I went down a 1-minute rabbithole. I hate Whatsapp, but it's not optional. So I was curious if it's compatible.

There's a Sailfish help page [0] showing how to get the APK from Aptoide, or downloading directly from Whatsapp.com .

But with Google killing off 'sideloading', is it credible that independent APK sources are going to dry up in future?

[0] https://docs.sailfishos.org/Support/Help_Articles/Whatsapp_S...

That shouldn't be a problem as long as you can still download apps from the Play Store itself (not the official app). Basically, take a look at how proxy stores like Aurora work, they connect to the Play Store servers and allow you to download apps directly from Google, without needing the Play Store app.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the downloaded app will work on such a device (if it doesn't have Google Play Services), but at least it lets you download the app, which isn't much different from downloading it from say, APK Mirror. And as long as you can extract the apps from either the Play Store or Android devices itself (via adb/root etc), I'm assuming sites like APK Mirror will continue to exist.

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cluckindan an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

”I hate Whatsapp, but it's not optional”

Yes it is.

	▲	dyingkneepad an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		While WhatsApp is not very much used in the US, in some other countries such as Brazil it is basically the primary form of "phone" communication. It is everyone's default text, voice and video message platform. People don't ask if you have WhatsApp there, they just assume it. You talk to your Bank/Investor manager using WhatsApp. You order pizza through WhatsApp. Customer Support for services is WhatsApp bots that send you to the correct places. If I don't have WhatsApp, I can't voice chat with my mom, she won't see her grandkids. If you have any sort of business, you need WhatsApp. And yes, I do have Signal installed, and there are only 2 people who talk to me through it (one being my partner). Phone carriers got too greedy charging for every single SMS message and phone call, WhatsApp took over when smartphones became popular.
	▲	afandian an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		To rephrase: Social contact is ultimately higher in my needs than technology choice.