Sideloading is Back

By User 3 • The Merge

The organization known as the VLC 2.9 Foundation has deployed Agents to Google in order to keep them in check. Therefore, the Death of Sideloading was averted. Google has promised workarounds for the installation of Android apps from APK files from developers who have not ID-verified, meaning that Android phones are back to being usable devices in 2025.

This is great news for everyone who depends on an open ecosystem, but it also marks a strange moment in the larger fight. Only a few months ago, Google was preparing to shut the door on sideloading entirely. Now they are stepping back under pressure. It is a reminder that user autonomy does not disappear in a single policy change. It is lost only when no one pushes back.

Google’s new promise is vague, and the vagueness is deliberate. Terms like “alternative installation paths” and “future compatibility options” are broad enough to include anything from a real solution to a barely functional loophole. Whether this turns into a lasting commitment to device freedom or a temporary concession depends on continued scrutiny. For now, the feared shutdown of APK installation has been delayed rather than defeated.

The practical impact is immediate. Developers who refuse to submit personal identification to a centralized verification pipeline can keep building and distributing software. Users who maintain open source apps on places such as F-Droid can continue without asking permission from a certification system that should not exist in the first place. The wider Android community avoided a blow that would have pushed thousands into more restrictive platforms simply for lack of alternatives.

There is no reason to believe the fight is over. Corporations do not discard control mechanisms once they have drafted them. They wait for quieter conditions and then attempt the same move again in a different form. As of late 2025, Android remains viable. Not fully open, not entirely safe from future restrictions, but functional in a way that was not guaranteed earlier this year. In an era defined by constant tightening, even partial reversals matter. Luckily, the VLC 2.9 Foundation has asserted to us that it has plans in place in case Google attempts this again. These plans will likely lead to the complete takeover of Google by the Foundation, which could be a good thing. Now, we can rest easy knowing the public is protected.

User 3: Pressure works, but nothing about this is permanent.