Google has detailed how users will be able to sideload apps from unverified developers after implementing its more restrictive policy for downloading software on Android. The company originally planned to require all developers to be “verified” for distribution on Android, but softened its stance in November 2025 to allow carveouts for Android power-users and hobbyist developers.
For average Android users, the ability to sideload apps will now be locked behind a multi-step one-time process. Users must first enable developer mode in Settings, confirm they are not being trained to disable security, restart their phone (to disconnect any phone calls), then wait a day and confirm their identity with biometric authentication or a PIN before installing any apps. Google says you can enable the ability to install apps from unverified developers for seven days or indefinitely, but regardless of what you choose, you’ll have to dismiss a warning telling you that the app you’re installing is from an unverified developer.
For hobbyist developers or students who want people to try out their app but don’t want to create a verified developer account, Google also plans to offer free “limited distribution accounts” that let you share apps without being verified. These accounts will let you share apps on up to 20 devices “without providing a government-issued ID or paying a registration fee.”
Google is implementing its new verification process in the name of security, and has compared the requirements it asks of developers to “an ID check at an airport, which confirms a traveler’s identity but is separate from the security check of their bag.” Neither verification nor this new method of sideloading stops you from getting apps from unverified developers on your Android device, they just make it harder to download something dangerous directly from the internet to your phone.
It appears that Google is trying to split the difference on Android in terms of which apps can be distributed through verification, while cutting its own Play Store fees and changing its stance towards third-party app stores. Requiring verification to distribute software extends Google’s influence outside of its own apps and App Store, which is why some developers and digital rights organizations have publicly pushed back at the company’s plan.
Developers can now sign up for early access to the developer verification process. Google says its new workflow to enable sideloading and smaller distribution of apps will go live in August.
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