Even though there’s not a lot of love for them, Android’s new sideloading rules are perhaps not as controversial as they first seem. Still, Google’s changes to app installs from outside its Play Store ecosystem mark a fundamental shift in how Android handles user software. If you’re not trusted by Google, you’re going to have a trickier time getting your app in front of potential users.
While plenty of Android users are happily immersed in Google’s protective shell and might never notice the changes, the repercussions will certainly be felt more heavily in some quarters — especially in communities and software tools that deliberately try to avoid Google’s ecosystem.
