For better or worse, the Android mobile platform had allowed users to install just about anything onto it. Google may have decided that it has done more harm than good over the years. So starting next year, the internet search giant will be blocking the sideloading of unverified Android apps.
Essentially, devs will have to verify their identities for their apps to be sideloadable. In its Android Developer Blog, the company says that this will make it harder for bad actors to keep churning out harmful apps after a previous one was taken down. The company also claims that ever since it made dev verification a thing on Google Play in 2023, it has has seen a drop in malware and fraud.
Google has likened it to an ID check at an airport – the app maker’s identity needs verification, but the apps themselves won’t be reviewed. But the company says there are 50 times more malware in sideloaded apps than in Google Play. So it ends up feeling like a bit of a half measure. For what it’s worth, the post starts with “You shouldn’t have to choose between open and secure”.
To smoothen the process, it is building an Android Developer Console for devs who only distribute outside of Google Play. To reiterate, the internet search giant says this new verification process will start next year. But at the same time, “this change will start in a few select countries specifically impacted by these forms of fraudulent app scams, often from repeat perpetrators”.
(Source: Google)
