Apple reportedly ready to enable sideloading for iOS users in the EU | Hacker News Reader

Apple reportedly ready to enable sideloading for iOS users in the EU

9to5mac.com

23 pointsjustinclift22 comments

Something not mentioned so far is whether creators of side loaded apps need to have the $99 dev membership, and therefore have to sign the Apple legal agreements.

If devs are still forced to sign the legal agreements, then Apple can use those agreements to demand ~30% of app cost regardless of the whose app store its in.

Not sure about it but I suspect, if devs are to use any Apple tech(Xcode, frameworks, assets etc) they can be required to pay the %30.

The DMA can't obliterate ratified intellectual property treaties between all the various nations. So yes, Apple is going to collect their commissions.

Maybe we'll get lucky and there will be additional legislation and/or litigation that attempts to determine what is a fair percentage. But don't count on something like that being finalized for 5-10 years. At least.

If that's the case, then alternative app stores will likely be a no-go for anything other than free apps.

That's from the point of view of why bother having your app in an alternative store (that will likely charge money) when you're already forced to pay Apple ~30%?

Then again, there are probably categories of app (adult/xxx?) that Apple don't want on their app store, but would be happy to receive money for anyway.

What happens if I move to the EU and become a resident for a year, and move back? How do they know I am a resident versus tourist? Will they make me change my AppleID user and geo-lock it? Not a fan of these 'geo' based liberties and limitations

Tourists usually can't open bank accounts, so one way of doing this is by checking the payment method's country which is what I think they already do.

> become a resident for a year

Not really a tourist situation. ;)

The same laws say the user doesn't have to use first party payment methods for IAPs anymore and you can, of course, buy an iPhone without a bank account so it's very possible there will be no payment method on file and requiring one for the device to comply with local law would not fly. I think the article is right they might rely on the new location based service restriction. Even if you don't use location in your apps your phone can still know the location. Barring GNSS just connecting to a cellular network would be enough to know if it's in a region that needs to comply with this.

Depends on how they check it. I was able to bypass major audiobook provider regional lock on some audiobooks by just changing my billing address to US (in their UI, not at my bank) - of a card that was issued by EU bank.

I can already see the pitch: “We fly your iPhone to the closest EU territory and will sideload the Game Boy emulator of your choice for only…”

there should be a French territory in North America somewhere

No should, there is

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon

It is french, but it does not seem to be EU.

French law still applies there, therefore this one. Failing that there's a few islands in the Caribbean, and French Guiana that are in the EU.

Turns out they are already geolocking. EU and US have different app stores. When I visited Poland I needed to install an app to install eSIM for my phone and couldn’t do it.

Had to change the country on my account and it dropped all my subscriptions. Then I had issue when I came back with apps not updating. So I had to fiddle with it again.

Extremely annoying.

I haven’t tried this yet but apparently easier way is to create a separate account, log into it to download required app then log back into your main account.

My pain hinges between EV charging apps and family sharing.

Interestingly, this exact problem would be solved if they really allowed side loading. This is not an issue at all on desktop platforms and it shouldn't be on mobile.

Why would you have to be resident? Laws apply as soon as you're in the country. This will probably be tied to the region you have your phone set to though, hopefully without having to factory reset it to change.

Can I set my region to another country?

Sideloading should work for someone who used a phone without an Apple ID (if that’s possible)

Can’t wait to be allowed to side load some kind of YouTube Revanced app. YouTube is completely unwatchable on iPhone.

I deleted the app so it uses the mobile web version. I use AdGuard, which blocks all YouTube ads. You can also use Vinegar extension, which works pretty well.

I do that too but the experience is really not great: no Chromecast, no automatic horizontal full screen, wobbly UI...

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