Installing an app outside the official stores — what is known as sideloading — is no longer a straightforward process in four markets. Brazil, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia are the first countries where any phone running Android 7 or later requires verification and a 24-hour wait before allowing apps from unregistered developers to be installed. Google introduced the mechanism in the spring and is now turning it on, according to GSMArena.
How the new sideloading process works
To enable the installation of external apps, the user must open Developer Options, turn the option on, authenticate, restart the device and wait 24 hours. Only after completing those steps does the system allow apps from unregistered developers and stores to be installed. The permission is not permanent unless the user chooses so: Android asks whether to grant it for seven days or indefinitely, and the user decides.
The stores that are still authorised
Google keeps a list of stores considered authorised, whose apps skip the wait: Google Play, Samsung Galaxy Store, Honor App Market, Oppo App Market, Xiaomi GetApps, vivo V-Appstore and Transsion Palm Store. Anything coming from outside that group goes through the new filter.
Why Google justifies it and what the community fears
The company argues the brake is meant to cut off scammers, who use direct installation to pressure victims and slip in malicious software; the spread of Android trojans that reinstall themselves when you delete them backs up that argument. The cost, however, is a deliberately inconvenient barrier that part of the community reads as the first step toward a more closed ecosystem, in the style of iOS.
What changes for users in Spain
For now, the process is limited to those four countries and Spain is left out. The requirement is defined by country and Android version: it reaches any phone running Android 7 or later wherever it is switched on, and Google has not set out a timetable for the rest of the markets. When it arrives, each user will have to decide whether the 24-hour toll is worth it: in exchange for closing a door scammers used, Google also closes it on anyone installing legitimate software from outside the stores.
