this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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Technology

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[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 30 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Another reason sideloading is important.

[–] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 16 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Sideloading isn’t a real term - there is only loading a better OS than whatever spy-tech google is offering.

You can’t “sideload” hardware you own - you just install whatever software you like and prefer

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 1 points 4 hours ago

Exactly. It's important that we stop saying "sideloading", we should just say "install directly" or some other non-loaded expressions

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 16 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Jesus Tittyfucking Christ, yes it is. I'm not typing out "installing software from outside the Google Play Store" every time, so you can go away.

[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

You could go with something in between? Side loading is a loaded term created to insinuate we are doing something we shouldn't be doing.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org -1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

No it's not. Someone just made that up.

[–] Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works 10 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (2 children)

Yes, Apple did. Before that it was called downloading

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 hour ago

Yes, Apple notoriously invented it for the Android Debug Bridge too.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org -2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (2 children)

Once again, no they didn't. Literally just look it up. You have the knowledge of the world at your fingertips.

The term "sideload" was coined in the late 1990s by online storage service i-drive as an alternative means of transferring and storing computer files virtually instead of physically

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideloading

Had I said "downloading" it wouldn't have made much sense, would it?

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

listen, I've been in technology since before i-drive existed and I've never heard of i-drive nor do I care about the vocabulary they used.

The first time I ever heard the term sideloading was when these mobile stores started using it to make other options sound illegitimate.

[–] Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 hours ago

Yep, and that definition was definitely what you meant lmfao.

You’re obviously within spitting distance of the point, you basically spelled it out in your last sentence, just, I don’t know, reread your words slowly?