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Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android
(www.androidauthority.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2026
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We're upset about it because Google is attempting to change the norm in an authoritarian, self-serving way. It's a war on general-purpose computing, and "average smartphone users" -- especially ones who don't also have a PC to understand what they're missing -- are victims of it.
The term is anti-property-rights propaganda.
Google has never been doing anything else. How is showing yet another popup a war on general-purpose computing? All they are interested in is their profit and market share. You always will be able to install external APKs, worst case using adb. And the more they'll lock it down, the more workarounds, jailbreaks and tools will pop up.
Literally every company is doing the same, from your smart TV to your smart fridge. Further restrictions on external installations (as in non-PlayStore) is at least something that arguably brings some benefit to some users, given the current state of cyber security.
"Anti-property-rights propaganda" is a very big term in the context of the sideloading change, when you should assume that your device might get fully and remotely bricked anytime when Trump or one of his cultists finally loses his shit and orders a cease of operations e.g. in Europe to put pressure down.
Anyone who is concerned about Google's ethics has moved to another ROM where Google can't do shit. Others don't care, and keep using it as-is. And that's all there is, like it or not, move on or don't, but yapping about propaganda for a term preceding the play store by about 20 years is not doing anything.