Android's new sideloading guardrails are now official in four countries

Google announced a new process of sideloading apps on Android back in spring this year, and Android users had mixed feelings about it, to say the least. Google argues that the new rules prevent scammers from pressuring people into installing malicious apps, and four countries are now getting the changes.

Every phone running Android 7 or later in Brazil, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia now requires users to enable the option in Developer Options, authenticate, restart the device and wait 24 hours before being able to sideload unregistered apps. The setting allows users to sideload apps from unregistered developers and app stores for seven days or indefinitely, depending on what the user chooses.

The authorized app stores for now are, of course, Google Play, Samsung Galaxy Store, Honor App Market, Oppo App Market, Xiaomi GetApps, vivo V-Appstore and Transsion Palm Store.

The new sideload flow is deliberately inconvenient in order to disrupt scammers, but Android users are not convinced, and they believe it may be the first step toward a more closed, iOS-style ecosystem.

For now, only the aforementioned four countries are seeing the new sideload process being introduced, but other markets will start seeing the changes soon enough.

Source