Starting in August, installing APKs from unverified developers will require a new procedure called Advanced Flow. It involves enabling developer mode, rebooting the device, and waiting 24 hours with biometric verification.
After that, you choose: allow the APK installation for 7 days or indefinitely. The procedure is a one-time process and applies to all versions of Android.
Will the 24-hour wait stop you from installing APKs outside the store?
PSA: GrapheneOS is not affected by this, one of many good reasons to use it.
GraphenOS is supported only by Pixel. So we’re waiting for a port to other devices! Although I think it’s impossible, since only Pixel has a security chip.
I’d switch but it’s not available for my Fold 7, and I don’t want to get a different foldable because I like that this one is as thin and light as a non-foldable when folded. Plus I actually like the gimmicks exclusive to Samsungs (Good Lock is a game-changer). Do I even have any other OS options for this device? Pretty sure the bootloader is uncrackable due to some BS tamper-evident seal in the hardware itself.
(And no, I won’t get a regular phone. Once you go foldable, there’s no going back. The benefits far outweigh the negatives.)
Time to bite the bullet and move the phone to Linux as well.
I pre ordered the new jolla phone, but since then I haven’t heard anything.
Hopefully this will give me a phone with Linux and Android app compatibility layer, until there is more competition in this sector
Advanced flow sounds like a naturopathic prostate therapy.
You’ll have to pry apk installation out of my dying hands.
Do you have to go through this procedure for every APK or just once?
If it’s for every side loaded app, does this include updates of already installed APKs?
That would make the system actual more insecureAs far as I understand, this is done for every application installed. Every time. And it seems that the certificates are not unlimited and they will have to be renewed.
A similar system is already present on iOS.
That’s what I’m actually afraid of
Hopefully Linux can soon step up and fill the gap.On a site note:
I’ve pre-ordered the new jolla phone in hopes to have pretty much a Linux phone with Android app compatibility layer.
But since my pre-order I haven’t heard anything about it anymore and I can’t find a blog/news page providing any information about progress or something.
Maybe people in this thread are similarly inclined to Linux phones and have a link for me…?
I’ve already sent a mail to Jolla about that - but just today…From what I’m reading it sounds like it is not per-app:
Once you confirm you understand the risks, you’re all set to install apps from unverified developers, with the option of enabling for 7 days or indefinitely. For safety, you’ll still see a warning that the app is from an unverified developer, but you can just tap “Install Anyway.”
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/android-developer-verification.html
Not that this makes it ok, this process is still something the vast majority of users will not do in practice and will kill the viability of apps with developers unwilling to show ID to Google.
Just once. Then you can install whatever you want
My entire job relies on an app not on the Play Store. I wonder how this change is going to affect business. They’re hiring a lot of people like they either have a backup plan or no idea what’s coming.
My boss is Gen Z and as such she’s tech illiterate, so she doesn’t really understand what I’m trying to say when I voice my concerns.
God I’m such a millennial because I never thought I’d read the sentence “she’s gen Z and as such she’s tech illiterate.” I always figured the next couple generations would just experiment and figure shit out like we did but, phones became the default. Crazy.
While there is definitely an oddly surprising amount of z’ers who seem to barely get tech, I would like to biasedly add that the older of us are largely tech literate, of course exceptions apply. We grew up with computers in the home and at the very least know our way around a file browser. But some folks just a few years under me don’t have any other tech then there phones and don’t seem to care or even think about pc’s.
Got a new job recently and the other person training with me didn’t own any kind of pc and said that she didn’t like them. It was weird to me I kept asking her like but what about when you need one and it didn’t seem that she ever did. As a tech addled fiend I can’t fully comprehend this, I can only get by with my phone for so long on certain tasks before I put it down and pull out my computer. But to each their own I guess?
Yeah I feel that. Some things I just find a computer so much easier than a phone to do. Man I hate making spread sheets on my phone so much, give me a keyboard please!
Whelp, looks like I’m spending my PTO week installing a new OS in my pixel and trying to make bank/payment shit work.
I am angry that this outcome makes me happy.
No, it won’t.
