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Comment by storus | Hacker News Reader

This is nice, but Apple essentially blocks sideloading (outside test flight environment) and Google is moving there as well. While it has never been easier to produce individualized software, it was never more difficult on the official platforms, unless one wants to create their own OS (at some point that might be possible as well).

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Plenty of Android phones run Linux. If you're the kind of person who's going to AI-develop your own software for personal use, I can't imagine being adverse to running a non-mainstream OS (and it can always be a secondary phone).

What's the current state of web apps on IOS? Does Safari yet support local databases well enough to build useful web apps?

Pretty much every app I can think of building for my family could just be a website iff local browser-resident persistent data was a thing. (And in some cases I wouldn't even need that if they were going to be always-online.)

I used dexie js from dexie.org to persist indexedDB, vendoring the script in a sidecar js file or inlining it - good for your iOS persistent local db, android too.

I could also recommend SQLite with OPFS, if you’re comfortable with adding a web worker. I personally find it a lot easier to reason about than IndexedDB (even with a wrapper, it’s still a bit tricky to work with, and you get the power of SQL with SQLite).

> outside test flight environment

This is the way. I have a setup that refreshes all my apps at 4am so they never expire. To get around the 3-app limit, I build all the features I need into one super app.

GrapheneOS/LineageOS/e/OS is fine. And if I were to choose between ad infested cookie cutter app store and a handful of app crafted specifically for me the choice is really simple.

As for the banking and identity apps, I probably shouldn't be keeping them on my big cool phone that might eventually get stolen.

maybe we need more like raspberry pi smartphone-sized tablets projects so people can sideload whatever they want like like "RasPad" (or other devices like the Pinephone)

s/sideload/install/g

Sideloading implies a subversive action, which we should not be primed to think.

Sideloading also means installing an app you don't want to publish on any marketplace (for your own or family/friends use). Is there a better word for it?

Installing.

The ability to install software on your own device should be independent of any marketplace.

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