Google has news on what you will need to do for still being able to sideload apps:

* enable developer options
* confirm that you are not tricked
* restart phone and re-authenticate
* wait one day
* confirm with biometrics that you know what you are doing
* decide if you only want unrestricted installs for 1 week or forever
* confirm that you accept the risks
* enjoy the few apps that still have developers motivated to develop for a user-base willing to put up with this

https://goo.gle/advance-flow

@grote Something tells me LineageOS is about to suddenly get 100x more popular....

Of course then they'll have to start more obsessively locking down bootloaders and probably even remove the unlock option in anything they can. We've begun an age where even the open devices are now going to soon be closed and locked down.

And yeah, it's past time for a real OS.

EDIT: Wow, amazing levels of hate and fear towards the idea of using something more open that gives the user control over their own devices just because it's not as easy as simply buying something and it's already there...

You, uh, might want to look a little deeper into why you feel that way. Seriously, I'm not kidding. Think about it.

@nazokiyoubinbou @grote However scary the whole new Google process is for the non-expert user, installing a new OS on your daily driver phone is a hundred times scarier.

@FifiSch @grote I don't really understand that. The instructions are so simple and detailed and the "new OS" is basically exactly the same thing right down to having the same basic startup configuration and etc. The only difference is the Google connections are optional and one can decide for themselves how far they want to go.

It's pretty much just tapping a few things, then copying and pasting two lines or so. Once it's booted you wouldn't tell it apart from stock other than its cleanliness. It's easier than installing Linux on a PC and that's actually a lot easier and less scary than people have been convinced.

I bet if people didn't let Google, Apple, and etc convince them that they are so scared of installing third party options we never would have reached this point.

@nazokiyoubinbou @FifiSch @grote as a person who has had to flash custom Android firmware in the past for work let me say: that is never going to be something that non-technical users do. There might be a market for selling refurbished devices with LineageOS preinstalled to provide an alternative, though.

@tedmielczarek @FifiSch @grote That's a strong declaration without a whole lot of backing...

We'll just have to agree to disagree there.

I'm not saying that they're likely to do it. As I said, people have been systematically convinced not to even look into it. But I don't agree with a blanket statement that no one will ever do it either. Especially if they get pushed hard enough.