Do not grant permissions to an app that it should not need: torches and star-gazing apps don’t need access to your contacts and phone. And never grant accessibility permissions that facilitate device control unless you have a need. Once a month, scan through your phone and delete a few of the apps you no longer need or haven’t used in a long time.

Enlarge / It's never explained what this collection of app icons quite represents. A disorganized app you tossed together by sideloading? A face that's frowning because it's rolling down a bar held up by app icons? It's weird, but not quite evocative.

Google is blocking sideloading via Play Integrity API. Sideloaded apps may refuse to launch and take you to the app page on the Play Store.

This is critical because Google isn’t deleting apps from phones, and so if you have such low-quality, higher-risk apps on your device then the onus is on you to make an honest assessment and to delete— not just leave in place —those apps that fail the test.

Back in Android 13, Google introduced a new layer of protection against potentially malicious sideloaded apps by preventing them from accessing features designed for accessibility. However, if the user wanted to,

Android 15 expands restrictions on sensitive permissions for sideloaded apps, excluding those from the Play Store or compliant third-party stores. Google aims to align with the EUs DMA by ensuring third-party app stores are as functional and secure as the Play Store.