I don’t think I made myself clear; I am relievd because I thought I was going to lose access to my apps in the next update cycle. The thought of that filled me with anxiety, but now I have more time to prepare.

I’m hoping that something like lineageOS will be unaffected and will be available for my device before Google remove sideloading altogether

Yep, it’s pretty bad, it sets a bad precedent, and has me looking for alternatives.

When it was originally announced I got the impression that Google would soon be removing the ability to sideload apps altogether and as I almost entirely use apps installed from “untrusted” sources this would have been a nightmare for me.

So while I think this whole situation is shit, and will almost certainly lead to Google removing the ability to sideload apps in the future, for me the immediate anxiety has been lifted.

It appears that the “security wait” will be a one time thing when you first allow installing from unverified sources. After enabling it it will remain on indefiniately.

Not quite as bad as I was fearing, but will kinda annoying.