iOS 16 has hidden system to restrict specific feature based on user location

That title is clickbait. I don’t see any indication the system is ‘hidden’. They wouldn’t call the process countryd if they tried to hide it, and the iOS release notes often state

Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices

(https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213407)

Given (FTA) “Currently, Apple uses hard-coding techniques to restrict iOS features in specific locations”, it looks more like a refactoring to me (“we have several places where we try to determine the country a device is in. Let’s do that well in one place instead”) that makes the ‘feature’ less hidden.

Now: feature or misfeature? It depends on whether one wants Apple to act like a law abiding citizen. I would think almost everyone will say that depends on the law they’re abiding to, but opinions will differ on what laws they should fight. For example, should they prevent searches for abortion clinics or change country borders in maps depending on location?

Look, as a software developer, this functionality is the easiest part. Do you think Google couldn't do this on Android? It's basically the simplest thing in the world to determine a user's location if you are the OS manufacturer. The key here is to see why Apple built this feature and how they use it. Until then, we can't really pickup the pitchforks. The whole article has no sourcing and is based on zero information from Apple themselves, from what I can gather.

While being developed mostly likely to take the most spiteful/limited approach to sideloading they can, it's worth noting just how scary this system is, in that it seemingly well could be or could develop into a nation-state controlled over the air tool to deny ad-hoc capabilities on a phone.

Rather than there being some kind of protest or strike & the government disconnects the internet, with countryd here there seemingly is potential to fine-grained flip flags for what people can do on their devices at will.

Apple's regime of securing phones against their users intensifies. Amazing that Apple is making such bold leaps towards 1984 grade systems to spite & be petty about sideloading, is sliding into even worse paternalistic authoritarianism. To see a company so bitterly & visibly fight on the dark side of The War Against General Purpose Computing is incredible. The rebel anti-1984 Think Different spirit is writhing in it's grave, could not be more betrayed by these petty small minded chumps.

In Korea & Japan, you can't turn off the camera sound, it's very annoying.

What I fear the most is now that Apple has a framework for disabling its “advanced data encryption” and other features that serve the best interests of the user.

In this fight against side loading, it’s sad to see Apple doing the same things they made so much noise about opposing.

The uncharitable takes are obvious.

However, if this system allows "unlocking" of features that your current government has banned in your country when you go abroad without having to buy a new phone (for example now being able to use Facetime on your UAE bought phone automatically outside the UAE) then there is a small silver lining.

I don't know if it's a "hidden feature" but Android clearly has something similar going on already. I saw it in action the other week when, as soon as I landed in Tokyo and for my whole time in Japan, my and my wife's phones made a classic SLR-like click whenever I took a picture.

We both have our phones in silent-mode all the time so it was a noticeable and immediate change - and we couldn't turn it off.

Fortunately I knew the reason for it - to avoid having us ticketed for breaking the local law that requires all cameras to make an audible sound when a picture is taken.

As soon as we left Japanese airspace they returned to normal.

Can I say EU did give Apple a legitimate reason for officially tracking its user?

This will also have so many user-focused abilities, like blocking random features in China if people figure out a way to use them to protest! (AirDrop, anyone?)

Amazing! Apple really cares about their UX!

Damn. I thought this was going to be an article about context/location aware applications. E.G. triggered actions based on your location.

If it ends up that side-loading is region specific locked by gps i'm trowing a rock at one of the giant panes of glass at my local apple store.

Good, this should effectively nerf side-loading.

Apple should also be able to reasonably add T&Cs to the apple developer program which says that if someone wants to sell an app in, say, the EU on an alternate app store if they want to sell it on any country app store they must also offer it in the EU on the Apple app store.