Sideloading: An Exploration of Drivers and Motivations

Software installation is an important but somewhat neglected aspect of human-computer interaction. The ‘sideloading’ of smartphone apps, i.e., the downloading and installation of apps from third-party marketplaces and other locations outside ‘official’ app stores, has become a contentious issue in recent times. However, there has been little exploration of sideloading drivers and motivations in the academic literature. This paper contributes insights on sideloading, practices and preferences from a questionnaire completed by 102 participants, comprising 48 computer science participants and 64 participants from selected Reddit communities relevant to smartphone software and apps, sideloading, jailbreaking and legacy device use. 76.5% of respondents (45.9% computer science and 93.8% Reddit) reported experience of sideloading apps from alternative locations to the ‘official’ app stores. App availability issues were reported as the main motivating factors and both groups of participants expressed support for related themes including the right to repair, reducing e-waste, and making use of end-of-life devices.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Craig Goodwin

Sandra Woolley

Conference

Publication date: July 2022

Publication date (Print): July 2022

Pages: 1-6

Affiliations

[0001]Keele University

Staffordshire, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2022.37

SO-VID: 01ef0ff5-8682-48b1-879e-4e70f2e4ce69

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: 35th International BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI2022

Conference number: 35

Conference location: Keele, Staffordshire

Conference date: July 11th to 13th, 2022

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Towards a Human-Centred Digital Society

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2022.37

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

Sharma, A. Android Authority. (2022). Android 13 is getting new sideloading restrictions, but they are good, Android Authority, 5 May 2022. [online] Available at: https://www.androidauthority.com/android-13-sideloading-apps-restrictions-3161162/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2022].
Apple. (2021a). Building a Trusted Ecosystem for Millions of Apps – The important role of App Store protections, Apple privacy report, June 2021. [online] Available at: <https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/Building_a_Trusted_Ecosystem_for_Millions_of_Apps.pdf> [Accessed 29 June 2022].
Apple. (2021b). Building a Trusted Ecosystem for Millions of Apps – A threat analysis of sideloading, Apple privacy report, Oct 2021. [online] Available at: < https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/Building_a_Trusted_Ecosystem_for_Millions_of_Apps_A_Threat_Analysis_of_Sideloading.pdf> [Accessed 29 June 2022].
Blumenthal, R. (2021). Open App Markets Act, S.2710 - 117th Congress: Open App Markets Act. {online}, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2710?s=1&r=23
Brady, R. (2018) ‘App Sideloading and Cyber Risk.’ ITNOW, 60(4) pp. 46–47.
Brown, C.S. (2019). The Huawei and US debacle: The story so far (Updated December 20). [online] Android Authority, 19 April 2022. Available at: https://www.androidauthority.com/huawei-google-android-ban-988382/.
Epic Games, Inc. v. Apple Inc. (2021), United States District Court, Northern District of California, Case No. 4:20-cv05640-YGR, (N.D. Cal. 2021)
Epic Games, Inc. v. Google LLC. (2021), United States District Court, Northern District of California, Case No. 3:20-cv-05671-JD (N.D. Cal. 2021)
Gibbs, S. (2016). South Koreans flock to remote northern area to play Pokémon Go. The Guardian, 13 July 2016, Available: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/13/pokemon-go-south-koreans-remote-area-sokcho-google-maps.
Goodwin, C. (2020). “Why Sideload?” User Behaviours, Interactions and Accessibility Issues Around Mobile App Installation. In: Proceedings of the 33rd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference Doctoral Consortium (BCS HCI 2020). [online] pp.27-30. Available at: https://www.scienceopen.com/document_file/cc3e94ba-632c-49f4-84af-566fa82b28d4/ScienceOpen/027_Goodwin.pdf
Goodwin, C., Woolley, S. (2022). Barriers to Device Longevity and Reuse: An Analysis of Application Download, Installation and Functionality on a Vintage Device. In: Perrouin, G., Moha, N., Seriai, AD. (eds) Reuse and Software Quality. ICSR 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13297. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08129-3_9
Proofpoint. (2016). DroidJack Uses Side-Load…It's Super Effective! Backdoored Pokemon GO Android App Found. Available: https://www.proofpoint.com/uk/threat-insight/post/droidjack-uses-side-loadits-super-effective-backdoored-pokemon-go-android-app.
Sattelberg, W. (2021). The Demographics of Reddit: Who Uses the Site? Alphr, 6 April 2021. [online] Alphr. Available at: https://www.alphr.com/demographics-reddit/.
Sin, B (2021). How to easily install Google apps on Huawei devices with Googlefier, XDA, 8 Nov 2021. [online] Available at: https://www.xda-developers.com/googlefier-easily-install-gms-huawei-honor-devices/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2022].
Zsila, Á., Orosz, G., Bőthe, B., Tóth-Király, I., Király, O., Griffiths, M. and Demetrovics, Z. (2018). An empirical study on the motivations underlying augmented reality games: The case of Pokémon Go during and after Pokémon fever. Personality and Individual Differences 133. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.024.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Sharma, A. Android Authority. (2022). Android 13 is getting new sideloading restrictions, but they are good, Android Authority, 5 May 2022. [online] Available at: https://www.androidauthority.com/android-13-sideloading-apps-restrictions-3161162/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2022].

