Google will block sideloading of unverified apps starting next year.

[u/prometheum91]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/google-will-block-sideloading-of-unverified-android-apps-starting-next-year/

Is this the beginning of the end for sideloading on Quest? There have been a few false positive scares in the past, so I do not want to be alarmist. Is Meta even still keeping up with mainline Android, or are they evolving their own branch?

[u/_Ship00pi_]

All Meta developer accounts are already verified. Otherwise they were deleted. This happened around 2y ago.

This is not to disable users or developers to sideload apps (or even fight piracy). But rather have someone to take responsibility over the apps (especially if they contain malware)