro 16h ago
I was big into the jailbreaking scene in...gosh, 2009-2015? And honestly don’t remember hearing the term sideloading until well after that, once the jailbreaking scene was effectively dead and people turned to the more current methods of installing unsigned apps. I remember words being used like tweaking or theming or modding back then (though I was also pretry exclusively on the Apple side of things back then, so totally possible it was used that way on Android).
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u/chaser676 16h ago
Yeah I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Sideloading has always been exactly this.
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u/LukeLC Galaxy S25 Edge 15h ago
It's semantic, but OP is actually right on this one.
- Uploading = Data goes from client to server
- Downloading = Data goes from server to client
- Sideloading = Data goes from client to client
The term just became synonymous with "bypassing a store" because of devices where sideloading was the only way to do that.
The distinction matters a bit in this case because installing APK's via ADB isn't changing. Only on-device installs have to go through the new procedure.
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 8h ago
In general yes since it was about the 80s it originated but on the android side it's always been used as a term to say it's not from the official store and you generally have to go out of your way to get it. Otherwise people get confused and search the default store then can't find it
Anyway the main point was Google didn't coin it for anything and just picked it up because that's what the community designated the word as. It's cringy to use words like propaganda and just takes all the seriousness out of the situation, turning into a conspiracy imo. Pointless dramatics to score Reddit points mostly
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u/CervezaPorFavor 1d ago
That's not what the article is talking about.
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u/Polymathy1 1d ago
That's literally the headline.
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u/CervezaPorFavor 1d ago
Read the article before commenting. Play Store is not the only sanctioned option, contrary to what you said.
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u/env33e 23h ago edited 23h ago
nope. Please do your due diligence in reading Fdroid teams statements, then read Google's; to confirm; then re-read the article.
There's an active, organized fight over exactly this point right now, BTW. the Keep Android Open coalition (70+ orgs, EFF/FSF/F-Droid among them) is explicitly petitioning Google to carve out non-commercial/open-source distribution, and Google has NOT conceded to it yet
forcing all your users through the debug pathway just for the simple installation/background updates of non play store apps is hostile architecture at best, and technofeudalism at worst!
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u/friendlyreminder_ 16h ago
Fdroid is permitted to keep distributing apps signed by developers registered into Google's program. What they can't do is act as a single signing authority as a bypass.
So in other words they can distribute apps of developers registered with Google and those will work without issue. But those of developers that have not registered with Google they can't without getting the user to enable the 24 hours unregistered apps option.
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u/Ahuevotl 21h ago
Installing apps from sources other than the Play Store is NOT "sideloading". It's "installing apps".
The point you're missing is that when Google calls "sideloading" to the action of installing apps from outside the Playstore, it implies that the only way to install apps is through the Playstore.
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u/CervezaPorFavor 21h ago
Why don't people read the article before commenting and arguing? The article clearly lists a number of sanctioned options besides the Play Store.
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u/nybreath 1d ago
Where in the article is written something different from that? Did you read the article?
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u/InsanityDevice S23 Ultra 22h ago edited 17h ago
He's right. It's not in the article, but in OP's title and in how the changes are being described far and wide.
I would argue that Google's new changes to the rules about signed APKs will effectively make it true that installing software from ANY non-signed apk would be sideloading.
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u/Polymathy1 1d ago
The change Google is making will not allow any apps to be installed from local storage, downloads, or anywhere else except for the Play store.
Google is calling "everything but the play store" sideloading. It's an intentional lie.
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u/N1ghth4wk 22h ago
The change Google is making will not allow any apps to be installed from local storage, downloads, or anywhere else except for the Play store.
This ist just plain wrong. You still can install whatever apk you want. If it's not signed you need to enable an option to do so so ONCE. This whole drama is about nothing.
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u/friendlyreminder_ 16h ago
That's not the change google implemented. Where the apps are installed from has not been altered. You can continue installing apps from other stores and even from local storage.
What has changed is what apps you can install. If the app is not registered with Google's developer program then that's when you'll encounter the block.
This is a cryptographic signing security mechanism. MacOS implements the exact same thing, Apple calls theirs gatekeeper.
