AltStore PAL, the first alternative app marketplace on iPhone, is available now
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https://developer.apple.com/support/core-technology-fee/
This is what some commenters here don't understand when they criticize the developer for not offering a free App Store version in the EU. Once a developer distributes outside the App Store in the EU, Apple applies the CTF to everything the developer distributes in the EU, whether inside or outside the App Store. Financially, there's no way that they could offer a free version in the EU.
Also note: "Developers of alternative app marketplaces will pay the Core Technology Fee for every first annual install of their app marketplace, including installs that occur before one million."
And there is the option of setting up a non-profit which removes the CTF.
It seems much more like the aim is to drive usage towards the AltStore.
Apple has made this situation way more difficult than it needs to be. Don't blame the victims. Also, the EU is already investigating, and it's not clear that Apple's Rube Goldberg machine will ultimately stand up to DMA scrutiny.
Looks like they make it incredibly easy to pay with no pre-verification, so yeah, probably a lot of refunds.
I remember years ago turning off location services on my iphone, and finding my iphone connecting to .ls.apple.com all the time (location services).
I just think people don't want to give up control. They just trick/force/wear down people/customers until they give up their* control.
It's too bad. I remember reading Matt Ridley's "the rational optimist" I think he said that when trading partners have trust, trading is unlimited.
If I was treated with respect by apple, I would have trust and buy all kinds of things from them. Instead, I have to do this careful calculus, with devices, upgrades, apps and usually do not.
Besides Apple already mentioned that it's location based and if you go out of the EU you will only have about month of "trial" to use the apps... Apple can go to hell :D
But, FWIW, I've been really happy with acmeplus's beta of Batocera Linux on my RG35XX+. My son and I have been taking turns playing through old gems like Pokemon and Aladdin on it, and I'm hoping to finally beat Final Fantasy VII one of these days.
By the PS2/GameCube/Xbox era most games were fine and PAL60 was becoming a thing anyway, but older than that and there’s a good chance the game just runs 17% slower due to the 50/60Hz difference, or has some weird letterboxing due to not accounting for 576 vs 480 lines.
I still remember the first time I saw an imported Japanese PS1 playing Teken 2, and how much smoother it looked on NTSC. I could never look at my PAL copy the same way again, I couldn't unsee the NTSC version. For me personally, those extra 10 frames trump the extra 100 scanlines in PAL etc.
A lot of PAL ports of games ran slower because they weren't re-timed correctly if at all. On the flipside, being the last major region to get games, there was often additional content by the time they got here. Like the infamous "European extreme" difficulty in MGS3.
Although, I'm sure US commercial TV stations frame drop movies to speed them up so they can insert more commercials these days anyway.
I can't say how it's done today, but at the TV station where I worked in the 1990's, we did. But we never dropped frames of content. That would cause all kinds of copyright and contract problems.
We did, however, drop frames of black and superblack. In an average hour, we were able to get back enough frames to insert an extra 15-second commercial at the top of the hour.
If you send a signal outside those bands, it's known as a superblack/superwhite. The "blanking interval" (when the beam is meant to start at the top of the screen again) has a signal blacker than any black that would show up in a broadcast. If that were not the case, a black screen in a show would mess up your TVs tracking.
No.. no they are not.
They clearly made a policy change and allowed another emulator on the App Store https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/04/apple-removes-the-fir...
I think it is important to point out that clearly there could be improvements to the App Store without opening it wide open.
However, this has nothing to do with my core problem here of now in the EU having no choice but to use an alternative store. When every other country can just download it from the App Store.
My problem here is not that alternative store exist. my problem is that we are already seeing a developer making the choice for me of where I can download the app from.
Which is why I replied with an article, if Apple was just focusing on "making a point" the previous emulator would not have been approved.
- Apple sees emulators as a potential market for alternative app stores and proactively chooses to allow them in the Apple App Store.
- This is a clear example of how competition in the app market place being a positive thing.
- Developer creates an alternative app marketplace, with an emulator as one of its main apps on launch, realizing the competition that forced Apple to update their rules to allow emulators in their own store.
I'm sorry you feel forced to download a separate app store, but don't you see how you in the end are benefitting from this change even without using the AltStore? Give it some time and you will probably have another emulator in the app store you can choose to download.
Not really, so far. Are there any game systems that don't require some level of special hardware to back them up? Dreamcast? I don't think I know anyone who has ever made themselves a 'backup copy' of a game they've purchased, much less then played that backup copy on another device. I'm sure they exist, but in numbers even smaller than linux isos on BitTorrent.
(I’m in the UK so can download from the App Store, finally a benefit of you-know-what lol)
I guess maybe the developer feels it’s their duty to follow the alt store thing through to keep pressure on Apple? Or maybe they stand to make money (either now or in future with other apps) from their store?
The keyword is now allows emulators. They didn't allow it 3 weeks ago. Or a year ago. Or 10 years ago.
Only now, with alternative stores launching and offering this, Apple has finally allowed emulators.
