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Google also allows app sideloading which is something that becomes critical during civil unrest in the countries mentioned in the article.

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Sideloading also allows authoritarian regimes to add apps to your phone. See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/chinese-border...

As opposed to not sideloading which... does exactly the same thing.

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/03/16/apple-to-offer-governme...

Not at all. I read that story as the suggested apps being on the AppStore and having gone through the normal vetting by Apple. If so, then the government doesn’t have access to any more backdoors than already potentially exists in for example WeChat or Alipay.

Yes, it's a double-edged knife, but let's keep in mind that the government actually has enough power to spy its citizens without tampering the devices, with the social networks, cell locations...

Very true but a side loaded app can do so much more. Possibly even act as a key logger. Definitely provide info about all your whereabouts during protests.

Good thing being able to sideload an app also implies that you can detect and disable or remove offending apps.

Something Apple still doesn't let you do.

You can detect it, but I wouldn't be sure they allow you to remove other apps.

Certainly, once a device enters into China, it should be considered breached and insecure.

Yeah, despite not as free as common linux distributions (can Android even be considered Linux at all?), it is the better choice in these kind of situations.

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