But to install from local storage, you first download or fetch a storage medium from a remote location with the file on it. There isn't that much of a difference IMO.

I would not call it side-loading when I download a file and then install it on the same device. Because that is how it has always worked. I never before heard people describing downloading and executing a setup.exe as "side-loading".

This is only for phones that come with One UI 6.1.1 by default and there's a page during OOBE setup with a toggle for this "feature".

An update to your existing phone will not turn on this block, it's only for new phones.

I don't have a Samsung but I would imagine that this only blocks new installations and looks like that it can be easily disabled if you don't want it

I would guess making their phones seem more secure because people get less malware. I still think it's stupid tho.

Dark patterns work, they have the data.

See, the field of UI/UX design is very concerned with how to make the actions a user wants easier, how to streamline common actions and clearly communicate what each item does. To that end they've studied how apps get used with user interaction data. You can track with statistics whether cartain actions get taken more or less often with each change, and it's very clear that the more numerous & obscure the steps are in between a user and a task, the fewer users will complete it.

Of course this doesn't tell you what a user wants, only what they do. To understand what they want you need to couple this process with user reports and complaints to see where the pain points are. The UI has to balance how many steps an action takes with how cluttered the interface is. Some actions must be prioritised.

However, a company doesn't need data to know what it wants users to do, and it's a very simple step to take all this data and understanding and flip it on its head, to stop users doing what they want, and on average it makes a difference. It might not stop you, but it might stop your grandparents, or Dave from accounting. That's the problem.

So the short answer is, they hope to reduce adoption of alternative app sources.

I know the EU is taking steps to make this sort of thing illegal, but it's difficult to prove. I also got a letter from a consumer advocacy board in my country warning about dark patterns, so it seems like attention is starting to build on this issue.

Font-size and line-height are different properties