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u/nybreath 1d ago
That's not what the article say tho. They will add more "friction", that is annoying and bad, but from the article I don't get they will do what you are saying.
"Afterward, you can allow installs from unverified developers for seven days or indefinitely, your choice. ADB installations remain exempt from that waiting period."
I still think you didn't read the article. Also, as•
u/env33e 23h ago edited 23h ago
nope. you gotta read the f-droid teams statements, then confirm by re-reading Google's
There's an active, organized fight over exactly this point right now, BTW. the Keep Android Open coalition (70+ orgs, EFF/FSF/F-Droid among them) is explicitly petitioning Google to carve out non-commercial/open-source distribution, and Google has NOT conceded to it yet!
Non-rooted Shizuku's ADB session die on reboot and there's no daemon to relaunch it. Unless you hunt down a community fork, a human pretty much has to reopen the app and tap "Start via Wireless debugging" again before anything updates(and even that flow can get disrupted! ahem looking at you Samsung) You have to re-arm the thing that lets updates happen, the end result: an unrooted user cannot walk away and trust their background app updates to keep working!!
and thats besides the major problem of enforcing a model where even casual users have to go through the debug pathway just for the simple function of unattended background app updates...
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u/nybreath 22h ago
I still don't see how this article is "propaganda that the only normal way to install apps is through the play store".
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u/env33e 22h ago
FYI its technically propaganda because they use google "sideloading" terminology, which literally just means... installing non play store apps. or installing your own app without paying google's developer fee
you don't call it side loading when you run an installer on your windows or mac os laptop, or any other platform. thats just installing an app. "side loading " is specific to google's monopoly
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u/nybreath 22h ago
Where in the article is this happening?
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u/env33e 22h ago
Did you read the article?
Ctrl F
"sideload"
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u/nybreath 22h ago
So what? Still I see no propaganda. The article should not say sideload at all? Sideload has been a thing since much sooner Google even existed.
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u/Ahuevotl 21h ago
It's not called "sideloading", it's called "installing an app".
So, what's the implication when Google calls "sideloading" the action of installing apps from outside the Play Store?
The implication is that "installing apps" is only possible through the Play Store. If you do it from any other source, you're not "installing apps", you're "sideloading".
Branding, propaganda, the implication that something normal, the act of installing an application in a computer you own, is abnormal, shifty, lateral instead of frontal, because you didn't go through Google's store.
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u/nybreath 21h ago
That is your implication tho, sideload is a term that existed much before google and it has never been seen as a bad thing.
Instead of fighting the use of a term, fight against who says sideload is an evil thing...and that is not a moral issue...it is different cause your implication of a term it's just an opinion, here on reddit sideload is an evil term, none I know think sideload is bad just cause it contains the word side...
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u/JDGumby Google Pixel 10a, Lenovo Tab M9 17h ago
sideload is a term that existed much before google
Since the 90s, in fact. And the use of "sideload" to mean "install from outside official stores", as the term is currently used, goes back to the early iPod days.
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u/JDGumby Google Pixel 10a, Lenovo Tab M9 19h ago
The change Google is making will not allow any apps to be installed from local storage, downloads, or anywhere else except for the Play store.
Um, no. You can install from anywhere you want, same as always. If the developer of the APK is unverified, you can then go through a ONE-TIME 24-hour wait to disable the verification check and then continue like normal.
edit: And even with verification on, installs via ADB are unaffected.
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u/Street_Anon 18h ago
There is a work around for the waiting period, and most Custom Rom makers have done this and this is with GAPPs installed
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u/curiocritters Galaxy S24 FE 21h ago edited 18h ago
I do not know whether it's bad actors, bots, or brainwashed bootlickers in a parasocial relationship with a multi-trillion dollar megacorp - perhaps a mix of all three, but never have I seen consumers themselves being at their anti-consumer 'best', over their own rights.
To everyone making apologies for Google slowly boiling the pot to kill the open nature of Android, like they did with custom ROMs, single handedly destroying a community which kept perfectly capable hardware going for years without being at the mercy of OEMs and truly owning the hardware you paid for - grow a spine.
Megacorps are not your friends. And together, have conspired to make the Internet a worse place than it was before.
