Android sideloading survey: How often do you install apps manually?

Some Android users go their whole lives using no apps other than those they discover in the Play Store, Google’s official repository for Android software – and that’s perfectly fine! However, if that seems too limiting for you, or you have a problem (whether practical or philosophical) with the way Google does business, you can also choose between alternative app stores – the Amazon App Store and Samsung’s Galaxy Store are probably the most popular options there. But then there’s the Wild West of app distribution: sideloading.

When you sideload an app, you download an installation file (in the form of an APK) or copy one onto your phone and then manually tell Android to install that app. As with many things in life, there are good and bad reasons for doing things this way. On the good side, developers might have very legitimate concerns about handling their distribution outside of the Google ecosystem (perhaps due to sexual or drug-related content that violates Google’s policies), or you might be specifically interested in installing an older version of an app that you tracked down through a reliable site (like APKMirror) that archives them. On the bad side, threat actors might try to trick you into installing malware that wouldn’t pass Play Store scrutiny.

This may sound like sideloading is a frightening Function, but it would be more accurate to call it powerful one – and it’s up to you how you use that power. The good news is that Google has your back when it comes to sideloading too, and Play Protect is able to scan apps you install yourself for potential security issues. You also have the ability to control how sideloaded software can access your device based on the permissions you grant it.

We’re thinking about all this right now, at a moment when the future of sideloading is uncertain. Google has been pushing developers towards Android App Bundles (AAB) for years, which are a really efficient and flexible way to distribute apps through the Play Store – the downside is that they’re pretty unsuitable for offline sideloading. While we’ve seen workarounds, these are cumbersome at best, and with more and more apps only available as bundles, your sideloading options could be getting slimmer by the day.

But is this even a problem that threatens to affect you? Even if Android supports this kind of software flexibility, do you bother to use it? We want to know:

With companies like Samsung taking steps to increasingly demonize sideloading – not to mention the AAB issue – we are very curious to hear your reaction.