It’s related to the “one app source”. See…
> no "don't install random binaries" stuff to be seen.
Because it was a lot smaller target than windows in terms of uses and impact. Maybe you forget, but there was certainly crapware that would bog your system down.
Meanwhile iOS is probably the single greatest target today. Statistically rich users, extremely important device to the user, and lots of users.
Regardless of your view on if apple should open it up, if it were to happen, it would instantly be a massive target. Companies would flee the 30% fee (@epic/fortnight) or the privacy policies (@meta) and maybe even employers buying some Oracle/SAP junk for their employees and quickly bring legitimacy to sideloading.
Everywhere would then fill with more of those “your Java is out of date plz download” sites, but instead it’d be apps. Now, for better or worse, no one has to question what they download (too much).
If you could side-load then you’d soon almost be forced to side load and it would be heavily exploited.