Ask HN: Will you stick with Android/Pixel if/when Apple allows “sideloading”?

I've been a long time Android user and supporter as it is the only legitimate mobile operating system these days that allows me to install applications outside of a walled garden. Once this is no longer the case, I fear I'll be eager to jump ship to the OS written in proper C (I suppose Obj. C would be more accurate) without the encumbrance and tech debt of Java at its core, and as much as it pains me, all the good mobile UX patents, such as springy menus (without graphical scaling) and proper page turning + text scaling in the Books app.

I have to admit, as a very long term Android supporter, that there are a lot of desirable things about iOS that Android can't or simply doesn't have. I also have to come to terms with the fact that "sideloading" is the one killer feature Android has that has prevented me from using iOS in any meaningful capacity.

I'm putting sideloading in quotes because I feel like it's been used recently as a slightly disingenuous term to frame what computer users used to simply call "installing" as some kind of hack, or "loading" software around the "side" of the garden wall. In the past, "sideloading" was simply called "installing". But that's a completely different topic that I'll leave to another day to get into.