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

[eldaking@weirder.earth]

@grote "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."

In these scenarios, Google exploits fear – using threats of financial ruin, legal trouble, or harm to a loved one – to justify taking control over your phone.

"According to a 2025 report from the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), 57% of surveyed adults experienced a scam in the past year, resulting in a global consumer loss of $442 billion."

We don't have any data on harm being caused specifically by sideloading apps, so here is some completely unrelated data that is very worrying.

[luatic@mastodon.social]

@grote wow. for a second i thought this was satire, but then i clicked on the link and it's literally as you say.

why do i have a feeling this is not really about security?

[alexmorse@mastodon.social]

@grote this really amps up linux phones. android was already a pain in the ass, what's the point of using it with all that? Might as well get the cheap apple phones

[nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social]

@confusomu @FifiSch @grote Honestly just feels like a whole lot of "I don't want to, it sounds hard." Which is just what all these posts feel like.

If you don't divest from Google, it stores backups in your account — the "cloud" if you will. If you do want to divest from Google, you can set it up to use the internal backup function that's in like 9 or so on up to backup to a flash drive or whatever, which it can import during initial configuration when you first boot up.

But really there is a lot less to lose in most apps than one might think. It's usually so little trouble to redo things I typically don't bother even though I have root and backups. There are benefits even to starting clean.

People want to be scared of the process.

As always, one can ask someone to help!

[kevinrns@mstdn.social]

@raymaccarthy @utf_7 @grote

I found a credit union in one quick search that allows at least some browser access ...

This is a fight, find allies. Credit unions are better than banks, many much better.

[jernej@androiddev.social]

@grote you're going to disable this in your custom builds anyway, right?

[glyzberj@silverbay.space]

@grote How to replace the firmware with something else?

[onterof@sueden.social]

@grote Does this also apply for using adb directly? Sideloading is already a pain since the introduction of xapks

[gimulnautti@mastodon.green]

@grote And watch this path become unmaintained and not working within 6 months.

[fistfulofdave@mastodon.social]

@jake4480 @grote @wendigo @gavin57 well I only have a Google account to see my kids school stuff, it’s getting deleted after that. No Google anything for me, groan YouTube as little as possible. That being said I can’t side load anything on an iPhone. Well without jailbreaking it.

[msmissing@waf.moe]

maybe Google just doesn’t like developing android anymore and want an excuse to stop having to update it (no more userbase)

#google #android #android-sideloading

[faduda@mastodon.ie]

@LexYeen @grote

But all they've done is make it sound cool.

[umbreon@donphan.social]

@LexYeen @grote Should call installing app store apps "Backloading" for how much these companies fuck their customers *and* developers

[gurupanguji@mastodon.social]

@msmissing @grote very cynically, one can argue that promos are now tied to making Gemini do more and not android

[kevinrns@mstdn.social]

@raymaccarthy @utf_7 @grote

Lenovo is pushing back hard on locked in software, selling ThinkPads cheaper if they install linux, their phone division is partnering with a non google non apple OS.

There are avenues and partners, and when Trump is gone let's break up the tech bros monopolizers into very small competing companies. Very small.

Its a BIG fight, its not just phones, its not just the US.

Support, discuss, ORGANIZE.

[bussphomet@app.wafrn.net]

Yeah fuck this

Time to get a furi or jolla phone

[resuna@ohai.social]

@Umbreon @LexYeen @grote

Buttloading from the butt store.

[goss@c.im]

In the long term Alphabet are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

I note that Canadian company Graphene has announced a partnership with Motorola. For clarification, it appears at this stage these Motorola phones will be developed in partnership with Graphene, shipping with Android but fully Graphene ready.

If these are good (Motorola make good hardware) I will set up a biz to obtain commercial quantities of these and beginning offering them for sale already flashed with Graphene.

Things are getting so bad even non nerd boomers are coming to me expressing concern about relying on bug tech of the former US and asking me for advice so there is a market for 'clean' devices.

Anyway, back to my point, once more privacy respecting alternatives are commercially available Android will lose ground and the rivers of gold of AD revenue begin drying up in the same way Windows 11 is prompting an exodus to Linux.

[resuna@ohai.social]

@luatic @grote

whose security is it about?

[resuna@ohai.social]

@jake4480 @grote @fistfulofdave @wendigo @gavin57

No, you can use a device PIN.