iOS 17 app sideloading might only be available in Europe

> I’m not sure Apple really has anything to fear from it either in terms of security or usability.

Sideloading will hit hard for Apple's pro-privacy brand.

You lose transparency and quality control for the apps. They don't need to tell you about their data collection practices. They don't have to do actually anything at all, since you can't ban those apps anymore.

Phishing is still a problem of Android and that will become a problem on iOS too. On Android there is still business for anti-virus engines because of the sideloading and Phishing. On Apple devices, there isn't really need for anti-virus but it will become relevant again.

If the sideloading will become very easy, big players who make money with data collection, will leave the platform. You won't find Meta apps soon from the App store. They are so big that people will download these apps regardless.

If that happens, how many fake Instagram apps we will see after that? And you can't ban them from the App store anymore.

I recently got an iPhone and I still don't understand the integration bit. If you don't use iMessage (everyone here uses Messenger, Telegram or Signal), barely make phone calls, use OneDrive for cloud storage (because it's way cheaper than iCloud), and use BitWarden for passwords there isn't really anything left. I guess being able to AirDrop a file is nice? But then also my Macbook and my iPhone have different chargers so from a hardware PoV they're less integrated. Is there anything I'm missing here?

Do you disagree that relatively few Android users sideload?

You’re making an awful lot of assumptions about how people think and behave en masse. When facebook is the primary communication factor for huge family groups, if you’re the only one not participating then you miss out on all those conversations. It’s not just about one on one communication, it’s about a virtual family presence.

I say this as someone who despises facebook but this is the reality we are in. Similarly, in most nations outside United States, you really cannot get rid of WhatsApp. If you don’t use WhatsApp, you are missing out on how much of your society operates.

The AppStore, in its current incarnation, almost certainly decreases security. And I mean this in a very concrete and demonstrable way. Apple on the one hand insists on touting the safety of the AppStore, and its reliance on app-review for this safety, to people (and Congress!),creating the reasonable expectation that if something has made it onto the AppStore, then it it’s gone through this stringent analysis and should be considered safe by default.

However, they then bizarrely and deliberately refuse to actually police the store, to an alarming and almost cartooninsh level. We’ve seen this time and time again: scan apps remain on the store for months despite being reported. Take just last month when fake Authenticator apps flooded the AppStore to take advantage of Twitter getting rid of mobile phone based 2FA, and not only were those apps allowed on the store, but often managed to get top recommendation.

At least on the web the expectation is that it’s the wild west and you should be careful what you install. On the AppStore it’s as if Apple has purposefully invested effort into creating the perfect mark for von artists: convincing their customers that a shark infested pool is totally safe to swim in.

And this is the undeniably bad stuff, it doesn’t even touch on the “grey area” of these disgusting children’s casino apps that dominate the AppStore, and that Apple shares the profit on to the tune of 15-30%. The incentives are all broken. Apple profits when scam apps buy ad-placement using real apps names for keywords. Apple profits from apps that convince kids to buy garbage IAP.

It would be one thing if the AppStore actually lived up to its supposed principles, at the cost of hurting competition, innovation, and the occasional frustrating developer rejection. There’s actually be a trade-off to discuss, and we’d actually be arguing about principles, and whether safety matters vs. freedom blah blah blah. Hell, as a parent, there’s versions of a well managed AppStore that I’d probably begrudgingly accept.there be a “can’t argue with the results” thinking there.

But that’s not what this is, and I’m tired of pretending toy is in arguments that defend the AppStore. It’s been 15 years, the AppStore isn’t in beta, it’s not “a work in progress”, there’s no room for arguing about its vision vs it’s “current” reality. The AppStore has shown us what it actually is: a supremely lazy and un creative business cudgel that serves neither developers nor customers, and instead serves Apple first and ironically Apple competitors and criminals second. How does it serve Apple competitors you ask? Consider that companies like Amazon are offered special AppStore rates. Little developers don’t get that, big companies do. So not only does the AppStore exhibit monopolistic behavior, it also props up other monopolies.

Also, the search sucks and it’s ugly. It feels like a free samples booth at a Costco. No one at Apple has any taste anymore. Not really relevant to the argument, but just want to point out there’s zero to be proud of in that product.