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> (guarding them from software piracy and creating a trustworthy app market that generates real value, unlike Android/Google Play)
you never heard of cydia or what ?
Their reviewer account was actually broken once for 4 months, and we always passed review anyways. Yes, I can tell if they used another account because once shipped Apple review is the _only_ group on the planet with that build # prior to release. They could launch the app without network but it wouldn't do anything since the the very first thing is to either refresh auth or login.
The App Store is a scam that I pay > $3M/year to Apple in fees for.
When we ship an update that adds a whole new branch of functionality that adds camera/mic interactions where there were none before (with all the new entitlements that requires) and the reviewer approves it without ever launching the app I laugh at comments like the GP
The thing that can't be had here is both Apple being the sole keymaster of the device and the user being the sole keymaster of the device.
The "monopoly" arguments never made sense to me. I think, for the people who purchase phones, it's not like Apple put a gun to their head and forced them buy iDevice(s). They had complete freedom to choose between investing into alternative platforms.
How is user activity/behavior about developers?
Guaranteed by whom? Not Apple, for sure.
E.g. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-10781343/M...
Developers forget that users also have a relationship with Apple.
https://developer.apple.com/support/apps-using-alternative-p... has a screenshot of the warning in question:
> This app doesn't support the App Store's private and secure payment system.
> All purchases in this app will be managed by the developer "Example." You will no longer be transacting with Apple. Your App Store account, stored payment method, and related features, such as subscription management and refund requests, will not be available. Apple is not responsible for the privacy or security of transactions made with this developer and can't verify any pricing or promotions that are offered.
That really doesn’t seem unfair or scary. Part of the problem here is that we’re seeing the frame picked by someone vocal enough to come to a reporter’s attention and who stands to see considerable financial upside to cutting Apple out of his payment processing stack. That’s a legitimate goal, of course, but I think also clouds his ability to remember that while his motives may be pure, this is a system dialog which has to work for EVERYONE and there will definitely be sleazy companies trying to use the exact same feature, and to a first approximation the scammers will look just like his business from the perspective of a normal user.
If "little" Timmy is pulling those sort of shenanigans then I suggest his parents have bigger problems and they probably won't blame Apple at all.
When they get a huge bill 6 months later, or after the game company is acquired, etc. the first thing they’re going to ask is why nobody warned them. That’s the point of these dialogs - to make the importance of the decision harder to miss.
Then the parents insert their CC info so Timmy can get the latest Disney skin for his game.
And of course the store doesn't have any safeguards or parental controls, they're on the iOS side. In the official store.
Can you seriously, hand on heart, tell me that people will in this case blame Epic for their crappy store and not Apple?
And mind you - nothing actually stops Apple from designing a safe and respectful sideloading system like MacOS. They actively choose to make iOS a diminished and neutered platform for profitability purposes. People will blame Apple, and they will be right - Apple brought this upon themselves. There is no one else to blame.
Now, they want to argue that sideloading is the straw that breaks the camel's back? Not Safari, which has enabled lord knows how many scams and privilege escalation attacks. Not the App Store, which disseminates exploitative and fraudulent content under the guise of simplicity and security. Not iMessage, the perennial attack-vector for escalated malware. Somehow it's the sideloaders who are the problem, for daring to suggest that the iPhone should rely on OS-level security rather than arbitrary (and often wrong) first-party curation.
Who do you suggest we blame?
Actual real human beings are having their lives turned upside down by things like this every fucking day. Can you try to have a little bit of compassion for people totally ignorant about computers and how much we ask them to do now? The world (and apple) doesn't revolve around developers!
What actual problem for _customers_ is being solved by alternative app stores? I don't know a single non-techie apple person who even knows what this means or has a single desire to sideload an app
What!? Yes it is. I've seen it first hand on numerous kids phones, that "have a bad battery" or "stopped working".
Turns out downloading unlimited arbitrary binaries from in-app/in-youtube advertisements leads to a functionally bricked phone. I assume adults are too embarrassed, don't want to hand their phone over to someone and just buy a new one.
f-droid works fine.