Google has news on what you will need to do for still being able to sideload apps:

[disorderlyf@todon.eu]

@grote According to the image, you can use a PIN instead of biometrics. Nearly gave me a heart attack when I read "confirm with biometrics" in the text.

[terminaltilt@climatejustice.social]

@valpackett @old_angry_queer @grote

You're right. I totally missed that.

[confusomu@twoot.site]

@nazokiyoubinbou @FifiSch @grote Unfortunately, you cannot do complete backups of android devices if you are not rooted. You may have a phone in use currently, which you didn't have the foresight to bootloader unlock and root when you initially got it, and thus installing any custom ROM is not very interesting as you would loose a large part of your data. The part of the data that you would lose is unknown as app/phone backups are opaque, and might also result in losing access to some messaging applications if not done carefully. In the best case, you would have a second phone from which to transfer data from, as a reference (and for messaging apps that can transfer accounts between devices).
At least, that's how I see it. The process itself is easy, but the steps before and after are much more scary.

In all, I do agree with your initial premise that LineageOS and other custom ROMs will become more popular for those that have android headsets that have unlockable bootloaders and have the initial knowhow.
We do seriously need more alternatives to Android and iOS, such as postmarketOS, as the current state of things is getting very dire. Unfortunately, the hardware itself is not very standardised and manufacturers want to keep control to squeeze a few more cents from each device…

[mrmasterkeyboard@mastodon.social]

@grote Google can FUCK right off. NO ONE should have to do ANY of this.

[stellafoxxie@oldbytes.space]

@monapp @grote installing a custom rom is not that fucking easy lol

[bonsai861@mastodon.social]

@grote That's a ridiculous number of hoops to jump through to use your own phone...

[timwardcam@c.im]

@tedmielczarek @grote No, it was a real job I had at a real company. I just wondered whether people would still be able to do that.

[cody@catboy.baby]

@grote@chaos.social What a fucking dumpsterfire, well I guess it's time to develop a RISC-V operating system for phones that is actually open source, and deploy open hardware infrastructure hosted by actual human beings and not FUCKING CORPORATIONS to support international communications with them.
Though in fairness I guess if that even happened corporations would lobby to regulate against it so we'd be fucked anyway ​​
Also idk how we'd do transatlantic shit... I hate the world.

[kimby@misskey.art]

@grote@chaos.social Using third party apps that are not in PlayStore is a hacker thing now?

[orsinium@fosstodon.org]

@grote

calling it "sideloading" is already an insult. it's not a sideloading, it's installing an app like we used to (and still do) install apps on PC forever. inventing scary slurs is a psychological trick that we should not accept.

[1hommeazerty@mamot.fr]

@grote So they decided to make it more complicated than installing a free Android distribution.

[7heo@ieji.de]

@ziclaud

You need to make a xiaomi account and bind it to your device. It has a 24+h wait, allegedly. I have no idea how it works, though, I have never done it.

I'd recommend using something else than a phone. 🫠

[synnef@woof.tech]

@grote they're stepping back a lot so the pushback is clearly working, keep it up until we get rid of this entirely

i must admit, this is a lot better than what i thought their "advanced flow" would be. don't give them a single inch though, if this is implemented it'll be the first step towards fully killing off installing the apps you want to use on your device that you paid for

[tehstu@hachyderm.io]

@tedmielczarek @grote You put more thought into the joke than I did, to be fair.

[dusk@nou.fai.st]

@grote I mean, at that point using adb is kinda easier

[grote@chaos.social]

@dusk https://chaos.social/@grote/116257742125864690

[paradox@social.tchncs.de]

@grote
Not watching it. Thank you

[eldaking@weirder.earth]

@grote I'm very thankful to google for covering the incredibly common case where I'm forced at gunpoint to install a malicious apk. Now such attacks will require attackers to kidnap me for a couple of days, which severely limits their options.

We can finally break the cycle of coercion where after being scammed into installing an apk, I started scamming people into installing apks.

[jake4480@c.im]

@grote it will REQUIRE biometrics? See, @fistfulofdave @wendigo @gavin57 this is what I mean. Whole world wants to put biometrics in everything. It's nonsense

[raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie]

@kevinrns @utf_7 @grote
That won't work.