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Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

arstechnica.com

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Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#101

Post by xg15 »

flohofwoe wrote: post #8
nailer wrote: post #2

All I wanted to see was a single screenshot or video. Ars used to be such a wonderful site. Anyway: https://youtu.be/_6cmu0NuM3g

Bizarre how the scare popup doesn't have a button to immediately go to the right place in Settings (or even just enable the feature right there). Typical Apple though. It's the same mess on macOS to allow running software installed from the web.

Yeah, even more so when you then open the Settings app and it immediately greets you with a bespoke "install Epic Store" button. So there is an actual install flow going on in the background, in which Safari communicates with Settings, it's just specifically designed so you have to look up and open the Settings app yourself, instead of just opening it for you.

Reminds me of the ridiculous hoops Google built into Chrome to discourage you from sideloading extensions - having you activate "dev mode" before, sure, but then also making dragging and dropping the extension file onto the Chrome window the only way to actually install it.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#102

Post by xg15 »

jeroenhd wrote: post #74
flohofwoe wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bizarre how the scare popup doesn't have a button to immediately go to the right place in Settings (or even just enable the feature right there). Typical Apple though. It's the same mess on macOS to allow running software installed from the web.

On the one hand I agree that it's a bit silly that the messaging isn't clear. On the other hand, from my experience with Android installation, providing easy steps for end users who don't know what they're agreeing with leads to lots of malware and other nasty stuff. Android has recently started blocking users from granting some sensitive permissions to apps from settings dialogues spawned by the app itself for this…

Yeah, genuine security concerns are one thing, blocking competition or things that threaten your business model is another.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#103

Post by brigadier132 »

nottorp wrote: post #42

Let's remember the other fact hidden behind this store of a free to play peddler: Due to governmental pressure, we have a chance to get a browser that can run uBlock Origin on iOS in the future...

not just uBlock origin, we can get browsers that are not webkit. WebKit is crippled and always behind in standards implementations.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#105

Post by SSLy »

Razengan wrote: post #100
ben_w wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ease with which Apple's rules may be circumvented is situation-specific, e.g. Facebook ran an ad campaign to protest against Apple enforcing privacy rules which (to my not legally trained eye) seem to have already been a legal requirement for app developers in several jurisdictions before Apple made it also a contractual obligation: https://news.law.fordham.edu/jcfl/2021/03/29/the-privacy-war... So, for Meta, in…

Facebook also uses the iOS Keychain to track you across app installs and deletions, AND even when restoring iCloud backups on a new phone! There's no way to see or delete that data without using Facebook apps, and no way to be sure that the data they show is all the data they've stored on your phone.

If I have a meta app, where can I see this stuff?

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#106

Post by nottorp »

brigadier132 wrote: post #103
nottorp wrote: post #42

Let's remember the other fact hidden behind this store of a free to play peddler: Due to governmental pressure, we have a chance to get a browser that can run uBlock Origin on iOS in the future...

not just uBlock origin, we can get browsers that are not webkit. WebKit is crippled and always behind in standards implementations.

> we can get browsers that are not webkit

That's good for how to call it, diversity, yes.

> WebKit is crippled and always behind in standards implementations.

I would cry a river except the standards you're mentioning are mostly made to benefit Google. At best we'll get a duopoly instead of a monopoly, like we have with the actual phone operating systems.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#107

Post by nottorp »

kaoD wrote: post #79
nottorp wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seriously don't understand why performance should degrade so much in time. Do they use crap flash chips in the cheaper models and Android writes so much to them that they run out of scratch space or something?

Your experience seems pretty unique to me. My family uses Android exclusively (including extended family) and the only cases where performance degraded is with very cheap 10+ y/o phones that could no longer keep up with system updates that now take most of the storage space. Even those more or less still work after reflashing a leaner FLOSS ROM. Did you perhaps buy a crapware chinese phone and are receiving bloat/spy…

> Did you perhaps buy a crapware chinese phone and are receiving bloat/spyware?

No, this latest one is a crapware Samsung phone. Doesn't mean I'm not receiving bloat/spyware.

Come to think of it, the Huawei I used before this Samsung degraded less. But I had to abandon them when they got kicked out of google services. Need a full featured phone so I can develop whatever the customer wants.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#108

Post by nottorp »

thejsa wrote: post #95
nottorp wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How's the EU only iOS? I stopped updating at 17.3.1 because I had a feeling it will be buggy in the beginning. Is it safe to use it now?

It’s the same bits, just with feature flags for things like eligibility to install third party stores.

Well if you look at the uBlock Origin comment thread that I started on this article, someone told me you can have that on iOS in theory. Turns out they were just assuming as well.

That's why i ask for first hand experience.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#109

Post by miki123211 »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #71

If an EU citizen lives in the U.S., is this an option? How does one install it? What if I travel to the EU? Can I install it while there?

Explaining in detail, since there's a lot of misinfo in this subthread.

The new georestricted iOS features, like 3rd-party App Stores, are behind feature flags that only activate in certain regions. There are multiple factors taken into account when determining whether a flag should be activated. They include GPS location, location obtained from nearby cell towers, the issuing country of your SIM card, the region you set in settings, the country that nearby WiFi networks broadcast for regulatory purposes[1], and (indirectly, through the billing address) the issuing country of the credit or debit card that you use in the App Store.

Not all of them have to match, but the threshold is high enough that you're very unlikely to meet it while physically in the US.

Feature flags stay activated for 30 days since last eligibility, so if you're an EU resident and leave for a vacation, you're fine. If you traveled here as an US resident, you (probably) could get these features activated, perhaps needing an european Apple ID and/or SIM, but they would only stay on for 30 days.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#110

Post by nottorp »

SSLy wrote: post #105
Razengan wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook also uses the iOS Keychain to track you across app installs and deletions, AND even when restoring iCloud backups on a new phone! There's no way to see or delete that data without using Facebook apps, and no way to be sure that the data they show is all the data they've stored on your phone.

If I have a meta app, where can I see this stuff?

You can't because Facebook won't show it to you and Apple doesn't allow their users access to the phone internals :)

Match made in heaven?

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