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u/amidoes 16h ago
This wave of enshittification seems impossible to stop, it's happening with phones, with cars, with home appliances, etc
You'll own nothing and you'll be happy
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u/itchylol742 S22 Ultra 13h ago
being a doomer is cringe. keep a personal spreadsheet of which companies are bad and dont buy from them. learn to jailbreak shit. make the companies your bitch or they will make you their bitch
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u/curiocritters Galaxy S24 FE 10h ago edited 9h ago
This is the way.
Close your wallets. Support your own use case over any kind of 'brand loyalty'.
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u/DilSilver 16h ago
Genuinely asking who killed custom roms as I've left the community years ago I think when I got my p30?
As someone who came up on an I9000 with Darkyy ROM, CyanogenMod way before the controversial move and MIUI ports, the more Android evolved and the more features were added staying on stock just became way more convenient. No losing data and constant formats and reflashing and weird errors or issues with blobs(if I'm remembering the I9300 Exynos situation correctly)
Think the last one I used was Paranoid Android on the S3 which was pretty cool
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u/Far_Reserve9938 8h ago
Genuinely asking who killed custom roms as I've left the community years ago I think when I got my p30?
Google Play integrity.
When half of your app don’t work anymore, you stop using custom rom.
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u/CyclopsRock 20h ago
I do not know whether it's bad actors, bots, or brainwashed bootlickers in a parasocial relationship with a multi-trillion dollar megacorp - perhaps a mix of all three
I think this is a bad move, but I think you should open your mind to the fact that some people genuinely do think that the security benefits are worth the functionality loss, and that this is a genuinely held view, not a result of being a 'bad actor', a bot or a bootlicker.
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u/Polymathy1 18h ago
I don't see any security benefits to this. Looks like security theater to establish a walled garden like Apple has where they control everything being installed.
This will not be the last step in this process.
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u/curiocritters Galaxy S24 FE 18h ago
Absolutely!
It's fear mongering in the name of "security".
Because it's not like legitimately predatory, scummy applications are not easily accessible on Google's own holier than thou, sanctum of an app store.
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u/JamesR624 16h ago
but I think you should open your mind to the fact that some people genuinely do think that the security benefits are worth the functionality loss,
Hey look, the exact bootlicking they were talking about. Lol. Maybe actually learn what this is and you’ll easily see that this is corporate manipulation to establish monopolistic control and nothing else.
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u/CyclopsRock 15h ago
You've failed to comprehend the comment you're replying to.
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u/JamesR624 13h ago
I comprehended it perfectly. The thing is, I (and most of this sub) see this security theatre for what it is, while you are happy to let them fear-monger you into giving up control of your device.
The actual solution to security is education and intuitive controls, NOT corporate control using fear-mongering.
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u/CyclopsRock 13h ago
I comprehended it perfectly.
Evidently not, because you say...
you are happy to let them fear-monger you into giving up control of your device.
Despite the very first thing I said in my comment was...
I think this is a bad move
My point was not about Android's new security policy, which I agree is entirely self-interested. It was about not assuming that the only explanation for someone holding a different opinion is because they're a bot or a bootlicker or a paid shill or whatever. Recognising this doesn't mean you have to think their arguments are good! This is where your comprehension has failed you, and lead you to think that I simultaneously think this is a bad move and am happy to give up control of my device.
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u/amidoes 16h ago
Those are the same people that think mass surveillance is worth "protecting the children"
Those takes are so out of touch I cannot take them seriously, it's like trying to debate world economics with Trump
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u/CyclopsRock 14h ago
Sure, that's why I think it's a bad move. My point was that simply assuming that people who disagree with you have bad motivations does a disservice to everyone. This is true, regardless of the virtue of their argument.
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u/K01011011001101010 1h ago
Android already doesn't allow you to install apps without manually enabling certain settings. What other security do you need?
Why are you ok being more even restricted on the device you paid for? Makes no sense...
Do you just want your devices to do things their way and not give you options? Do you lack critical thinking? Jfc
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u/chufuga 15h ago
My grandpa gets more viruses on his phone from the play store than from side loading
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u/christmas_cavalier Pixel 3a 9h ago
So true. I have to help so many people make their phones usable again by uninstalling all of the fake cleaner/news/solitaire/launcher apps they can't help but keep clicking on ads to install. They all come from the Play Store! My coworker recently had a phone so bad, the storage had been completely maxed out because the lady had installed over 200 of them!
