You might think that Google's latest Android moves are designed to undercut choice and alt OEM/ODM ecosystems that could challenge Play...:
https://www.theverge.com/tech/897420/android-sideloading-unverified-developers-process
But rest assured, there's *plenty* of malware choice inside the walled garden:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/study-reveals-googles-play-store-is-main-distributor-of-malicious-apps
ICYMI, all of the arguments the mobile duopolists make to justify their chokehold over mobile software are bullshit, starting with security. Cutting off side loading furthers the coverup of native app insecurity:
https://infrequently.org/2026/01/naked-power/#the-security-argument
MADA hijinks (look it up), nerfing PWAs in Play, and failure to open up WebAPKs is a funhouse mirror of Apple's anti-web strategy.
Portability and interoperability are the duopolist's enemies, so a safe, powerful web is kryptonite.
/cc @owa @pluralistic
@ferricoxide @pluralistic @owa This is a trap, but you're far from alone in falling for it. To get a world where most computing is interoperable (and therefore, portable to platforms you prefer), we have to start by opening up the app layer, not the bootloaders. The arrow of causality will never have a large positive value if we force people to make up-front purchasing choices.
There's a long econ-ish explanation if you're curious, but "network effects" gets you most of the way there.
@slightlyoff It is true though that one common scam is tricking users into sideloading malware which then gains control over their android device.
Alex Russell
Alex Grant
ferricoxide
Abazigal