While true for early adopters, this won't hold true as the network grows.

Moreover, if you can access the very same content from Google Chrome, should Google remove their own browser too? The same happened to Podcast Addict, police all the podcasts in the world or we will remove your app.

The concern is Mastodon app developers are small one-man shops, less likely to be able to bring reason to bear and get Google to review these warnings. These app devs cannot possibly be held responsible for every post on the entire Mastodon network.

https://twitter.com/PodcastAddict/status/1261651512947691520...

Mastodon is aimed at the average person. Knowing how to sideload apps should not be a requirement for using it.

I know about them. But I would have to root my phone to install them. And that means trusting some binary blob from someone on the internet. So I would not do it.

On iOS maybe, but there's no problem installing 3rd party app stores on Android without rooting. See for example F-Droid.

Recent versions of Android have also improved the permissions model... you can specify what apps (e.g. F-Droid) are allowed to install other apps. You don't need to add a blanket allow forever.

Not true on Android, you just need to download and install F-Droid; a free software app store.

True, but it's still a terrible user experience for the average person.

Why would you have to root your phone? On my Android phone I just go into the settings app to enable third party appstores.

You don't need to root your phone to sideload on Android... at least I've never encountered an Android device where that was true.

It still slow down neophytes to try it.