As a long-time Android user and lover, I love it when Apple borrows from the green robot’s playbook. It only makes the iPhone a viable choice. That’s not to say the fruit hasn’t had features and ideas worth copying – it has and I’m glad the robot wasn’t ashamed to copy.
Let them borrow the best features and practices from each other and we all win. One of the major reasons iPhones hold on to their values is that they are supported for a long time. For example, the iPhone XS which was released back in 2018 got the latest iOS 18.
Google and it’s Android partners were forced to up their game. So, now we see Galaxys and Pixels getting 7 years of OS upgrades. That’s the right kind of copying.
There were other choices that Android manufacturers copied that still irk me to this day. You have Apple to thank for the following innovations:
- removal of headphone jack on flagship phones
- removal of the charger from the box
- removal of extendable storage (Apple never played that game)
This latest one will divide Android users. Some won’t care but for me, it goes down to the core of what differentiates Android from iOS.
Sideloading of apps
Both Google and Apple have official app stores. Google has the Play Store and Apple has the App Store.
These stores are managed by the makers of the operating systems and are therefore the best places to get apps from.
I know that in Zimbabwe most people only download a few third-party apps, mostly just WhatsApp and Facebook and call it a day. The Play Store and the App Store are the right places to do that.
However, there are reasons why one would want to look for apps elsewhere.
Reasons we do this
- Some apps we want are not available in our location. That whole region locking practice. For example, there are some British TV apps I once used that were not available here.
- Some apps go against official app stores’ strict and oftentimes ridiculous policies. I’m talking some crypto apps or even emulators.
- In my rooting days, I needed some specialised apps that could never list on an official app store.
- Some app developers want to avoid the revenue-sharing models imposed by app stores and so may delist some apps. The best example being Fortnite.
There are many other reasons why we sideload but I think the most important ones are these:
- We want access to discontinued apps. Just because a developer abandons a perfectly good app, we don’t have to be deprived.
- We want to access older versions of apps. Oh my goodness, I can’t count how many times a developer has ruined an app with updates. Sometimes they remove features, sometimes they introduced terrible ones. If we don’t want to deal with that, we can just find the older version outside the official app stores.
- For Zimbabwe, we also have an internet access cost problem. We are usually on a tight budget when it comes to data. So, we prefer getting apps from our friends who’ve already downloaded them. Or from the guys in town that have signs that say ‘We install WhatsApp.’
- We also have a huge Huawei fanbase in Zimbabwe whose phones have no Play Store. They depend on sideloading to get apps.
It’s not just WhatsApp, Zimbabweans love sharing APK’s. APKs are like digital boxes that contain Android apps, allowing you to install them on your device even if they’re not from the official store.
If we want to do all this, the Fruit and the Big G should warn us of the dangers of downloading from outside of their gardens.
However, we should be able to tell them, thanks for the warnings but its okay, we want to live a little dangerously.
That has been the reality on Android and while it still exists, the beginning of the end may have just come.
Android apps can now block sideloading
Yes, Android developers now have the ability to prevent their apps from being sideloaded. This means that users may be forced to download certain apps exclusively from the Google Play Store.
This is thanks to an update to the Play Integrity API. Developers can use this API to check if their app was installed from the Play Store. If not, they can choose to block the app from running or display a message urging the user to download it from the official store.
Here are screenshots by linuxct showing you how that would look:
There are reasons why developers may want to do this: security, app integrity and monetisation and metrics.
You know that whole WhatsApp clone problem where some of them have ads or even malware. A developer might want to protect users and make sure their app is not maliciously modified and distributed on alternative app stores.
Then of course, sideloaded apps don’t contribute to the developer’s download stats or potential revenue from in-app purchases. Blocking sideloading could help developers protect their income streams.
There are other reasons but it’s always been this way. Yet we still have been able to sideload apps but these advancements could see the list of sideloadable apps dwindle. Who wants to see that?
The iOSification of Android
Google has not outright banned sideloading. That would not fly. However, these new tools that developers now have could work to discourage the practice.
It’s crazy that all this is happening at a time when Apple has been forced to allow sideloading in Europe. So, on one hand, we see iOS users getting their first taste of sideloading, while Android users see their admittedly still superior sideloading experience get kinks in its armour.
While this new ability gives developers more control over their apps, it also represents a shift away from Android’s traditionally open nature. That openness is one of the things I love the most about Android.
It remains to be seen how widely developers will adopt this feature and how it will impact the overall Android experience.
At the rate, I think in five years, Android and iOS will be indistinguishable.
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