[tchebb]

Note that this menu item was not used to install Android apps, which is what people often mean by "sideloading", especially with all the discourse around Google's new developer verification requirements. This menu item was used to manually install an OS update from a .zip file and already required that file to be signed by Samsung on locked devices.

On unlocked devices, you can install your own recovery that still has the option. So the removal doesn't prevent too much in practice. That ship sailed when Samsung stopped allowing bootloader unlocking on most of their phones.

[nocturn9x]

That's still possible so long as you're on a version of OneUI 8 that allows downgrading to OneUI 7. I did that and then patched the OneUI 8 firmware with Magisk and substituted the new bootloader for the old one and it works. Literally did this like in the past 2 days. Didn't even have the time to sound like a conspiracy theorist.

[stavros]

What's the conspiracy theory here? That Samsung don't allow unlocking the bootloader?