An updated API available to Android app developers can force users to download the app from Google Play, blocking the app from working if it is sideloaded.
First announced at Google I/O 2024, the “Play Integrity API” gives developers new tools to improve the safety and security of Android apps. The API can also effectively block sideloading, though, as Android Authority has brought out.
One of the new abilities of Play Integrity is to check whether or not an app is “licensed,” referring to if it was installed from the Google Play Store or not. This optional feature can block an app from running if it was installed in a way that was “unlicensed,” namely through sideloading from a third-party source.
If an app comes back as “unlicensed,” developers further have the option to have an unskippable dialog appear that prompts users to re-download the app via the Google Play Store if they wish to continue using it with an “Install from Play” button. When users opt to do that, the previous version that was sideloaded is removed from the device.
Some apps that are already doing this include Tesco and BeyBlade X, and perhaps most prominently ChatGPT as noticed by Assemble Debug on Twitter/X (though, notably, we couldn’t replicate these findings when sideloading from APKMirror).
More on Android:
- Motorola’s latest phone gets five major Android updates – you know, eventually
- What’s new in the September 2024 Google System Updates
- Google rolling out Android Earthquake Alerts across the US
Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, and Instagram
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments