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Comment by diggan | Hacker News Reader

> that iOS apps only have two wide-distribution models: paid, with Apple, on the App Store, or open-source and, by that nature, free.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think that's true. Just because it's open source doesn't mean it's free, it just means that technical users could, if wanted, compile it from source. But, especially with iOS apps, this is not even true since you do need to have a developer license and a Mac to be able to compile and run it on an actual iPhone.

So in reality, while this is open source, only developers who pay Apple, are able to install this application, even if it's open source.

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Here's the correction you asked for :)

You don't need developer account to build XCode projects on your phone anymore, you can just sign in with your Apple account and sideload it.

And resign it on your computer every 7 days? Not exactly a walk in the park.

Maybe I'm missing something but what do you mean? As far as I know you don't have any restriction. The only restriction is that you can't submit the result to the app store.

From my experience apps only need to be re-signed once every 90 days. Not quite as much of a hassle but still one nonetheless

It used to be 90 days, but AFAIK it's now 7 days if you don't have a paid subscription (1 year if you do). Also there's a 10-app limit.

I discovered this recently as I wanted to install Kodi on my iPad. I'm not an iOS developer, and can't bring myself to pay an annual subscription just so I can install open source software on my own device.

Even without a paid developer membership, you can install apps on your own devices, just not distribute them.

Yep, this is true. I should have been clear: two PROFITABLE distribution models.

There's always been apps on GitHub that you could compile and run on your device.

If you're looking to make an app your livelihood and Apple won't let you into the App Store (or, in this case, kicks out out), you're SOL.

You could develop a subscription based service and distribute a client for it, this model would let you collect money from users on your website and allow open source and free mobile apps.

Netflix, Evernote, Skype, Spotify all make money and have mobile apps, but make $0 on the apps themselves.

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