In the EU (which I know no longer includes the UK), both Apple and Google will have to allow sideloading in their operating systems by early 2024, because they* are expected to be designated as gatekeepers under the new Digital Markets Act no later than early September 2023, and after being designated they’ll have six months to comply. So the feature to sideload will continue to exist in Android and will be added to iOS, although they could choose to enable it only in the EU or to block it in the UK.
*If you choose to fact-check this, be aware that technically the European Commission will be designating Alphabet, Google’s parent company, rather than one of the multiple subsidiaries with Google in its name. So the official EU communications about this may not mention the word Google.
*If you choose to fact-check this, be aware that technically the European Commission will be designating Alphabet, Google’s parent company, rather than one of the multiple subsidiaries with Google in its name. So the official EU communications about this may not mention the word Google.