Google used to do very little curation of the Play Store (or Android Market, if you go back far enough), but it has long sought to improve the platform's reputation as being less secure than the Apple App Store.

Google wants to make sideloading safer on Android by verifiying the identities of developers who distribute apps outside the Play Store.

Google is introducing new restrictions on Android app distribution, and it could spell the end for some popular third-party apps.