Rui Carmo
Late to the party on this, but still…
The new Android security measures are an interesting piece of revisionist thinking—“developer verification” is now set as the gatekeeper for sideloaded apps in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand by September 2026, with what looks like full side-loading lockdown coming 2027.
Regardless of the malware angle, this seems to effectively kill side-loading on Android in the near future, making it as hobbyist-hostile as iOS and very likely spelling doom for open ecosystems like F-Droid (which I rely upon to customize every Android device I get my hands on).
As someone who’s been doing Android development on the side for decades because Apple still doesn’t allow you to run your own software on the devices you own without stupid restrictions, this is very annoying, and a good reminder that regulators like the EU have been focusing on entirely the wrong things.