Perhaps the developer doesn't want to be beholden to Apple's whims? Especially after investing a lot of effort into setting up an alternative store?
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/05/app-store-guidelines-em...
> 2.5.2 Apps should be self-contained in their bundles, and may not read or write data outside the designated container area, nor may they download, install, or execute code which introduces or changes features or functionality of the app, including other apps
I.e. "all the code this app ever runs has to be there when the app goes to app review"
This rule change on January 29 allowed for mini games and streaming games
> 4.7 Mini apps, mini games, streaming games, chatbots, and plug-ins: Apps may offer certain software that is not embedded in the binary, specifically mini apps and games, streaming games, chatbots, and plug-ins.
And then specifically this addition on April 10
> 4.7 [...] Additionally, retro game console emulator apps can offer to download games
is what allowed retro game emulators.
The rules forbid running arbitrary/user-loaded code and copyright forbids bundling the ROMs people wanted to use.
The new rules have an exception for specifically emulators
This is exactly what I have been worried about and people tried to explain to tell me that, no this doesn't remove choice from me as a user.
When in fact it does, if I was in the EU (and if the US does something similar, likely here) if I wanted to download this I would have to use their store. The choice is being made for me by the developer.
It didn't take long to already have an example of this happening and bigger companies will likely follow suit.
So how exactly does this benefit users again and isn't all about appeasing developers?
Your decision is to pay Apple's fee that they claim is fair, or not use the app. I don't really see how we can shake our fists at the developers and publishers for not sponsoring the distribution of their FOSS app. It's very clearly the Unity-esque installation fee that is the problem here.
They could have put the app on the app store on the EU and on their store. But did not.
Apple only allowed it to be published on the app store TODAY, just the day of the release of the AltStore because they are trying to make a point, the malice is on Apple's side here. But the comments here make it sounds like it works on their all most hardcore fanbase.
I have not seen anything that the release on the App Store was held up by apple and that this wasn't just instead an simultaneous release on both platforms by the developer.
Yes Apple did not previously allow this until they changed their policy recently to allow emulation (which I think was about a month ago).
This does not change the fact that the developer is choosing to put the app on the App Store everywhere except for the EU, and in the EU you have to use their store.
See this commit from 3 years ago[1]! On Delta's Repo:
> Delta was originally developed under the impression Apple would allow it into the App Store. Unfortunately Apple later changed their minds, leaving me no choice but to find a new way to distribute Delta. Long story short, this led me to create AltStore, which now serves as the official way to install Delta onto your device.
The main reason why you “have not seen anything that the release on the App Store was held up by apple” is that because you did not want to see it, because it goes against your believes (believes that have been manufactured by Apple's propaganda machine).
> Yes Apple did not previously allow this until they changed their policy recently to allow emulation (which I think was about a month ago).
And guess why their changed their policy? Because of DMA put them in an untenable posture.
> This does not change the fact that the developer is choosing to put the app on the App Store everywhere except for the EU, and in the EU you have to use their store.
That's a genuine “fuck you Apple” move, which is understandable given how much “fuck you Delta” Apple gave them before, but it's also a bit of a problem. But here again this is 100% on Apple! They can 100% ban this kind of things by adding a policy to the app store that says “If you want to distribute on the App store outside of the EU, you have to provide your software on the app store in the EU as well” even if that doesn't prevent the release on an alternative store. The main reason why they don't do that, is because it would ruin their FUD about this exact situation.
You are being manipulated by a trillion dollar company, that not only hate your individual freedom, but also wants to make sure you hate it yourself so you never ask for it. And unfortunately that propaganda keeps proving highly effective…
[1] https://github.com/rileytestut/Delta/blob/abd7338a08a4948c55...
I really feel like it should be obvious that I am talking about since apple made the policy change regarding emulators. It is well understood that before about a month or so ago there was a policy against emulators.
I am talking about since that policy change went into effect and the software was in place for it (as in the iOS version was rolled out).
Apple had allowed am emulator on the App Store within the last couple weeks, which doesn't line up with your conspiracy theory that the only reason this one was allowed was because of their own store.
And no this is not 100% on apple. The developer could have put it on the App Store in all regions. Again, Apple approved an emulator recently.
Literally, tell me you have never heard of Delta without telling me you've never heard of Delta.
The only reason this app exists is because of alternative App Stores. It is not a conspiracy theory, you can ask me, saurik, or any other iOS user that used the Altstore to attain basic functionality on their phone.
> And no this is not 100% on apple. The developer could have put it on the App Store in all regions. Again, Apple approved an emulator recently.
Yep. This is 100% on you. You are the only person that continues to enable and apologize for this behavior. So naturally, you are the only person that deserves to suffer on behalf of the users. I really hope you never sideload, and you get to watch the App Store become the same barren husk it is on MacOS while you desperately beg developers to pay for distributing their Free Software. Surely, those high-and-mighty developers will descend from their ivory tower and delete their altstores so that 'nerdjon' from Hacker News won't keep pissing and moaning about how his iPhone sucks now. Yes, that will fix it.
