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Apple brings age verification to UK users in iOS 26.4 beta - Users who don’t verify their age may not be able to download or purchase apps.
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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Another reason sideloading is important.
Sideloading isn’t a real term - there is only loading a better OS than whatever spy-tech google is offering.
You can’t “sideload” hardware you own - you just install whatever software you like and prefer
Jesus Tittyfucking Christ, yes it is. I'm not typing out "installing software from outside the Google Play Store" every time, so you can go away.
You could go with something in between? Side loading is a loaded term created to insinuate we are doing something we shouldn't be doing.
No it's not. Someone just made that up.
Yes, Apple did. Before that, it was called downloading
Yes, Apple notoriously invented it for the Android Debug Bridge too.
Once again, no they didn't. Literally just look it up. You have the knowledge of the world at your fingertips.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideloading
Had I said "downloading" it wouldn't have made much sense, would it?
listen, I've been in technology since before i-drive existed and I've never heard of i-drive nor do I care about the vocabulary they used.
The first time I ever heard the term sideloading was when these mobile stores started using it to make other options sound illegitimate.
Oh well if that was the first time you heard it, that must have been when it came into existence...?
Yep, and that definition was definitely what you meant lmfao.
You’re obviously within spitting distance of the point, you basically spelled it out in your last sentence, just, I don’t know, reread your words slowly?
What difference does it make? Thats the origin of the word. I've provided evidence that it was not invented by Apple. Where's your evidence?
The point is, we have words for a reason. And there's no reason to use 12 when I can use 1. Sorry you're having trouble understanding that.
Ok bud, whatever you say 🙄
As I said earlier, if I had said "downloading", that wouldn't have made any sense. Please read my comments before replying to them "bud".
you’re almost there! Keep trying
Oh, honey...
Can I ask you why Google has deliberately chosen to ALWAYS use the term sideloading? Doesn’t that seem weird for an internet company - who should know better - to not just say “install?”
How do you think this came to be?
For the same reason I ALWAYS use it: Because it's shorter than "installing apps from outside the Google Play Store".
I literally just told you that in the comment you replied to.
I do not agree with your reasoning, tempting as it may be to believe that Google is neutral
Google is not neutral, that doesn't mean they invented the word or that the word itself is somehow inexplicably malicious.
I don’t think they invented the word
It’s naive to think Google doesn’t have a reason behind the popularization of a term that indicates to the user they’re not the one in ultimate control of their own personal device
Keep getting upset over it though if that makes you happy
I've been using the term side loading since the late 90s/early 2000s for installing software or files to a device via a transfer cable. And by the time Android came along, the early app development community was using the term to push the app to your device via ADB. And from there it's expanded from transfer cable push to download and install from an unmanaged 3rd party source on a mobile computing device.
So the term has existed in some form throughout the tech/power user community before modern mobile computing. Now did Apple and Google usurp the term? Ehhh, possibly? I've yet to encounter somebody that uses sideloading to mean something negative, but I'm sure there is a group out there that does. I'm not convinced that group is large enough for me to stop using language I started using nearly 30 years ago to mean something specific. "Why use more, less precise, words when this single term says it already?"
Yea sorry but I think this misses the point entirely. No one is arguing etymology, nor does the word carry a negative connotation inherently
The issue is that using the term sideloading makes it seem like you’re doing something other than “installing software,” which is truly without editorialization what is happening. Referring to it as “sideloading” is seen widely as editorialization.
So fighting against this new understanding of the term is either pedantry for the sake of it, or you have some sort of stake in Google perhaps? Either way the worst case scenario is people use a word you don’t agree with - but the upside is someone might realize they’re being lied to when told they don’t own their hardware and the decisions associated
Great use of a bad reason fallacy with a touch of ad hominem in an attempt to discredit.
Your claim is that the term has been used to mean something negative. You present no evidence to back this up other than your feelings.
I don't discredit that major corporations do evil shit.
However, I presented you with the experience I've had with the term dating back nearly 30 years where I, and the people I talked tech with, was sideloading files onto our PDA and Rio MP3 players.
The term started out as a technical distinction in the circles I ran in (Detroit area) back then.
Aside from your feelings on the term, I see no valid justification to stop using it when I'm trying to clearly communicate something. I work in tech (and no, it's not Google or Apple. Fuck publicly traded companies) as a lead on the platform support group, and I need to be able to clearly communicate with my peers and reports. Sideload is a widely recognized term in the spaces I have worked in.
I'm not going to stop using a precise technical term because some internet strangers have unfounded negative feelings about the possible marketing connotations.
Present me with evidence that it actually means what you're saying and maybe I'll consider working on making the language change. Just like I've done with actually real problematic industry terms (master/slave, black/white lists. Etc).
Please do as you wish, I’m just happy others are getting the message. Have a great day
Exactly. It's important that we stop saying "sideloading", we should just say "install directly" or some other non-loaded expressions