iOS 17 will reportedly set the stage for sideloading apps on iPhone

Post by waboremo » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 4:47 PM UTC

tgv wrote: post #222

waboremo wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should at the very least help with Safari. What a dreadful existence that browser is when you can't get extensions into the store without paying the 99/yr fee, which has stopped a lot of potential ports from happening. Most ports right now are quite gnarly, you have to jump through a multi step build process just to do what other browsers can handle in a single click or drag and drop. Other methods I've seen invol…

That won't happen. People will install Chrome, and that's the end of it. Well, not the end of Google, of course, which will now have even more opportinuties to grab your data and sell your privacy.

Post by kaba0 » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 4:49 PM UTC

GeekyBear wrote: post #224

andsoitis wrote: post #208

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Only Apple sells iPhones, so I wouldn’t worry about preinstalled 3rd party apps with root permissions like we see on Android phones.

Only Facebook makes the Facebook app, and I find it extremely easy to imagine a Facebook app that can only be sideloaded, so that Facebook can bypass the restrictions put in place by the App Store. For instance, Apps are currently not allowed to degrade functionality if the user says no to a permissions request (e.g. location tracking).

Post by kaba0 » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 4:49 PM UTC

GeekyBear wrote: post #279

andsoitis wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but what I was emphasizing was that on iPhone such apps will likely not come pre-installed; neither by Apple (vs e.g. Samsung) nor by a carrier because I seriously doubt Apple would allow that. Instead, what Apple is doing is finding a new balance that appease those who are attacking the legitimacy of the App Store (and its toll booth) while in practice the vast majority of iPhone users will retain their pri…

> Perhaps, but what I was emphasizing was that on iPhone such apps will likely not come pre-installed; neither by Apple (vs e.g. Samsung) nor by a carrier because I seriously doubt Apple would allow that. If Facebook is willing to pay to have their app preinstalled, unremovable, and granted root permissions on Android, why in the world wouldn't they be willing to force users to sideload their app on iOS?

Post by kaba0 » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 4:51 PM UTC

kmlx wrote: post #245

jclardy wrote: post #125

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I'm the opposite, as looking at android, where do we see this? All big players are still in the play store, because the average user of those services doesn't want to be bothered going to a website, clicking scary looking buttons to enable third party installs, then manually update their own installed apps. Basically the risk would be someone like TikTok dropping out of the store, but I find that unlikely. Maybe at t…

> I'm the opposite, as looking at android, where do we see this? fraud. we'll see lots and lots of fraud. a new avenue will be open.

Post by kaba0 » Mon, Apr 17, 2023, 4:52 PM UTC

HeckFeck wrote: post #239

Vespasian wrote: post #21

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I understand your concern and share some of them. However the solution to overreaching unaccountable private cooperations cannot be to hand all the power to another private unaccountable company. Apple is venturing into advertising and that'll tempt them to weaken privacy protections sooner or later. Additionally their app store rules went far beyond enforcing security and privacy. They gave themselves an advantage a…

> the free market failed to implement a meaningful competition for central app stores. I don't want every component of my phone OS broken apart and subject to what some legislator or lobbyist thinks is 'competition'. The competition is between Apple and Google making mobile platforms and we already had a choice. I chose Apple's approach after a few years with Google. I miss the headphone jack, but having no tacky tra…