Sideloading has always been seen as one of the best perks of the Android operating system for many users. Not only does it let users sidestep Google’s more restrictive Play Store, but it also gives them access to apps that don’t or can’t make their way onto the Play Store for one reason or another. In fact, sideloading has become such a big deal that even Apple brought sideloading to the iPhone in some countries.
However, Android fans found themselves at a bit of a crossroads earlier this year when Google announced it would make sideloading apps more difficult in the name of security. Despite the tech giant saying that sideloading wasn’t going anywhere, many users weren’t convinced that would be the case. Now, it seems Google is once more rethinking its plans, announcing that it will continue to allow sideloading of applications, but only for “experienced” users.
The company wrote in a new blog post that based on “feedback and our ongoing conversations with the community, we are building a new advanced flow that allows experienced users to accept the risks of installing software that isn’t verified.” Further, Google notes that it is building the system with anti-coercive procedures in place to ensure users are not “tricked into bypassing” any of the checks and balances put in place with the change.
What does ‘experienced user’ mean?
While Google doesn’t explicitly state what it means by experienced users, the language used in the post seems to insinuate that users themselves will be able to determine if they are experienced enough to accept the risk — something that Google already does with Android’s hidden developer menu, which can only be accessed by tapping a specific option in your phone’s Settings a certain amount of times. Sideloading has always come with a warning, though that doesn’t appear to have stopped hackers from finding loopholes to exploit on Android.
Whether that speculation proves true remains to be seen, though, as we don’t really have much choice but to wait for Google to elaborate further as it continues to work on this system in the weeks ahead. Additionally, the company says it is going to continue to gather feedback to ensure that the setup for this particular system is ready when it eventually arrives. For now, though, we can at least rest a little easier knowing that Google still plans to trust its users to know what they’re doing, at least to some degree.