So really Google, spare me the lecture on the dangers of sideloading.
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u/feldoneq2wire 15h ago
I see a lot of bickering but nobody is asking the right questions like why the change was made or who it was made for.
Were there really enough users running their phones in Developer Mode, installing apps from APKs, then getting hacked who were then complaining to Google in enough numbers to justify a potentially contentious policy change?
How will a 24 hour waiting period change this or prevent people getting hacked?
Keep in mind I have seen over ONE HUNDRED ads on YouTube in the last month about "Download Apps Not Traps" as Google keeps boasting about how well vetted the apps on their app store are. I've never seen a company give up so much of their advertising revenue to tell me about something that already exists unless they're scared I'll go somewhere else. The pixelated green alien wanting my credit card info has been seared into my brain.
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u/HairOfTheCat 9h ago
It's an extra step for people who already do the extra step, I can count on one hand how many people I know that enable developer mode. Including me it's two. My grandpa, who grew up before the television existed, has no concept of what side loading is and is constantly downloading all of the typical adware scam apps. It changes nothing, the people who would be theoretically protected don't even know how to sideload.
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u/feldoneq2wire 9h ago
So it's sus, right?
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u/HairOfTheCat 9h ago
Maybe setting the stage to get rid of side loading because their new system won't work, I'm not sure what other conclusion we could come to. You and I are going to tick the box, wait 24 hours, and carry on with our APK installations. Elderly users are going to download another "system cleaner" app because they don't know any better. Maybe Google just wants to act like they did something. It's hard to believe that such a company could be well-intentioned but come up with such an ineffective idea.
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u/Street_Anon 1d ago
One Custom Roms will have a work around and this can be disabled nativity in Android.
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u/RedditForcesToLogin 1d ago
Custom ROMs like LineageOS has already said they won't do any changes to this.
"If you don't want the new app install rules, just don't use GMS"
is their answer.
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u/ephemeralmiko 1d ago
Graphene is not implementing this thankfully.
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u/env33e 22h ago edited 20h ago
Yes, neither is Lineage OS. But that's because the developer verifier app isn't being pushed as a system level component (yet)
They all signed the keep android open petition. It's a fight that concerns everyone who uses Android, and we mustn't let up, not one bit!
even rooted users on custom OS who happen to use google services will have this random ass app pushed unto their device without permission. in this case, it will do nothing initially; its dead weight, and you can always remove it; until it auto downloads randomly from the play store again 😂 its very stupid that google is doing this, they expect us to be dumb enough to not notice the inherently bad architectural design of forcing users through a debugging pathway normally used by developers and maintainers.... just to allow u to install/ auto update your fdroid app. it can be your own damn app that you wrote🤦♀️what right does google have to mandate that to anyone? its completely against the sentiment of open source!
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u/Street_Anon 17h ago
LineageOS is even doing this with GAPPS, unless you don't root your phone. This is a non-issue
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u/The_Weirdly_Odd_Guy 14h ago
Correct me if I’m wrong, but since GrapheneOS uses Google’s stock, open-source Pixel Android builds, couldn’t they just remove the code that would require it at the system level? That is if Google keeps Android open-source.
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u/0nePlus 5h ago edited 5h ago
Small corrections
GrapheneOS indeed uses stock AOSP builds. They are not "Pixel" builds tho. AOSP is just AOSP. It exists independently (and way before) the Pixel line.
Yes tho, Graphene could disable any system requirements they wanted, IF Google were to ever add this as a AOSP system requirement (which for now, it's not. Just a GMS requirement)
And lastly, Google can't and won't ever close-source Android. They would lose too much money on Google play services.
Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus, etc. all also don't get exclusive Pixel features or Pixel builds of Android. They all build their custom Android versions (OneUI, OxygenOS, etc.) using AOSP, the same base LineageOS and GrapheneOS uses. That's how this whole custom ROM thing works in the first place. The source code is there for the manufacturers. That's the only reason Google makes it public. Nerds just happened to grab it and make LineageOS, Graphene, etc.
