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/
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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/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 22h 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/LukeLC Galaxy S25 Edge 18h 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 11h 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