[2] Apple. (2021a). Building a Trusted Ecosystem for Millions of Apps – The important role of App Store protections, Apple privacy report, June 2021. [online] Available at: <https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/Building_a_Trusted_Ecosystem_for_Millions_of_Apps.pdf> [Accessed 29 June 2022].

[3] Apple. (2021b). Building a Trusted Ecosystem for Millions of Apps – A threat analysis of sideloading, Apple privacy report, Oct 2021. [online] Available at: < https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/Building_a_Trusted_Ecosystem_for_Millions_of_Apps_A_Threat_Analysis_of_Sideloading.pdf> [Accessed 29 June 2022].

[4] Blumenthal, R. (2021). Open App Markets Act, S.2710 - 117th Congress: Open App Markets Act. {online}, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2710?s=1&r=23

[5] Brady, R. (2018) ‘App Sideloading and Cyber Risk.’ ITNOW, 60(4) pp. 46–47.

[6] Brown, C.S. (2019). The Huawei and US debacle: The story so far (Updated December 20). [online] Android Authority, 19 April 2022. Available at: https://www.androidauthority.com/huawei-google-android-ban-988382/.

[7] Epic Games, Inc. v. Apple Inc. (2021), United States District Court, Northern District of California, Case No. 4:20-cv05640-YGR, (N.D. Cal. 2021)

[8] Epic Games, Inc. v. Google LLC. (2021), United States District Court, Northern District of California, Case No. 3:20-cv-05671-JD (N.D. Cal. 2021)

[9] Gibbs, S. (2016). South Koreans flock to remote northern area to play Pokémon Go. The Guardian, 13 July 2016, Available: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/13/pokemon-go-south-koreans-remote-area-sokcho-google-maps.

[10] Goodwin, C. (2020). “Why Sideload?” User Behaviours, Interactions and Accessibility Issues Around Mobile App Installation. In: Proceedings of the 33rd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference Doctoral Consortium (BCS HCI 2020). [online] pp.27-30. Available at: https://www.scienceopen.com/document_file/cc3e94ba-632c-49f4-84af-566fa82b28d4/ScienceOpen/027_Goodwin.pdf

[11] Goodwin, C., Woolley, S. (2022). Barriers to Device Longevity and Reuse: An Analysis of Application Download, Installation and Functionality on a Vintage Device. In: Perrouin, G., Moha, N., Seriai, AD. (eds) Reuse and Software Quality. ICSR 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13297. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08129-3_9

[12] Proofpoint. (2016). DroidJack Uses Side-Load…It's Super Effective! Backdoored Pokemon GO Android App Found. Available: https://www.proofpoint.com/uk/threat-insight/post/droidjack-uses-side-loadits-super-effective-backdoored-pokemon-go-android-app.

[13] Sattelberg, W. (2021). The Demographics of Reddit: Who Uses the Site? Alphr, 6 April 2021. [online] Alphr. Available at: https://www.alphr.com/demographics-reddit/.

[14] Sin, B (2021). How to easily install Google apps on Huawei devices with Googlefier, XDA, 8 Nov 2021. [online] Available at: https://www.xda-developers.com/googlefier-easily-install-gms-huawei-honor-devices/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2022].

[15] Zsila, Á., Orosz, G., Bőthe, B., Tóth-Király, I., Király, O., Griffiths, M. and Demetrovics, Z. (2018). An empirical study on the motivations underlying augmented reality games: The case of Pokémon Go during and after Pokémon fever. Personality and Individual Differences 133. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.024.

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