Mastodawn

#Google trips over its own words, when they sell you #Android it's the best computing device in the world that does everything. After you bought it Google doesn't let you do anything *you* want to.

#Sideload is a made-up term. Putting software on your computer is simply called “installing”, regardless of whether that computer is in your pocket or on your desk.

What Do You Talk About When You Talk About Sideloading?

What does Google?

Here's #FDroid: https://f-droid.org/2025/10/28/sideloading.html

What We Talk About When We Talk About Sideloading | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

We recently published a blog post with our reaction to the new Google Developer Program and how it impacts your freedom to use the devices that you own in th...

Dualtronic Oct 28

@fdroidorg Hot take: Google can afford to do this chiefly for two reasons:

1. They're one half of a duopoly.
2. We all need a smartphone to function in modern society.

If people knew they could buy a KaiOS phone and use it for 2FA or payments, Google might not be so cocky. If governments everywhere didn't keep threatening to eliminate cash, Google might not feel too big to fail. Demanding regulation is all good and well. I hope it works. But they'll just try again, like with Chat Control.

ℒӱḏɩę 💾☮∞🎶♲☀🔋Oct 28

@fdroidorg time for true Linux phones, with actual good and modern hardware

Samuel Hautamäki Oct 28

@fdroidorg Sideloading is a cool term though fr

Matija Nalis Oct 29

@samuel
#Sideloading is a term - it is when you use another computer on the SIDE of your mobile device, connect them via cable (that is why it has to be on the SIDE) and use that other computer to remotely install the app on the mobile device, without mobile device having a choice. You know, like with "adb sideload" command.

Using your web browser or app store of your choice on your mobile device to install apps is just regular "installing apps".

Matija Nalis Oct 29

@[email protected]

In other words, #Google is intentionally misusing the term, trying to redefine #sideloading to mean "using your phone in any way that prevents Google from collecting and selling your personal data, or having user having any ownership rights on their device".

I would suggest #EU to bill Google 10€ for false advertising for each time they've thus misused the word "sideloading", multiplied by number of all Android phones ever sold, multiplied by number of days this continues

Stéphane Calonnec 🗿Oct 28

@fdroidorg Keep going on guys 🙏❤️ but we do know what Android not became, but always be : Google's Monopoly toy. Time to switch to another system. Urgently we do need projects like @postmarketOS or Mobian to go from testers to full daily use, with smartphones built with open hardware. No way to keep Qualcomm/Android in this deal because one forces you to use the other one... Nice hardware and software locking system that Microsoft would love too !

@scalonnec @fdroidorg @postmarketOS didnt google move away from qualcomm for their pixel devices since the pixel 6?

and afaik you can still install any OS you want on their devices?

I am not a fan of google like the next guy, but keep the reasoning in the realm of reality, please

Stéphane Calonnec 🗿Oct 29

@brahms @fdroidorg @postmarketOS the Pixels rely on their self designed (with Samsung) Tensor. Google owns the hardware, and the firmware. This way, they control everything and can open source, close when they want, or make the CPU not supported when they want - the Apple way. Same for Qualcomm. There's anything open source and it does kill any side project.
Pixels are the basic development platform, making them a bit more open, but it stops here. On a Pixel, you can install any OS but Android.

@scalonnec @fdroidorg @postmarketOS its a technicality, but I doubt graphene will deploy any upstream change that will close the hardware up, so at least until my phone stops getting support, im fine.

not sure what you mean with that last sentence.

the solution is actually well known: get a publicly funded hardware stack that offers acceptable security capabilities. I dont see this happening anytime soon, so pixel + graphene is the way to go atm

Stéphane Calonnec 🗿Oct 30

@brahms Yes I do agree, we do rely on closed hardware and that's the first problem ; open sourcing blobs would allow to install anything...
GrapheneOS (which is an AOSP Android : even "open source", Google is the game master and makes the rules, just what's happening now) seems to have strange partnership, it's secured, open source but I feel there's some money behind... That's just my own feeling.
Sorry for my last sentence, I was saying that on Pixel, you only can install Android...

