Android 12 is on its way, and it comes with an interesting upgrade. Third-party app stores would now work better on android 12 to make things much better for users and the app stores themselves.
Third-Party App Stores to Work Better on Android 12
One of the greatest strengths and its weakness is the fact that it is open, especially when it comes to the installation of different apps. While Google is pushing their own play store and API by offering more exclusive features in other to entice developers and users, they still leave their doors open to other third-party app stores and even to individual APKs to get installed.
That is not a process that is straightforward, however, if you are trying to install straight from an app store. With Android 12, Google has decided to make things a lot more streamlined in other help third party app stores act more like Google Play Store.
Android 12 Third-Party App Store
Whether you decide to install an APK or through some third-party repository just like the F-Droid, you would have to agree to install the app first, presuming the app store, whether it is a browser or a file manager, has permission to install apps. That is true even when you decide to update an app, that is how android users experience things when they are installing or they decided to update from Google Play Store.
On the one hand, that does not force any of the users to pause and think about whether they should continue or not. It is a little bit of an arbitrary security measure that does not really work all the time and ruins the experience for those that bear installing apps from app stores that are not a play store. Google has decided to support third-party app stores much better now, and it looks as if Android 12 would be the one to launch the support.
Google’s Android 12 Announcement
XDA has discovered the changes not inside Google’s public announcements but inside their developer documentation meant for the next Android release. Under some specific set of circumstances, an app like an app store would no longer need the user’s interaction in other to install or update apps. Of course, the app store needs to possess the permissions to sideload apps in the first place, at which points it happens to be the responsibility of the users if their system’s security gets compromised.
For the past few years, Google tightened the noose that is on third-party app stores and sideloading APKs and this sudden U-turn that almost sounds surprising. That stated that it may have been prompted by the recent legal battle that took place between Epic Games and Apple over Fortnite and app store monopolies. Although not as exclusive, Google might be trying to cover their bases to make sure that no accusation of monopoly places them in court.
