415
Google gives Android users a way to install unverified apps if they worked hard for it(including waiting 24 hours)
(android-developers.googleblog.com)
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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The delay is almost assuredly to prevent live scamming. Like a grandparent picking up a random call or text and being tricked into thinking they're a family member/bank worker/etc.
I'll admit it's annoying, and could be used by Google later to do more annoying shit.
Taking their explanations in good faith and looking at it from an customer security point of view, I can see this cutting back on some common scam types. This is kind of like how, when you go to rustdesk.com there's a giant 'YOU'RE PROBABLY GETTING SCAMMED' banner across the top of the page:
These little steps can seems pointless or annoying to us, as most of us are probably in the upper range of tech skills, but consider the average user and it starts to make a lot more sense.
The delay makes intuitive sense especially since it will give the target a chance to complain about it to their friends and family who will hopefully stop it from there.
However, I’m not sure if it’s worth it. I imagine this would stop exfiltration apps which scan the users device to useful data and maybe passive screenshots but this pales in comparison to apps with subscription dark patterns, gambling and apps that harvest and sell your data legally already. If this was a case of apps prompting the user to enter sensitive information into a form then they could just use a browser.
I don’t know. I think this is a good measure to prevent scams. I’m just uncomfortable about Google’s motivation.