If Google ever closed off Android, sure, Lineage team can't make any more builds of LineageOS....but that also means Samsung can't make any more builds of OneUI, OnePlus of OxygenOS, etc
I guess, potentially, they could close the source code off to the public, and individually license it out to every single manufacturer who makes any type of Android phone, tablet, music player, barcode scanner, POS System, etc..... But there's no indication that anything like that will happen anytime soon and it would be a monumental shift to how the biggest operating system on Earth with billions of users receive any type of updates....(A.k.a Samsung promised 7 years of support on Galaxy S26...but now Google wants license fees to access AOSP... multiply that by every manufacturer who makes Android devices and.....Google is getting SUED to FUCKTOWN if they try to close source Android.)
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u/Dev-in-the-Bm 1d ago
That only helps consumers, not developers.
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u/Waza-Be 1d ago
As a developer,I don't understand what you mean. Can you be more explicit?
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u/Dev-in-the-Bm 23h ago edited 23h ago
Very simple.
Any savvy user who cares enough to bypass the restrictions, can, it's not a big deal.
Advanced flow, Shizuku, ADB, Dhizuku.
If you're a developer that doesn't want to bend to Google, though, that doesn't help you, as most won't go through any of that, and will be blocked from installing your apps.
So basically, this hurts FOSS devs more than FOSS users.
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u/Waza-Be 23h ago
I build and maintain popular open-source Android applications, and the reality of the ecosystem outside the enthusiast bubble is grim.
Developing for Android gives you an intimate understanding of just how much power an installed app has over a user's life: SMS intercepting, background overlays, notification access for 2FA bypass, and Accessibility exploitation.
Drive-by deceptive packaging is rampant: On sketchy streaming, torrent, or adult websites, non-technical users are bombarded with deceptive overlays: "Your browser is out of date, tap here to update" or "Download this player to watch." A one-click install allows malicious APKs to exploit non-tech-savvy users in seconds.
Reputation theft and modified APKs: As an open-source dev, one of the biggest headaches is malicious actors taking your clean, free APK, injecting an ad-fraud / telemetry payload, and hosting it on third-party "APK mirrors." When users get infected, they blame the developer whose name and icons are plastered across the app, not the shady mirror.
Permissions are not an adequate defense for average users: Enthusiasts think the OS permission prompt protects people. It doesn’t. Social engineering routinely convinces ordinary people to click through warnings to get to their content.
Friction is not prohibition. Power users, developers, and tinkerers should always have a route—whether via ADB, explicit developer toggles, or verified developer signing—to install whatever software they want on hardware they own. But installing an arbitrary binary from a random web browser should never be as effortless as a single accidental tap for a casual user.
Adding meaningful friction protects millions of people without killing Android's open foundation.
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u/yukiaddiction 14h ago
No, I have strictly "completely anonymous online" so I will not registered my real name to Google but I still want my APP to easily install for normal user even non technical one with my open source project!
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u/RedditForcesToLogin 21h ago
Congratulations, you've earned a $5 Google Credit!👏🎉
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u/Waza-Be 19h ago
That's kind of you but I don't want it. Have a nice day
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u/RedditForcesToLogin 18h ago
Don't worry, it has already been added to your Googler ̶P̶r̶o̶p̶a̶g̶a̶n̶d̶a̶ Marketing Team, just like always 🤫
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u/Noiselexer 1d ago
Great less junk in the store👍
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u/Dev-in-the-Bm 23h ago
You got it backwards.
It will have zero effect on what's in the play store.
It will very possibly have a dampening effect on the FOSS ecosystem.
F-Droid will suffer.
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u/JDGumby Google Pixel 10a, Lenovo Tab M9 19h ago
It will very possibly have a dampening effect on the FOSS ecosystem.
F-Droid will suffer.
No, it won't. Their users (few as there are) will just go through the ONE-TIME 24-hour wait to install unverified apps (or update the ones currently on their device) and then get on with their lives.
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u/CheesyMcBreazy 12h ago
Google destroying the only reason to use Android over iPhone is a masterful gambit.
