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iPhones in the EU get ability to set more default apps, delete more built-in ones (m.gsmarena.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

51 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I don't expect most iPhone users to ever change their default settings, but it's nice that it will be possible in a year.

Who knows, maybe one day you can run actual Firefox on them too? :p

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[–] tudor 48 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

An European iPhone, aka an iPhone which will get these features, is identified by a background process named countryd, introduced in iOS 16. Its only purpose is to compute and predict the most likely location of the user (as in country/region) and lock down features accordingly.

These are only some of the factors taken into the equation:

GPS location
Wi-Fi location
Wi-Fi hotspot country codes
Cellular/GSM country codes
IP address
Home and roaming operator regions
Apple Account region
Device region
Satellite reachability

countryd takes in all of these and more as input to provide the most likely country of the user. If that country is in the EU, then 💥 Sideloading, Default Apps, etc etc etc goodies

[–] [email protected] 46 points 4 months ago (2 children)

This is disgusting.

It would have been easier to just remove these restrictions for everyone.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago

$$$$$$$$

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

It's funny, because I've worked on and off in regulation for some of these companies. Leadership always wants a "scalable regulatory solution" and the answer is always "let's be more open" and leadership is always like "no"

It's actually not hard to be compliant with the laws of 220+ regions. It's just being on the edge of each and every restriction is more profitable.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I was in Corfu last week when the news of the Epic store came about, so tried to install it on my UK registered iPhone. All I got was a notification telling me that my phone isn’t eligible.

So yeah, no Fortnite in my phone for me. Not that I really care about that, I just like fiddling with shit.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Brexit means brexit

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

The gift that keeps on giving.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Sadly.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

IOW, not something that one stuck in Ameristan can realistically override. Damn.

A handful of those factors are fairly trivial, but addressing all of them concurrently sounds like a tall order - especially since presumably one can't talk to countryd directly and feed it the desired data.

Appreciate the clarity - iOS just isn't a platform I have a need or the tools to code in.

[–] tudor 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I tried fooling it myself several times with the aim of getting satellite connectivity in my unsupported country, to no avail.

Used a German SIM card (where this feature is supported), went in my basement where there’s no cell service so that it can’t read MNC or MCC from any networks nor can it read GPS precisely (the circle spanned almost all of Western Europe, that imprecise I mean), used a Raspberry Pi as a router with country code as DE, disabled Wi-Fi, used VPN, used the Xcode debugging tools to simulate iPhone location to Germany (this usually fools all apps into thinking I’m in Germany, including Apple’s own Find My), all to no avail. And there’s no way to feed countryd any custom data.

It’s insane.