I’m looking forward to being able to sideload without a dev account or jailbreak. So many emulators that I’ve been waiting for.
this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
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I’m not looking forward to popular apps forcing you to sideload them so that they can bypass Apple’s privacy and security requirements.
Android has allowed sideloading forever and those apps are a very strong minority. As for sidestepping privacy or security requirements, I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Isn’t permission handling happening at the OS level?
The App Store requires developers to indicate what personal data is tracked, even before you download the app. Similarly, they prevent the listing of scam apps at all.
Sideloading apps will have no such protection.
There are so many scam apps in the AppStore today. So many apps have slot machine style mechanics that get people addicted and convince them to pay for more turns. In addition, a bunch of kid-friendly apps have really short subscription periods (a day?) At a high price (say $3.99).
It’s not to say that App Review has no value, but when it comes to scams that separate people from their money, Apple has 30% of a reason to look the other way
You’re not wrong (and I’m personally in favor of side loading), but this point is somewhat disingenuous. One scenario involves bypassing a reportable restriction aside deliberate negligence while the other involves inherently zero oversight or accountability. It’s not even close which approach is safer for the consumer.
I've been happy with F-droid on Android, since it's open source apps with no subscriptions or ads. Very nice compared to the play store and Apple store, which seems like is either filled with ads or pushing subscriptions.
I would love an f-droid equivalent for iOS.
Might even be F-droid for iOS
Trollstore can do sideloading stuff without jailbreak. But iOS 17 is not supported atm
Hope that the only way it’s allowed is to toggle an option in your phone that disallows Apple’s own store from used at the same time.
Yes people should be allowed to load their own stuff but the process be so painful that only enthusiasts will ever do it and your parents and mine won’t even think about l, or be able to do it after being conned by someone developing some sort of malware.
Leave it to an Apple fanboy to paint choice as a bad thing.
Sideloading apps and alternative app stores onto an Android device is (and has been since Android's inception) almost completely painless once you click past the scary warning saying "hey, Google hasn't scanned this app, make sure you know what you're doing", and I've yet to meet a single non-enthusiast Android user who even knows that. I'd wager that not even grandmas are going to be fooled by something claiming to be the app store that isn't the app store (considering there'd be two app stores on their phone), and even if they are, big flashing warnings that say "Hey, this isn't us" are well within Apple's capabilities.
The fact of the matter is that people don't find APK downloads and alternative app stores without explicitly seeking them out, and that's more than enough to keep away the people who are so technologically illiterate they need to be saved from themselves.