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Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

androidauthority.com

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Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#61

Post by [deleted] »

londons_explore wrote: post #26
thaumasiotes wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> [Google's] strategy is growing markets, especially in india, and africa, and of course China. Really? China? Where Google services are banned and Android phones come with local OS versions that cut them out? "High-friction sideloading" won't affect anyone in China. It won't be part of their experience at all.

I think OP is suggesting that the ability to sideload is what is preventing their phones being distributed in China. If you can present a "locked down" phone to regulators, you might be more likely to get permission to sell large volumes of them - like iPhones in China.

[deleted]

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#62

Post by onli »

rich_sasha wrote: post #34
MrDresden wrote: post #24

When this whole thing got announced, I purchased a new Pixel 9 and flashed it with GrapheneOS. I am hoping that in about 6-8 years (when I realistically need to update) the landscape might be a bit better. Or who knows, maybe I'll just continue using GrapheneOS. So far I have not had a single issues with it. Apps the rely on attestation do not work, but honestly it's only two applications out of hundreds so I can liv…

I think the EU should pile in as well. It's basically an oven-ready independent mobile OS.

Graphene OS spends its social capital on hallucinating attacks from other projects and bullying other projects by sending their followers against them, based on those hallucinated attacks. It also has a completely intransparent project structure based around a supposedly retired mean developer, who then just did not (and still does almost all commits). That's not a project where the EU can invest money in, and the confidence users on HN tend to put into that project is baffling.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#63

Post by Sophira »

The image at the top of the article is actually what already happens in Android and has done for years. At first, I thought that this meant that the article was very outdated, but no, this is from January 2026.

I imagine the text of the article is fine, but I'm a little bit disappointed that Android Authority chose to lead with that image and caption and make it seem that this is what the future flow would look like. You'd think they'd know better.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#64

Post by shreddit »

BatteryMountain wrote: post #59

If the make sideloading high-friction, either via account-bound or apk upload or permissions from MNO/ISP, I will leave android. I have a bunch of my own apps that only I use, not released to the public, if I cannot use them, I have zero reason to stay on android. I think one of the reasons they want to lockdown the system is to prevent guys like me from locking THEM out of my home/ecosystems, as and example, I build…

Yeah, as an iOS dev, the grass is not greener on this side of the fence…

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#65

Post by throwa356262 »

I think i have an idea that would better protect normal users while not getting in the way for power users and developers:

1. All applications must be signed with a valid store key.

2. Anyone can import a store key after rebooting into the bootloader (similar flow as custom roms)

3. Google can maintain a list of malicious keys and reject them

Why is this better? Because it makes it much harder to trick grandma into installing an APK some site just dropped.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#66

Post by jaksdfkskf »

ffsm8 wrote: post #54
bluescrn wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they think the audience is now fully captive. It is, for the large sub-$800 segment of the smartphone market.

you mean sub $599, right? https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-16e Which is still a valid argument, the number is just lower. And the UX on these sub 600 devices have definitely gotten worse over the last 5 years too... Likely because Google isn't really targeting that price point anymore, so Android isn't getting enough optimization to be viable on underpowered devices. That was different in 2010-2020

[dead]

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#67

Post by jhanschoo »

As TFA does not mention it, and I don't see any top-level comments discussing it, this is a continued rollout of a "feature" first piloted in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. See:

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-...

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/11/android-de...

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/google-android-dev...

Of course, HN reaction has always been skeptical about this including in earlier news. But the reporting on it, and the countries in which it is piloted in, seems to me to involve government/banking industry cooperation with or pressure on Google to combat cyber fraud. These polities are prime targets for Android cyber fraud of this sort due to Android penetration, and seemingly (to me) also cultural proximity to scam operators, and tech-illiteracy among the vulnerable demographic. (And anticipating a reply I got from a previous article on my comment on this feature---no, it's just not feasible to comprehensively educate retirees against evolving tactics by scam operators and expect that to be a sufficient sole countermeasure.)

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#68

Post by RobotToaster »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #12

Google's long term strategy with Android is baffling to me. Apple has had better mobile hardware for years. Apple has higher consumer trust. Apple has better app selection (for most people). Apple has been increasingly implementing the core features that differentiate Android devices, like USB-C and RCS. Every Android user lost to the increasing iOS market share is another customer Google has to pay exorbitant fees t…

What confuses me is that easy "sideloading" has been the main thing that kept down the proliferation of degoogled custom ROMs.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#70

Post by mohas »

chii wrote: post #25
jacquesm wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the surprise, they do the same with search, they do the same with their Google workspace (the degree to which they are pushing AI is really hurting the product). Google stopped being aware of their customer's needs a really long time ago, they are so arrogant they think the audience is now fully captive.

> they think the audience is now fully captive. the audience is captive. Do you have a choice to move from android, if you didnt want to have an apple device? Do you want to use a different search engine other than google? Is there another email provider than gmail (for the non-technical person - i know you can run your own). Is there another browser other than chrome (and dont say firefox or edge - because both don'…

the move don't have to be permanent, there are alternatives and as we increase our usage and give active feedback and commit to invest even little money in them, they will improve too. I've seen this pattern a thousand times the monopoly gets worst and worst until a revolutionary new tech will rise it applies to social concepts, business sectors, companies, mother-in-laws, etc.
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