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Google's plan to restrict sideloading on Android has a potential escape hatch for users
(www.androidauthority.com)
this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
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I'm not sure why google is over engineering this, proper mainline distros have this solved since forever. Let the community setup trusted repos with gpg keys, then let me trust the repos. If Fdroid trusts the package and I trust Fdroid, who should care?
Probably because they want to target software that cracks theirs to avoid ads, like ReVanced.
Then why aren't they already doing that by blocking DuckDuckGo?
The DuckDuckGo app blocks all apps from sending to Google (and other advertisers) tracking/ad data on a system level. And it's freely available on the Play Store (has been for years.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duckduckgo.mobile.android
If they wanted to prevent apps from blocking their ad abilities, this app would never have been allowed on the Play Store.
Does it actually block ads in apps?
Blokada 5 blocks ads in apps and it was removed from the google store years ago. You have to sideload it in order to use it.
There's a neutered version on the google store, but it doesn't block ads effectively.
Google also removed an addon called Adnauseam, which clicked ads in additional to blocking them. That way, advertisers still have to pay site owners for your visit. Google removed it without justifiable reason, then kept it removed since there was no sufficient backlash.
It's the main reason why I switched to Firefox. That kind of abuse is for useful idiots.