The ideal status quo would be one where developers can make native apps, and users download and run them, without entering into a contractual relationship with Apple period. (Beyond the iOS EULA, which stands on legally shaky ground)
This account registration is baked into the phone while the bootloader is unlocked, and you have to factory-reset the phone and lock it back up to be able to dissociate the account from the phone.
Samsung is the same, you can't unlock them any more without signing in into both Samsung and Google accounts which allows the two companies to detect if the device was registered as stolen. And for what it's worth, Samsung is the worst of the bunch anyway as rooting it permanently bricks the TEE via an e-fuse.
If signing into an account can be preserved despite the "unlocked" bootloader, there has to be some sort of hypervisor/"secure chip" type deal denying access to the part of the device the account info is stored, no? Otherwise one could erase the account info and pass the device as untainted anyways.
So, if that information is secured against alternative operating systems, then there is no harm in allowing them by default or upon local user authorization.
In other words, if it was strictly for theft deterrence then surely you would need an account to be able to factory reset the device at all, even with the bootloader locked?
All Android devices have some sort of TEE these days, otherwise they wouldn't get Netflix and a bunch of other apps people will demand to work.
So requiring a login to unlock the bootloader doesn't really disincentivise any theft in either case, as I understand it.
I disagree. Allow side loading of apps that still meet a threshold for safety, privacy, etc (determined through a program like you refer to), but eliminate the App Store cut of sales.
Apple do this now, using the Apps that pay the 30% on digital purchases to fund everyone. If they no longer make a fee from those to cover every app (including all the free ones), who pays to validate the apps?
* their developer policies (as in my own apps, think business apps, playing around, ... and no the little play education app is not enough)
* file synchronization apps (syncing books, development/source code, apps, photos and music on my webserver, ios, android, and laptops through syncthing)
* emulation (in both directions). Both emulating other systems on the iPhone and emulating the iPhone/ios elsewhere (strange how they have always allowed and even facilitated this for macos, but on either iphone or ipad ...)
* their policy about 30% cut on anything sold through apps. Sorry, but that's just going too far
* their charging policies (meaning what their devices allow for charging and how fast. And frankly 90% of the problem I have with their policy on charging is how complicated it is. If they merely instituted a rule "if it's apple equipment, it just works as fast as possible", that'd already be a big improvement)
At this point I'm very inclined to say, not getting the 30% cut and still having to check ... is Apple's problem, not mine. How about we treat it the way apple treats their customers' problems? At this point I don't care about whatever problems being reasonable presents for Apple.
> their policy about 30% cut on anything sold through apps. Sorry, but that's just going too far
Only things digital items. 80% of all App Store revenue comes from in app purchases of loot boxes and pay to win games (according to the Epic trial).
> their charging policies (meaning what their devices allow for charging and how fast
What does this even mean.
I’m glad to see people talking about alternative browsers for PWAs (yuck) and open source projects but I am thoroughly cynical about the motivations of the vast majority of people advocating for side loading on iOS. I worry that this ability to pirate like you can on Android will result in degradation in app quality in the App Store.
Is it possible for quality on the App Store to get any lower?
80% of App Store revenue comes from Pay to Win games (according to the Epic trial). Most of the other apps monetize through subscriptions for things like streaming services or don’t charge money at all.
Essentially all of these have disappeared from "my apps" and I can't install them anymore. I want them back.
And now this emulator comes out with the super monkey ball that my dad bought for me on my initial ipod (not ipad, pod). I want that game back on my current ios devices, and that one, with essentially no interruptions to the gameplay, not the current shittified version.