Comment by PaulHoule

5 years ago

Hmmmm. I thought it was Apple that banned sideloading.

Maybe Google kicked this guy out for the same reason they fired off their own Stadia devs.

There is speculation that Google will ban sideloading in the near future, too. That is, it will extend its Advanced Protection model to mass-market Android. Then, sideloading will only be possible for that tiny minority of nerds like us who know how to use ADB and install an .apk over the command line.

I don't think the "but you can" rounding error alternate Android app stores and side-loading constitute a viable developer alternative. *

* Except in China, in which case it's only true for their domestic Android market