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Comment by rcarmo | Hacker News Reader

Unpopular opinion: I'm really not keen on Riley using Delta as a key driver to make EU folk pay for the AltStore. I'd much, much rather get it from the Apple App Store, just like everyone else on the planet--and I'd pay Eur 4.99 for it there, easy, just because I really don't want the hassle of dealing with another App Store.

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Riley posted the following on Mastodon about this:

Getting some Qs about Delta availability, hope this clarifies things!

• Delta is exclusive to AltStore in EU

• Because of Apple’s new dev terms, all downloads in EU cost us €0.50/yr in AltStore PAL and App Store…so couldn’t offer Delta in EU App Stores without making it paid

• App Store only supports one-time paid-upfront apps, so we’d have to pick a price that could support ~years of CTFs

• PAL’s €1.50 covers Delta’s CTF

• We’d make everything free everywhere if it wasn’t for the CTF

https://mastodon.social/@rileytestut/112299267044864020

Yeah that’s too bad since it’s free everywhere else in the world on the App Store.

Well, now you can add it to the ever-expanding list of iOS apps you just can't use. No need to feel lonely about it though, there's a lot of great free apps that Android users are also locked-out of unless they flip the sideloading switch. Here are just a few: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/

Sideloading switch on Android? You install F-Droid and then install whatever you want from F-Droid. I'm assuming you mean the "install application from unknown source" pop-up when you open the F-Droid apk from your downloads folder. This is NOTHING compared to the hoops Apple users have to jump through to install third party software.

Your comparison is pointless (I've been using F-Droid for almost a decade, and that's where I get most "serious" Android utilities today - like Termux and various UI tweaks I can't do without). I am fine with hacking Android (and running emulators on it) because I don't rely on it for work, IM, family or work stuff. It's just a sandbox for me.

But I would have liked to have Delta (and paid for it) on iOS, because that's where I spend most of my time. I'll just wait until RetroArch (or someone else) ships on iOS.

That's a shame. It's just free software, there should be no reason why you can't just put it on your phone if you have the code and want to approve it. Maybe Apple should re-draft the App Store conditions to better accommodate Free Software if this is the sort of business they'd like to attract. If not, oh well, it's only the users that have to suffer.

> I'll just wait until RetroArch (or someone else) ships on iOS.

You mean the App Store, right? Retroarch on iOS is practically as old as sideloading Delta at this point: https://docs.libretro.com/guides/install-ios/

You must be new to mobile, and Apple, and notarisation. I can build and install it myself, but even with a developer account it's a hassle. The key problem with iOS app distribution isn't alternate app stores--it's enabling end users to run their own apps on their own devices without timeouts or jumping through hoops, and nobody seems interested in fixing that.

The problems you talk about are deliberately created by Apple and only fixable by Apple. If you buy an iOS device you're opting in to whatever bullshit Apple comes up with that isn't explicitly regulated away, and when regulation is introduced Apple has made clear that they will do whatever they can to avoid complying with the spirit of said regulation.

The creator of Delta is pushing the first regulation-protected route they have for distributing their app. You started this thread saying you wish they didn't.

Dealing with notarization, timeouts, yearly developer account subscriptions, it's all terrible. The only hope to ever get away from it is to put up with as little of it as possible, which currently means an alternative app store. Or you can stop buying Apple devices.

I will stop buying Apple devices when there are quality alternatives, hardware and ecosystem-wise. Android is (still) neither at this point.

Sounds like you're going to be in the business of fielding unpopular opinions for quite some time. I'm shocked that someone would shake their fist at the person developing code that you can go download right now[0] and not the business that prevents your phone from using it. If this is your sincere opinion, you either misunderstand the situation or expect to have your cake and eat it too.

[0] https://github.com/rileytestut/Delta

What you're saying is that you are not interested in solving what you describe as "The key problem with iOS app distribution".

I am not claiming Android is perfect in any way; I don't think a truly good usable mobile option exists. I will claim that the differences in quality are minor in comparison to the problematic level of control Apple exercises over iOS.

Depending on what you mean by "quality alternatives", GNU/Linux phones exist. Sent from my Librem 5.

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