You can blame Apple here, by adding a fee per install, if you choose to go outside the appstore, you pretty much have to remove the free appstore option otherwise why would anybody use the other one?
The weird economics Apple has created discourages using both.
Give users that choice, that is all I am asking for here. Actually give users a choice instead of removing the choice from them. Which at this point in time, that choice is being removed from the user.
Sure they could create a paid appstore option only in the EU (if that's not against the appstore guidelines somehow, I don't know) but that might not align well with their strategy.
Additionally I also feel it would kind of be a bad PR on their side as well to charge more on the appstore in the EU.
Alternative app stores have to pay the CTF for every install starting from the very first one. Apps distributed in alternative app stores have to pay the CTF for every install after the first 1m.
The CTF is an annual fee.
In this instance, the app store developer is the same as the app developer, so the yearly fee for the store is being used to cover both sets of fees.
And the irony is that they had to develop the entire store just so that they could bypass the walled garden.
And unless I am missing something it wasn't available on this alternative store until today. What does that change about the conversation?
> And the irony is that they had to develop the entire store just so that they could bypass the walled garden.
Clearly not since it is available on the Apple App Store in every country other than the EU.
See the sibling response.
> Clearly not since it is available on the Apple App Store in every country other than the EU.
As of… TODAY! Day of the release of the alternative store. What a marvelous coincidence for an emulator that has been submitted years ago on the App store and blocked by Apple for all this time!
Yes, Apple recently changed their policy about emulators … as a result of the exact same Digital Market Act that allowed this alternative store to exist. Again, this isn't a coincidence, it's just how the consequences of the regulation are unfolding and how Apple is trying to cope with it (in a surprisingly clumsy way).
Or is Delta being used mainly as the incentive to use AltStore?
It is there.
According to the verge it is also identical: https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/17/24132984/delta-free-emula...
Curious why it is not available in the EU on the App Store (if it really isn't, I can't confirm)
This is in addition to a somewhat dubious licensing clause on the Delta GitHub repo that violates the GPL, under which most of the emulator cores it uses are licensed: https://github.com/rileytestut/Delta/issues/296
On the other hand, due to how Apple's EU "compliance" is implemented (opting into the new business terms is all-or-nothing per legal entity, not per account), I believe it might be impossible for the developer to now publish any apps in the EU App Store without paying the CTF anyway, so it does all go back to Apple's malicious compliance in the end.
For context:
> Due to the licensing of emulator cores used by Delta, I have no choice but to distribute Delta under the AGPLv3 license. That being said, I explicitly give permission for anyone to use, modify, and distribute all my original code for this project in any form, with or without attribution, without fear of legal consequences — unless you plan to submit your app to Apple’s App Store, in which case written permission from me is explicitly required. Dependencies remain under their original licenses.
Basically, "I grant you the combined work under AGPLv3, plus an exception for my original code." You can make use of the exception iff either that original code is separable from the rest of the work or all other involved copyright holders grant identical exceptions. The "No further restrictions" clause can only apply to code that Riley Testut does not own and is using under the AGPLv3 license.
- I used Firefox, which can't be used for this. OK, I go to Safari.
- In Safari, I tap the "Download" button and get a message indicating that I can't install because my settings. I only see two options "OK" and "More information", but no details about "which" setting I need to change.
- In the "More information" page, I only read a wall of text that doesn't explain what the fxxx I need to do to in order to perform the install.
- No matter how I try, there's no results in the settings search for "external", "install" or "market".
- Oh, and the "Download" button no longer works after pressing it 2 or 3 times. I suppose this is to "protect me" from evil scammers, of course.
Dark patterns galore.
Apple claim that the iOS App Store is a separate entity to the iPadOS App Store, and thus, doesn’t qualify as a gatekeeper under the EU DMA. Apple have made alternative app stores only available to iPhones running iOS 17.4+.
Apple may benefit from you registering your disappointment with them directly, so that they can stop bragging about their immense customer satisfaction percentages in future product launches.
https://mastodon.social/@stroughtonsmith/112287515017810339/...
AltStore is more like a franchise of the App Store where Apple is still in charge, but doesn't directly run it.
What's funny is that here in Europe where this AltStore now exists, Android is clearly far more common than Apple already anyway.
I hope you're joking. If you're an Apple user that's invested in their ecosystem "just getting an Android phone" could probably mean changing the way you do many things, resigning from services you were used to,, learning how to do things on the other side, and so on. That also applies when switching from Android to iPhone. It's just not that easy.
AppTapp Installer was merely a package manager, and they did not implement any store functionality. FWIW, in Cydia's case, I didn't launch "Cydia Store" until about a year after I launched "Cydia Installer".
(AppTapp also wasn't the first package manager for the iPhone, but maybe it was the first one on-device? The one I had used involved USB and some web page I think, but I am forgetting the name.)
>A place where items may be accumulated or routinely kept.
Didn't installer.app come configured for repositories of software you could install? I seem to remember one of the first things people installed was an app that gave you extra repos to choose from