MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Android to block sideloading and unsigned apps

kandwo · 09-02-2025, 10:51 AM

I liked Cory Doctorow's blog post about it: https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/01/fulu/ (and the Rossman video he linked to in it).

He ties it to the degradation and the greed of corporations that we can see in general.

I just wonder how this will be implemented. Is there going to be some in-built blocking mechanism in newer versions of Android or will they be able to block installations on older devices, as well?

Also, I wonder how this will work in the EU. If I recall correctly, the EU forced Apple to open up their walled garden for precisely this kind of "sideloading" within the EU. Shouldn't that make Google's move illegal in most of Europe? Will they have a separate software for European users?

09-02-2025, 10:51 AM	#12
kandwo Evangelist Posts: 475 Karma: 11708254 Join Date: Dec 2020 Device: Boox, Bigme, Hisense, Kobo	I liked Cory Doctorow's blog post about it: https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/01/fulu/ (and the Rossman video he linked to in it). He ties it to the degradation and the greed of corporations that we can see in general. I just wonder how this will be implemented. Is there going to be some in-built blocking mechanism in newer versions of Android or will they be able to block installations on older devices, as well? Also, I wonder how this will work in the EU. If I recall correctly, the EU forced Apple to open up their walled garden for precisely this kind of "sideloading" within the EU. Shouldn't that make Google's move illegal in most of Europe? Will they have a separate software for European users?