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Google's plan to restrict sideloading on Android has a potential escape hatch for users
(www.androidauthority.com)
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this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
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It is, because it's actually the term that defines the process of transferring files not from an external networked device - downloading - or to an external networked device - uploading - but between two local devices - sideloading.
It's over two decades old, you downloaded an mp3 from kazaa, and then sideloaded it to your player.
For android apps, I believe the term originates from the method of using ADB to directly write the app to the phone memory, the command of which is "adb sideload filename"
And companies ofted do it. Thay recoined jaywalking to put the blaim of the accidents to pedestrians and take away the road from them. They change what littering means in attrmpt to delute the responsibility for polution... We are better than that this time, right?
How do you suppose that works, exactly?
I assume you're unaware of the concerted advertising campaigns by auto manufacturers to take public streets away from pedestrians, including things like
https://missedhistory.com/1800/lobbying-trick-blamed-pedestrians-inventing-jaywalking/
"Jay" had started as a word for drivers driving on the wrong side of the road
https://debrabernier.com/the-history-of-jaywalking-in-the-u-s/
Maybe try to stay on topic?
So jay-walker seems appropriate, does it not?
It's extremely on topic for the thread you responded to.
Google has a concerted effort to make "sideloading" bad, so they can remove it without public backlash
The next comment in the chain mentioned how auto manufacturers did the same thing, villainizing people using public spaces by calling it "jaywalking" until it became illegal to walk on public roads
That was done to take public spaces away from pedestrians and give it to cars
This is being done to take software outside of Google Play away and give the only profit to google
How is that offtopic? It's direct answer to the question that was asked.
https://youtu.be/vxopfjXkArM
Like "Jaywalking", suddenly, walking is no longer the norm, but the car is preferred. The victims are seen as perpetrators.
And "littering" is the "real" culprit why we all drawn in uneccesey plastic. We should blame consumers not the polluters.
Corporations do it all the time.
Don't forget "side effects", when really, medications only have "effects". Whether the effects are intended or not doesn't change the fact that they happen.
Cough medicine can induce drowsiness, but you probably shouldn't be taking it as a sleep aid. The distinction between intended vs unintended effects is an important distinction to make, in my opinion, to prevent drugs from being unintentionally misused.
While that is true, it does not invalidate the poster's point. All of the effects of drugs are just "effects". They could just as easily market cough syrup as a sleep aid with the "side effect" that it suppresses coughing.
The difference in definition in this context is simply that "drug uses" is the list of its effects that they were going for, and "side effects" are a list of effects that they were not. Its entirely a man made distinction. Extend that reasoning to the "installing" vs. "side loading" discussion to see the poster's point.
I believe him to be suggesting that "side loading" is a very different word for "installing" that can be loaded by PR people to shift public opinion against the practice. Whether or not they are doing that I can't say myself, but that appears to be the point being made.
They could just as easily have coined it "direct installing" or "USB installing", but they didn't even though those terms are more descriptive. Draw from that whatever you will.
you shouldnt be taking medication not for his intended purpose, it has many warnings.
Talking to the wrong guy here, I've taken many a medications against their intended purpose: I am a curious guy.
But that sounds like saying, in the context of Google's intention of disabling app sideloading, that warning users that it poses a security risk because it's their intended purpose for android, is fine because the authority on android is Google.
Don't just take the word of authority at face value, when they prioritize profit and mindshare over personal freedom.
Wait, so now I have to talk to a doctor before installing from F-Droid? Well, shit.
For all intents and purposes, your comment actually invalidates the premise of using 'sideloading' as a term for installing from outside the 'official' method.
You buy cough syrup because you're coughing, not because you want to be drowsy (I would hope that's the case). In the same way, you install Spotify to listen to music, not to get all your data extracted and sold. Getting drowsy is an inconvenient side effect of the medication, the same way that data grab and ads are an inconvenient side effect of the app.
You're not 'side-medicating'.