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Android won't kill sideloading after all, but new verification rules will make it harder
(www.techspot.com)
this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2026
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It's not a "bullshit new term", it's three decades old and means transferring files locally from one device to another, instead of directly downloading or uploading from/to an external server.
The origin goes back to MP3.com and i-drive in late 90's, but the most common sideloading people did was downloading music to their PC using services like iTunes, and transferring them to their mp3 players. As they did often with early PDA and smartphone apps, where the term for Android comes from - get the .apk on your computer, transfer it to your phone, and install it.
Sideloading.
Fair, it's not a new term. I was born in the 80'ies, I'm familiar with the concept.
However, it's now being used with new bullshit meaning (i.e. going outside the Google/Apple app and their own offered selection), and media are normalizing this use.
Okay, but Google uses it in a way where directly going to the server they host F-Droid.apk, downloading and installing it counts as sideloading.
If anything, using Google Play is sideloading by that definition, since I can't just download a release from the originators' server, they need to first transfer it into a secondary location, Google's servers, and I can only install it from there.
so you're saying it is the wrong word, because most apks are downloaded from the internet on-device. That is not a local transfer
It is still the same installation method, directly installing the .apk file, from way back when the term for Android usage was defined. So, kinda, but also kinda not. Also, if you do use ADB to do the install from a PC, the command is "ADB sideload filename" which will do the transfer and installation to the memory directly. Then it truly is sideloading as defined.
Android doesn't use ROMs (Read-only Memory) any more either, because the filesystems are now writable. But Lineage etc are still called custom ROMs, because the end result hasn't changed.
@JohnEdwa @wide_eyed_stupid indeed. but it takes only a single incendiarily indignant but factually wrong mastodon post to force anyone left who's still reading wikipedia to clarify forever, because the OP is being parroted until hell freezes over.
@JohnEdwa @wide_eyed_stupid the correct take would be "i should be free to sideload software to my devices in any way i please".
@lritter @JohnEdwa @wide_eyed_stupid unfortunately the term has been anti-reclaimed by corpos for use to imply it’s outside the norm to have control over what runs on your own device
@zaire @wide_eyed_stupid @JohnEdwa it's our term. just like the sparkles emoji. they can't claim anything. it's all ours. they can go to hell.