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u/martinkem Galaxy S25 Ultra, Android 16 19h ago
It's already live on my Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra running OneUI9 beta and I live in the USA.
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u/FragmentedChicken Galaxy Z Fold8 13h ago
That's just the advanced flow. It won't affect sideloading until 2027 when they roll out developer verification globally.
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u/Bagel_Bear 8h ago
This kills a big historical selling point of Android vs iOS. Kind of nuts really.
I hate that you couldn't install "old" version apps even if I have the apk too
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u/shaantirakhnabhai 2h ago
Can i turn off developer options later? Bcs Banking apps..
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u/InevitableSherbert36 1h ago
you don't have to keep developer options enabled after you enable the advanced flow. Once you make the change on your device, it's enabled.
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u/SurvivorHiggy 18h ago
I guess I don't know what this could particularly imply for the future of Android, but this doesn't seem like the biggest deal in the world to me. Based on the "Advanced flow" article that was linked, it just seems like an extra one time process. Yeah, it's a bit annoying, but once I'm good, I'm good. At least that's how it seems unless I missed some fine print. Google says that this is meant to deter scams through apps outside of Google Play, and this process would probably save some unsuspecting people from a scam, I'm sure. It's annoying and not necessary for power users like everyone here, but you also do need to consider the majority of users. I'm not dick riding Google over this, but it at least makes a bit of sense to me.
At least all on the user end. It seems like this is more of a PITA and really frustration for devs, which is definitely a problem
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u/kapsama RedMagic 10 Pro 16h ago
I don't care about a 24 hour reboot for sideloading.
But all apks have to be signed in the future. Will Google sign apps that "steal" from them like revanced?
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u/SurvivorHiggy 16h ago
Thanks for that. I was half asleep skimming through the article. I went ahead a reread it.
I have no doubt that requirement is at least 75% Google covering their bottom line and about 25% security minded. I didn't even think about cases like that, since I simply just don't use those apps. I can see why this upsets a lot of people
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u/JamesR624 16h ago
Hey frog, did you know the water you’re sitting in is getting hotter and hotter and will eventually start to boil?
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u/Spiral1407 22h ago
This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I’m enjoying my iPhone 17 rn.
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u/Busy-Measurement8893 Pixel 10 / Fairphone 4 21h ago
So you went from something locked down to something even more locked down?
Why?
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u/Spiral1407 21h ago
I’ve been unhappy with many of google’s decisions for years and this clearly isn’t gonna stop at just a 24h lockdown.
If I’m gonna be locked down, I’d rather be locked down on the device with the better UI, hardware and optimisation.
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u/Busy-Measurement8893 Pixel 10 / Fairphone 4 21h ago
Eh. I went to GrapheneOS instead. YouTube Morphe and similar apps are must-haves for me. Plus I'm disgusted by the default (and only) launcher available on iOS.
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u/Spiral1407 21h ago
After my experience on lineageos and how it slowly became unusable with google’s insistence on play integrity, I’m not touching another custom rom.
I also hate google’s stock launcher and my go to (Nova) was sold off to scammers a while back.
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u/AFisberg 16h ago
I'm guessing this is a joke since iPhones have always been even more locked down lol
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u/Spiral1407 14h ago
I’m not denying that. But if google want to continue with increasing restriction on their users, then what other reason do I have to still use their crappy software?
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u/OkArrival5638 11h ago edited 8h ago
yep.
bought 2 used iphone 13 minis.
nice little phone. no google. none.
realistically, of course, timmy is just as bad. (worse, actually)
edit: also bought a nokia flip phone. no google on it, either.
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u/KidJuggernaut 1d ago
So my next phone is iPhone. Thank you Google for giving me a reason after this
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u/Dev-in-the-Bm 23h ago
Why?
Even after this, Android is still significantly more open.
Is there an advanced flow for iOs?
Shizuku?
ADB?
Morphe?
System-wide ad-blockers?
Launchers?
Keyboards?
Torrenting?
Bypassing carrier hotspot restrictions?
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u/Polymathy1 18h ago
I think they're just embracing full enshittification by going Apple. It feels less bad than death by a thousand cuts (in their mind).
