Apple's Hold on the App Store Is Loosening, at Least in Europe

Even after looking at that, it doesn't seem that bad. It's about the same as installing a management or configuration profile, but arguably, has the potential for more risk to your data privacy, so I wouldn't expect it to be easy.

OK, it could definitely use some more polish, but this is literally the first time Apple has done this.

This is not going to fly. The EU will force them to equal the playing field.

Netflix's push into mobile gaming goes another way— distribution is still through the Apple app store, and all the individual titles are $0, but at startup they do a handshake with your Netflix app to make sure you're logged into an active account.

Obviously that doesn't break the stranglehold on the distribution side, so you're still subject to Apple's delays, errors, and moralizing through the review process. And I expect Apple would have something to say about it if the "main app" was in fact taking your money in an a la carte way vs just being a gateway to a subscription. Either way, it's not hard to see how Xbox Game Pass could pursue a similar model and point to what Netflix is doing as being basically the same deal.

>Here's the general experience:

>https://adamdemasi.com/2024/04/19/app-marketplace-experience...

The guide on alt store only lists 3 steps[1]. The link you posted is breaking those steps into as many steps as possible for dramatic effect.

[1] https://altstore.io/download

Europe can keep doing its regulatory thing while the US works to improve. At least someone is doing something.

EU can focus on making more regulations, while US focuses on building new businesses. Then the new businesses will adapt to the regulations, while Europe has no businesses that need to be regulated.

You are making it sound as if Epic can't provide privacy, security and safety reviews, considering they already have an established PC store competing with Steam. I think we are gonna be okay.

It's not going to be the wild west, as your words make it out to be, but a healthier system than the oppressive and monopolistic mono culture that Apple clings on to for dear life.

If users don’t care shouldn’t it be easier to implement changes to follow the spirit of the law rather than making everything harder?

Hey, if 5% of Appstore revenue is actually up for grabs, that's still more than enough for a competitor to be successful.

I’m skeptical that this will be a win for users. Most Gamers are upset when they have to use any launcher besides Steam and I don’t see how this will be any different. Android always had third party app stores, yet nobody uses them.

95% of the peasantry are illiterate and have no concept of newfangled ideas like elections or organized labour. Best let the feudal lord continue to call the shots, they're in power, so clearly this is the natural order of things. /s

Apps still don't have system level access to anything, so no. iPhone apps can't automatically run in the background, run on boot or just access random data from random apps. If they can it'd be an exploit, and while the App Store gives you some extra safety in that they can scan for it / pull the app without updating iOS, now you actually need an up-to-date OS.

It's a small additional risk but really not that big at all compared to what you can do with Android sideloading or app installing on macOS/Windows, and not comparable at all to macOS kernel extensions or Windows drivers.

Yes, absolutely. Part of the reason I’m very happy that people around me tend to use iPhones is that I have some base level confidence in what they’re installing. I don’t trust nearly anyone to make good decisions about what applications they are installing, given how much information cellphones have it’s untenable to have them installing random garbage because some website said so.

First part: Not at all. Apps can‘t deeply integrate into the system and it’s always through very tightly defined APIs.

Second part: Technically yes, practically no. Apps are still tightly bound by the system.

Theoretically there can be exploits out of the app sandbox that could be caught before an app is released on the app store. But once the vulnerability it will quickly be closed - and while it‘s not known it also won’t be caught by the app store‘s automatic checks anyway, so it could also be inside of app store released apps.

No, not at all. Security is an ongoing process of system design, nothing that the App Store can offer. iOS is designed with an aggressive sandboxing model with very strict permissions for accessing privacy-impacting APIs. The App Store, additionally, does include all sorts of scamware that was let through the screening process.

Apps on iOS are strictly user space. They cannot run at a kernel level, which was the issue with CloudStrike. An oversight in CloudStrike's software, which assumed a downloaded file would never be in a broken state, prevented the system from booting.

Technically, Microsoft requires approval for software that runs at the level of CloudStrike. So, clearly, a review process is not sufficient to prevent that issue either.

Nearly impossible. You need an EU Apple ID connected to an EU phone number, and your GPS needs to show you're in Europe.

It's the users phone. like a computer, we should be allowed to install whataever app we want.

I don't either: https://gazette.com/news/wex/harris-s-choice-of-trump-debate...

Regardless of your stance on whether or not Google specifically is a monopoly, this should be considered extremely concerning that Harris seems so friendly with someone representing a defendant her own justice department is prosecuting.

Not that I want to divert from the topic at hand—just agree there's good reason to be apprehensive about similar expectations being met here.

Not sure why you say that. The Biden admin pursued a number of cases and recently got a monopoly ruling on Google