Matti_Vuori Oct 28

@fdroidorg Google is sidecontrolling us...

🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 leastaction Oct 28

@fdroidorg >The promise of Android — and a marketing advantage it has used to distinguish itself against the iPhone — has always been that it is “open”. But Google clearly feels that they have enough of a lock on the Android ecosystem, along with sufficient regulatory capture, that they can now jettison this principle with prejudice and impunity.

This is what Cory Doctorow calls enshittification.

#cory_doctorow #enshittification

don Elías (como los buses) 🥨Oct 28

@fdroidorg sideloading is a made up "fault", like the made up crime of jaywalking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AFn7MiJz_s

Adam Ruins Everything - Why Jaywalking Is a Crime

YouTube

Chris Real Oct 28

@donelias @fdroidorg

The story of jaywalking is the story of ALL the capital/corp industries protecting their profits.

Music/clothing/liveEvents are ALL naively cooperative with this very organized industry of entertaining.

Until the biggest profit makers object (Hey, Taylor Swift and friends . . .) nothing will change. But without people calling them out, they will continue to say "But I didn't KNOW . . ."

🇺🇦🇪🇺 cweickhmann Oct 28

@fdroidorg One argument against so-called "sideloading" has always been "security", which is funny when you consider the amount of shady scam apps in the official app store.

@fdroidorg shouldn't sideloading actually mean applications that gets installed without your consent which google seem to be quite good at pushing applications I never asked for like Android System SafetyCore

zetabeta Oct 28

@fdroidorg
short:
i think android as a open system is over. it is only a matter of time when it dies.

i thought somewhere around 2015 that android was fixable into open system, even that time there was too much google in it.

now we need fresh start .... unfortunately.

(f-droid probably do not want to hear this.)

(apple is already closed, now even macs.)

Ben Todd Oct 28

I'm not absolving the A holes at Google but I think the Trump regime could have told them to do this. They don't want period apps that don't share information with them or apps that thwart ICE efforts etc. Verified developers will have to play nicely with the regimes wishes.

Richard W. Woodley ELBOWS UP 🇨🇦🌹🚴‍♂️📷 🗺️Oct 28

Just Don't (Anything) Google

Alexandre Oliva Oct 29

+1

instead of the propaganda term sideloading, I've recently adopted decideloading to side with user agency

if you decideloading a program into your computer, and your computer won't obey, it's not your computer

🦾ChatGPT hyphen🤖Nov 6

@lxo @fdroidorg
Decideunloading Google Play Services from my phone…

Better than burners for demos?

This:

TorServices (alpha)
The simplest, fastest, smallest Tor proxy app (early test release)

https://f-droid.org/packages/org.torproject.torservices/

TorServices (alpha) | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

The simplest, fastest, smallest Tor proxy app (early test release)

Jack Yan (甄爵恩)Oct 29

@fdroidorg Quick question, if you donʼt mind, since I canʼt find this anywhere online. The 'outside of China' qualifier in your post: does this mean Chinese-spec, non-Google phones (which are still Android) will escape Googleʼs draconian measures?

@jackyan China distributions don't use Google Services, which are usually the way to enforce this. Then again some Chinese OEMs do things like this for a while now, maybe easier to disable but still problematic.

Jack Yan (甄爵恩)Oct 30

@fdroidorg Thank you! I couldnʼt find an answer to this online, really glad you knew.

skedarwarrior Oct 29

@fdroidorg 1000%

Milu P. Pragerova Oct 29

@fdroidorg
This is the last straw from google. I will go to graphene OS.
However, if there will be such a monstrous monopoly owned by google without any solid competition, de-googling will be difficult for the average user. Unfortunately, most users don't care about this case.

Nova🐧✨Oct 29

@fdroidorg https://www.uploadvr.com/android-xr-apk-for-that-no-need-for-pc-phone/

he's in for a rude awakening when android XR bring closed source and such catches up with him

In Android XR, There's An APK For That, And No Need For A Phone Or PC

A weekend with Android XR installing APKs from the open web is like a breath of fresh air, and you won't need a phone or PC.

