Google Play Store may soon allow updates for sideloaded apps
The Google Play Store might soon give you the option to update apps from the Play Store, even if you originally got them from another source. This would be a big help for people who get apps from places other than the Play Store.
If you've ever downloaded an app from a place other than the Google Play Store, you might have run into some problems with updates. Sometimes the original source might not have the newest version of the app, or it might be hard to find the update. However, it appears that Google has been working on a solution to this issue.
In Android 14, Google added a feature called "update ownership." This feature is meant to protect you from accidentally installing the wrong version of an app by showing you a warning if you try to update an app from a different store than where you got it.
While this is helpful, it doesn't give you a way to switch to using the Play Store for updates if you got an app from somewhere else. However, that might be about to change.
An experimental flag was found in the latest version of the Google Play Store that suggest a new feature might be coming. This feature would show you a button that says "Update from Play" for apps you got from other places. This would let you switch over to using the Play Store for updates for those apps.
When you see this button, there will also be a message explaining that the app wasn't originally from the Play Store, and you can choose whether to update it from the original source or the Play Store. It's not clear yet if selecting to update from the Play Store will mean that all future updates will automatically come from the Play Store.
If you've ever downloaded an app from a place other than the Google Play Store, you might have run into some problems with updates. Sometimes the original source might not have the newest version of the app, or it might be hard to find the update. However, it appears that Google has been working on a solution to this issue.
While this is helpful, it doesn't give you a way to switch to using the Play Store for updates if you got an app from somewhere else. However, that might be about to change.
Option in Google Play Store to install updates for apps downloaded from a different source | Images credit — Android Authority
While this is a highly promising feature, it should be noted that this isn't yet working unless you tinker with the code, nor has it been announced by Google as an upcoming feature. However, its presence in the app's code and how polished the feature appears, suggests that it may be coming soon. We'll have to wait and see how this new feature works when it's officially released.
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