Google's only providing the option, it's up to individual devs to enable it on their app. If the app developer has chosen to block sideloading, then they probably have a reason for going out of their way to do so. Whatever you find that reason to be should inform your decision whether or not to continue using their app.
Their reasons means nothing. It's my device. I shouldn't have to worry about an application installed on my device being policed because the developer got a hair up their ass about people downgrading.
Explain to me what would be the good reasons McDonald's has to block their app from running on a rooted device because it doesn't pass SafetyNet or whatever Google is calling it now
The whole tech world saw Microsoft Palladium as a nightmare scenario, but was quiet ten years later when Apple and Google did the same thing to our phones. That was a mistake.
Aw shit, it says this is supposed to detect when an app's binary has been tampered with... That means it's probably gonna be used to block stuff like ReVanced. I hope they can find a way around this that doesn't require root.
Well, the issue will be developers of other apps would force us to re-google since any build of the app would be useless unless installed from the play store...
The App Lounge from /e/OS has access to the play store if you choose to log in to Google. It is possible (but not recommended because of a possible ban) to purchase stuff, I haven't done that yet, but some apps want to talk to Google to see if it was purchased and that gives an error.
For example, Wavelet can't unlock paid status, All-In-One Calculator gives the option to link an email so it can restore paid status, Nova Launcher uses a different app to restore paid status so it works as well.
No, but you can download the APKs anyways. Which is most likely exactly why this is being implemented. I doubt many developers of free apps are going to turn this feature on.