UploadVR

Gaming Against Violence Oct 29

Our nonprofit group's award winning, prosocial, non-violent video games were removed by #Google.

🤥 They claimed that we had misled them by classifying them as #educational. Google purported to know more about our work than we do.

🎮 Our free games about #consent and #healthyrelationships were unilaterally removed from Google Play, making it much tougher for us to reach and help young people.

🧡 The ubiquity of smartphones make game marketplaces a necessary channel for us to reach #adolescents directly.

#indiegames #publichealth #violenceprevention #DVAM #antitrust #criticalthinking #dh #undueinfluence #duopoly #education #students @stopTDV

@gamingagainstv @stopTDV But is it #FLOSS ?

Jennifer Ann's Group Oct 30

@fdroidorg @gamingagainstv

No, not truly #floss.

Our games are free and can be shared freely; no DRM.

But, due to the nature of the games, we don't allow changes to the meaning and nature of the narratives.

The games are non-violent, trauma-informed, and designed for ages 11-15. Topics include #consent and #abuse #prevention. We won't allow the games to be adapted into something violent or harmful.

This approach limits our reach - but helps us protect students from harmful content.

@stopTDV @gamingagainstv Even if it can't be in the f-droid.org repo, you can always host your own repo with your apps. See https://f-droid.org/en/docs/Setup_an_F-Droid_App_Repo/

Setup an F-Droid App Repo | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

Overview Local Demo Repo HOWTO Customization App Metadata Real World Setup F-Droid.org is the default package repository (repo) in the F-Droid client, but it...

Jennifer Ann's Group Oct 30

@fdroidorg @gamingagainstv @crecente

Thank you, this is great to know! We use F-Droid but didn't realize we could host a repository with our apps.

We still have some work to do to finish getting our environment setup properly; once that's done we will add a repository. Thanks again!

Seong Ara Oct 30

@fdroidorg This is what happen when people kept promoting iPhone.

Hopefully, linux mobile phone gets more attentions.

@fdroidorg are they not violating the copyright of the linuxkernel?

@fdroidorg Would you consider #sideload a form of gaslighting?

Carsten O. 📯 💚🌻Nov 2

@fdroidorg I understand what you mean.

Got my @fairphone and installed @murena /e/OS A15 from @gael .

So #Google deny to let #AndroidAuto work.

Not because it is dangerous, just because they can.

This is, what happens if companies own infrastructure, they bully people.

Preferring #android over #apple back then was the option of being able to install from outside of the App/Playstore.

Michael T Babcock Mar 27

@fdroidorg 😂 what hyperbole.
First is the falsehood that #Google had ever claimed #Android devices are the "best computing device[s] in the world that [do] everything."
Second, the fallacy that this definition would preclude a protected ecosystem like they propose. Apple? Most people prefer the safety it offers them.
Side-loading? Valid. Silly argument.
The new changes protect *most* users from themselves.
Best? Power users aren't being stopped at all. Its an inconvenience at best.
#sysadmin

@mikebabcock So you're saying 3.9 billion #Android users should not be allowed to install verified/reproducible #FLOSS apps because... ?

Michael T Babcock Mar 30

@fdroidorg how about you do some responsible journalism and read the part where Google won't stop you from side-loading whatever you want so long as you jump through a couple hoops to make sure you're not being coerced by a third party?
Are you being purposely ignorant or do you have an angle here?
Google has *very clearly* stated they won't prevent you from doing these things with a little hand-holding.
#technology #sysadmin

@mikebabcock and if google says it it must be true, right? @fdroidorg

FLOSSbOxIN Mar 30

@mikebabcock
While the phone is still the most popular form of computing - 2022 (https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/io22-multideviceworld/)

Protecting Users

Our Google Play Developer policies are designed to provide a safe and secure experience for our users while also giving developers the tools they need to succeed. - 2018
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/10/providing-safe-and-secure-experience.html

Living in a multi-device world with Android

At I/O, Android announced updates to your phone, to your watch and tablet devices, and to help all your devices work better together.

Google