Google's big Android sideloading crackdown has a 24-hour catch - how the new limits work

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For years, one of the clearest differences between Android and iOS has revolved around who has ultimate control over the hardware. Apple has always maintained that a closed ecosystem is the only way to keep users safe. Coincidentally, that closed ecosystem has also been good for Apple's bottom line because it's easy to grab a chunk of most digital sales on the platform. Buy a movie or pay for an app subscription, and Apple gets a commission of between 15% to 30%.

Google chose a different approach. Yes, Google has the Play Store, and yes, Google gets commission from app subscriptions and in-software add-ons. And while, for most users, the Google Play Store is where they get their apps, there are alternatives. And one of those alternatives is sideloading, the ability to install apps from unverified developers, bypassing Google's Play Store.

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But Google is planning to make some big changes to sideloading, all in the name of security.

Last year, Google began to outline how this approach would work . And the company was eager to emphasize that sideloading wasn't going away .

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But the more I read about Google's plan to change how sideloading works, the more I feel that the process is essentially dead.

Don't ever sideload anything onto your Android device? Then none of this affects you in any way whatsoever.

According to Google, sideloading is a security risk. In fact, the company's analysis found sideloading is responsible for " 50 times more malware from internet-sideloaded sources than on apps available through Google Play."

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That's a pretty compelling statistic. I mean, we know from platforms like Windows (and Mac OS ) that people will download and install all sorts of stuff onto their systems in exchange for the promise of some benefit (usually something free that would otherwise cost money).

But Google is also aware that some users need a way to sideload apps, so it's developed a way to allow the practice to continue, while making it harder for bad guys to exploit the mechanism.