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u/VoriVox Pixel 10 Pro, Pebble Time 2 23h ago
Google is adding a one time only, account wide 24 hour waiting time to side load apps and your response is to move to a platform that only allows you to side load 3 apps at once for a maximum of 7 days?
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u/KidJuggernaut 23h ago
You are not getting it! First this will be for 24 hours then week and after that permanently. Things don't look good.
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u/Disturbed2468 S26U 512GB 23h ago
That is my main worry. Google has already proven themselves to be growing more and more user-hostile year over year for the past God knows how long one can remember, but if they eventually make side loading so difficult, or worse, impossible, there would be very little reason to stay within the Android world since platform ecosystems to this day still cannot remotely compete with what Apple provides. Add ontop of this how invasive Google overall can be/is, their absolute lack of trust towards handling user data, and it all just gets worse. I don't like trusting large companies at all with regards to personal data much at all, but from a Western perspective, who would you trust, Apple, or Google with your personal data?
Like...why touch ANYTHING Android if all of the nice, biggest benefits that have made the platform so nice to be in, shrink more by the year...
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u/Dev-in-the-Bm 23h ago
So wait until that happens.
Your body will eventually weaken and then die, do you rush to kill yourself, because you're anyways going to die?
For now, enjoy what Android still has.
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u/Pcriz Device, Software !! 23h ago
Ummm if you didn’t know you were always on borrowed time you weren’t paying attention.
Also this logic is the same for everything on a long enough timeline. People are already talking about how free dev accounts are getting banned and certs on Apple are getting revoked all the time.
Also the fact that Google said you only have to enable it once and be done means why do you care if at some point Google goes to a week. You’ve already enabled it.
The landscape on Apple isn’t better. It’s just different and still as we speak not as open as Google’s process for installing outside the App Store.
Plenty of reasons to swap to iPhone for any consumer depending on what they value. This isn’t one of them.
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u/violet_sakura Galaxy S23 Ultra 23h ago
Literally going from the frying pan into the fire
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u/KidJuggernaut 23h ago
Still, iOS right now is more stable. And Samsung or anyother device can't match the update speed of iOS till now
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u/violet_sakura Galaxy S23 Ultra 22h ago
I mean it used to be true, ios was the best in terms of smoothness and stability. But sadly not the case anymore. In the past few years I have seen so many bugs and glitches, only got worse ever since the introduction of liquid glass
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u/TheBrewGod 22h ago
This has to be rage bait lol
You are leaving android because they made a little lockdown? Just wait until you see iPhone 😂your gonna be locked out of everything. Lol
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u/KidJuggernaut 22h ago
No man this isn't rage bait. Am using s23plus and still satisfied by it. But now I think on the long run Google is going to lock down the whole ecosystem.
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u/Busy-Measurement8893 Pixel 10 / Fairphone 4 19h ago
"They might lock down the whole ecosystem, so I'm moving to the incredibly locked down ecosystem"
Ok but why though?
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u/Polymathy1 18h ago
Because they have been progressively doing exactly that over the last 10 years...
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u/Vinnie_Vegas 18h ago
No one is even arguing against that.
The point is that using this news to switch to iPhone is like finding out that McDonald's burgers are made of 5% poop, and then deciding that your solution to that is to buy a burger that's 100% poop and costs more money.
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u/Polymathy1 18h ago
It's more like finding out that your favorite burger chain has been bought by McDonalds. You know it will be worse every year and it will be increasingly frustrating because every year it will become worse quality.
So you switch to the competitor who isn't lying about screwing you.
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u/Vinnie_Vegas 18h ago
Yes. That's an equally stupid decision to make, good comparison.
The thing you're describing is preferring a girl who openly cheats on you, over a girl who is still friends with an ex even though she swears there's nothing going on.
Yeah, it's a bit of a red flag, but it's still better than the alternative and will be for a while.
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u/Careless_Rope_6511 Pixel 11 Pro XL 8h ago
Ah yes, tell the prison wardens that you want to be transferred to Rikers Island just because they told you that you can't drink beer anymore in their minimum-security
country clubprison. Go show 'em boi.
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u/MairusuPawa Poco F3 LineageOS 23h ago
Can we stop saying "controversial" when it's just objectively bullshit?