Theoretical counterexample: “Introducing the Facebook App Store for iPhone users; now the only way to get Facebook.app/WhatsApp/Instagram on your phone, and without any of that pesky app tracking transparency.”
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(As a disclaimer, I’m personally strongly in favour of side-loading, but I recognise how this will make things worse overall for everyone else)
That could still be maintained with side-loading though?
If the side-loaded app wants access to the GPS location, then the only way to get it is though the OS Location API which is what presents the Permission Dialog.
The same goes for any other permissions.
As part of the side-loading, any permissions that will be requested within the App could be presented to the user by the OS.
The first-half: a declaration of requested sandbox permissions is a technological problem with a straightforward solution, while the second-half is a soft, squishy, "human" problem.
At the same time, malware still manages to sneak into the Apple app store.
The walled garden gives a false feeling of security while at the same time placing in bondage all those even vaguely connected to the platform.
However, Apple playing both sides by saying the App Store is beneficial for users and also requiring a large % from developers doesn't sit right with me.
Amazon Shopping has been on the Play Store from at least 2014 onwards [1].
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.mSh...
And you have the real world where Facebook did not demanded Android users to enable side loading to install their application, so this is FUD.
With santioned App Store, such fishing attempts will fail. And 18 years of continued history proved that the Apple approach works. The iPhone IS the most secure device for the mass consumers.
Yes, I probably will miss my choices. But if that’s a problem, I’ll probably just buy an Android. Or better a fairphone.
But I want a locked digital forest to safeguard my privacy and digital assets. I can experiment with my PCs and other devices. That’s also my choice.
The app sandbox, watchdog and entitlements system is still in place in this scenario, how is their phone “doomed”?
There’s more android malware on the web than windows malware, by a significant margin. Almost an absolute majority of malware in total.
Bigger malware rate than windows isn’t an issue?
Meanwhile iOS sitting at <1% of total malware.
2 Malware was found on the AppStore
3 Fishing and scamming does not need an app, to fix this you need to educate people.
4 The phones can be secured by default. If you are an "admin" for you familyu then you can keep the "unlock" keys so they can't open the gates.
I can visit any website in Safari and expect to be safe, why can't the same be true of apps?
The level of paternalism is also a positive feedback loop. The more paternalistic we are, the more we need to become because people rely on the guardrails and never learn about the danger. Then at some point they climb the guardrails, assuming that if it was dangerous to climb the guardrails then they would be bigger and less penetrable, more signs and padlocks, etc. So then we make the guardrails bigger. Rinse and repeat ad finitum.
O they absolutely will. There will be apps that are only available via side loading. These are apps that either a.) would otherwise be forced to comply with the user protections provided by apple's walled garden or b.) wouldn't have a viable business model and wouldn't exist to begin with.