As an operating system, Android has always given users more freedom in customisation and a much greater level of control compared to iOS. One of the main ways users are given control is with the ability to side load apps. Side loading an app is basically downloading apps from repositories other than the Play Store, however Apple CEO Tim Cook has spoken out against the practice of side loading apps.
“That (side loading) would destroy the security of the iPhone and a lot of the privacy initiatives that we built into the App Store, where we have privacy nutrition labels and app tracking transparency, where it forces people to get permission to track across apps,” Cook explained. “These things would not exist anymore except in people that stuck in our ecosystem, and so I worry deeply about privacy and security.”
He also claimed that Android has 47 times more malware than iOS but did not cite a source for that claim. In 2019, a report by Nokia found that Android was responsible for 47% of detected malware infections versus under 1% for iPhones. According to the 2020 report however, detected malware infections dropped to 26.6% while iPhones rose to 1.7% of observed infections. While Cook’s figure is not entirely accurate, the question is what is the reason for this apparent discrepancy?
“It’s because we’ve designed iOS in such a way that there’s one App Store and all the apps are reviewed prior to going on the store,” Cook elaborated. It also goes without saying that malicious actors tend to target the most popular platforms, with Android being the top smartphone platform globally.
Side loading apps does come with a security risk and technically contributes to more malware, but Android phones are restricted to using the Play Store and/or and OEM app store by default. Users who are looking to side load an app need to explicitly grant this ability and are warned that the APK file can harm users. iPhone owners just have more hoops to jump through which makes it harder for malicious apps to be installed.
Apple already allows side loading apps on the iPhone if the user has a developer account. The Washington Post previously reported that almost 2% of the top 1000 grossing apps on the App Store were scams, showing that the App Store is not so perfect as Apple plays it out to be. The App Store was also recently in the spotlight after it emerged that 2500 apps containing malware were uploaded to the store and these infected apps were downloaded by over 120 million customers.
The Play Store is not so perfect either. There are frequent reports of malicious apps being discovered on the store. Android 12 is set to offer better support for alternative app stores with Google laying out certain conditions for these stores to improve security. So the search giant seems to think that there’s a way to embrace side-loading while still offering a level of security.
Both the App Store and Play Store are not as secure and Apple and Google make them out to be so always be wary when downloading or side loading apps.
