{"id":407686,"date":"2026-05-02T02:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/407686\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T02:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:13:09","slug":"androids-new-24-hour-sideloading-delay-shouldve-happened-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/407686\/","title":{"rendered":"Android’s new 24-hour sideloading delay should’ve happened years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sideloading is a hot topic in the mobile sphere, and Google recently made a huge change for how it works on Android. I think it\u2019s a fantastic change, and I wish Google would have added the 24 hour delay for sideloading unverified apps years ago, but I\u2019m glad they\u2019ve finally done it.<\/p>\n

The majority of people don\u2019t actually need to sideload apps on Android<\/p>\n

The squeaky wheel gets the grease<\/p>\n

\"An
\n Credit:\u00a0Lucas Gouveia \/ How-To Geek | Maor_Winetrob \/\u00a0Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n

If we\u2019re being realistic, the average person doesn\u2019t need to sideload an app<\/a>. I\u2019ve gone nearly a decade without even desiring to sideload an app<\/a> on my iPhone, and even the past few years that I\u2019ve had an Android device as a secondary system, I haven\u2019t wanted to sideload an app on it.<\/p>\n

The thing is, sideloading apps is a very niche topic in the world of Android\u2014but the vocal minority love to scream about how big of an issue it is. I get it, being able to sideload is a nice feature, but it\u2019s not actually a necessity for most people.<\/p>\n

I have family members who have had Android devices for many, many years, and they\u2019ve never sideloaded anything. I\u2019ve talked to other people out and about and they don\u2019t even know what sideloading is.<\/p>\n

I feel like Google has listened to the vocal minority for far too long on sideloading, and I am very glad that they\u2019re finally taking steps to make it a bit more difficult to sideload apps.<\/p>\n

Sideloading is nice, but it\u2019s typically not an urgent need<\/p>\n

Waiting a day isn\u2019t the end of the world in most non-developer cases<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll admit, I have definitely sideloaded apps many times. I used to do it all the time, and now it\u2019s only on a very rare occasion. However, I can count on zero fingers how many times that need to sideload has been urgent.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of sideload needs on Android also aren\u2019t urgent. Maybe you want to play Fortnite and need to sideload the Epic Games Store\u2014that can wait until tomorrow. Or, maybe you\u2019re trying to load an older version of an app? That\u2019s also not urgent.<\/p>\n

With Google\u2019s new 24-hour waiting period<\/a> to sideload apps, the average consumer simply has to wait a day before they can sideload the app.<\/p>\n

However, the 24-hour delay only applies to one specific segment of developers: unverified developers. If an APK<\/a> comes from a verified developer<\/a>, then it can still be sideloaded without waiting 24 hours. Also, if the APK is sideloaded via ADB on a computer, then it bypasses the 24-hour delay as well, meaning if you do have an urgent need to sideload an APK, then you can just do it over ADB.<\/p>\n

Locking sideloadind behind a 24-hour delay will help more people then it hurts<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll stop hackers in their tracks when Grandma can\u2019t sideload a cracked APK same-day<\/p>\n

\"Android
\n Credit:\u00a0quietbits\/Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n

So, why is Google even making this change? To help prevent people from being packed. In the past, hackers have distributed malware-riddled APKs to unsuspecting people to download and install. The tactics are varied, but the delivery mechanism is the same.<\/p>\n

So, by Google making it so you can only sideload verified APKs<\/a> by default, and you have to wait 24 hours to sideload an unverified APK, they aim to reduce the amount of scams.<\/p>\n

Getting verified on the Play Store is cheap and easy\u2014it only costs $25 and takes a few minutes to apply, then a day or two to be approved. I did it a few weeks ago and it was a simple process. Any real developer is going to take the time to get verified and properly sign their APK. If a verified developer distributes malware, they likely won\u2019t be verified for long, meaning their APKs would fall under the 24 hour delay.<\/p>\n

\"Pixel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tBrand \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGoogle<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tSoC \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGoogle Tensor G5<\/p>\n

The Pixel 10 Pro offers an upgrade over the base model with the powerful Google Tensor G5 chip, more RAM, and more storage (if you need it).<\/p>\n

Google isn\u2019t taking away your ownership by making you wait 24 hours to sideload an unverified APK<\/p>\n

I get the arguments that people are making that Google is taking over their device and not letting you use it as you want, but that\u2019s simply not true. Google was very strategic with the sideload delay, making it only affect unverified developers. The fact that Google left ADB wide-open to sideload immediately goes to show that Google isn\u2019t trying to reduce functionality or take over your device, but simply protect people from sideloading something that could harm their device.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s long overdue for Google to step up and take protective measures for its users, and I\u2019m glad that they\u2019re finally doing it. I also like the way in which they did it, not taking features away from people, but simply adding in a small hurdle that will make it more difficult for hackers to trick people into giving them access to their device.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sideloading is a hot topic in the mobile sphere, and Google recently made a huge change for how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-407686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-mobile","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}