You might be surprised at how many apps aren't really a "choice" these days. I and other people I know have to use phone apps for work, mainly for authenticati

You might be surprised at how many apps aren't really a "choice" these days. I and other people I know have to use phone apps for work, mainly for authentication, meetings and integration with the work calendars, and then have to use more apps to access bank accounts (both business and personal), credit cards, and to authorize some payments in real-time. Some of those things don't exist in any form other than as a phone app. Even the desktop browser versions require the phone app for authentication. It is assumed you have one. No, there is not a sufficiently free market from which to choose alternatives. For example, you may have to "choose" a job, phone-based bank, and credit cards, based on what is available in difficult times, not based on choosing what you'd prefer. If those essential apps switch to sideload-only because they can, those people have to comply. Not because it's a free choice. The phone is not only a social device, and the constraints are no longer things like Facebook, they are things more like essential utilities which nowadays require a phone. Even an unlocked Android won't do. In some countries phone apps are now required for access to government services. Maybe side-loading is the future, and it has some benefits. But it would be wrong to say there is no security and privacy issue if apps remain essential for access to services, stop being subject to app store curation, and can then require permissions to do whatever they like on the phone in future, such as turning on the microphone and location services, and reading photos, files and messages. Some of them already require too many permissions, and of course we already accept, uncomfortably, if we really need those services. The app store curation keeps this in check to some extent; it is not a technical problem.