GoKawiilJoe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR At least one Android device owner has received the advanced flow for sideloading apps.
The user shared screenshots outlining the process, covering the 24-hour wait and more.
Fellow users expressed frustration with this change, while our own poll earlier this year also revealed widespread opposition.
Google announced a couple of weeks ago that it had started rolling out its advanced flow for sideloading apps on Android devices. This controversial new process requires users to restart their phones and then wait 24 hours before they can sideload apps, and a user has shared screenshots of this new flow.
Redditor Super-Ad8814 recently received the new sideloading flow on their unidentified Android device. A shared screenshot (see first image below) indeed shows that you need to confirm whether someone asked you to allow sideloading. This section also informs users that scammers often tell victims to sideload apps. Google’s fine print adds that government employees and legitimate business representatives will never ask you to enable sideloading.
This new sideloading process requires you to restart your device and wait 24 hours. Other screenshots shared by the Redditor indeed show off the restart steps. These images confirm that you can visit this page to see how much time is remaining. They also show that you can restart later if you like. Finally, the advanced flow notes that you can keep using your device as usual while you wait 24 hours.
Google previously confirmed that once you’ve waited 24 hours, you can choose to allow sideloading for seven days or indefinitely. Furthermore, the company previously stated that this advanced process doesn’t apply to sideloading via ADB.
Do you think Google will make sideloading apps even more restrictive in the future? 39 votes Yes 87 % No 13 %
Nevertheless, some Redditors in the thread have expressed concern with the future of sideloading on Android, such as user snowflake_0_o: This is going to get worse with every android version from now on. “Android is basically the windows of mobile phones so I can see why Google would have this as a feature. But I really hope they don’t perma lock us out of installing apks because this sounds like the next step to that,” added user Alternative-View8574.
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