Live data from Hacker News

Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

arstechnica.com

91–100 of 151 posts

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#91
post #79
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…

Is it because you got used to it? Or maybe it JITs most-used applications? I don't think their experience is unique at all (I also have an Android device for development and it is a lagfest after a couple of years).

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#92
post #36
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to not understand this as well. Then I switched to Android after some 8 years and can't really remember why I "needed" iOS. Everything works and I am happy. really just choose the better product (for you). Regulation may not happen in time or at all but declining sales will make any business do an about turn at record pace. And even if it doesn't, why do I care?

You change your phone every year? Because I have this Android phone sitting on my desk for development. When I bought it it was almost as responsive as iPhones (and much cheaper). 4 years later the UI is a lagfest [1]. Meanwhile, my iPhone XS is over 5 years old and almost as responsive as on day one. And I have major version OS updates to blame for the "almost", while the Android one got one major update and was lag…

I don't. I haven't experienved any lags. My mother has had a samsung m30 for a while and everytime I used it, it was absolutely fine. This was a 4.5 years old phone. I got her a samsung a35 this time.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#93
post #62
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If this would be the case, then a SIM-enabled Windows notebook would also be competition for the iPhone. Can that SIM-enabled Windows notebook do phone calls using the cell operator network (that is, not over the Internet)? If not (that is, if it uses the SIM only for data), then it's not an iPhone competitor. The "smartphone" category (which is where all iPhone competitors reside) requires being both "smart" (that…

Nowadays, and especially for those under about 30, phone calls come near-last on the list of things smartphones are used for. To change to the Librem 5, I would need to: - change the way I communicate with all of my friends and family by using SMS over the _only_ method used in much of the world - WhatsApp. - be excluded from context surrounding many social gatherings due to not being in group chats. - change the way…

Well said! However, people are different. None of the things you mention matter to me, so I could be using Librem 5 if it wasn't for:

- ability to run apps from a (well stocked) store

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#94
post #20

NB: if you already have AltStore PAL, you can just install Epic apps from their storefront. Epic covers FUD fees that Apple levies from AltStore.

Another bonus if you use AltStore - you don't have to install an app from a company that defrauds children with in-app coin purchases to unlock stuff in their games... it's funny how Epic is now portrayed as 'the good guys'.

Apple makes significantly more money on the sale of gambling to children that epic does

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#95
post #61

"Allow Markeplace from Epic Games" Wow.... This is a small step in installing an app, but a giant leap for digital freedom. I hope that non-UE citizens can achieve this goal by the end of the decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

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.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#96
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Apple has never allowed any app to jump to straight into the right Settings page on iOS or macOS. Wrong. Dating apps can and do deeplink to their geolocation permissions settings.

Which dating app. Never seen any app able to deep link beyond the first level in Settings.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiapplicatio...

This brings the app to your apps settings page which includes the permissions toggles. We use it in our camera app when the user has denied camera permissions (kind of vital) and need help turning it back on, it brings them right to the correct toggle

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#97
post #36
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to not understand this as well. Then I switched to Android after some 8 years and can't really remember why I "needed" iOS. Everything works and I am happy. really just choose the better product (for you). Regulation may not happen in time or at all but declining sales will make any business do an about turn at record pace. And even if it doesn't, why do I care?

You change your phone every year? Because I have this Android phone sitting on my desk for development. When I bought it it was almost as responsive as iPhones (and much cheaper). 4 years later the UI is a lagfest [1]. Meanwhile, my iPhone XS is over 5 years old and almost as responsive as on day one. And I have major version OS updates to blame for the "almost", while the Android one got one major update and was lag…

It's about how many apps you install, my phones get laggy as well, but when I format them they're back to being as responsive as day 1.

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#98
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Is it because you got used to it? Or maybe it JITs most-used applications? I don't think their experience is unique at all (I also have an Android device for development and it is a lagfest after a couple of years).

> Is it because you got used to it?

No, I know what you mean, I've seen this happen with very cheap (or not cheap but just rubbish/spyware) brands/models that quickly filled the system partition over time with bloatware during updates.

Being cheap, the system partition was already tight on purchase, so the bloat/spyware quickly turns it unusable. The cheaper models tend to have inadequate storage to begin with and install bloat/spyware to subsidize them.

I just don't think it's an "Android" thing, most of those can be revitalized by installing a custom ROM without the spyware (but the crappiest brands are probably not even FLOSS-supported).

What is your device brand+model?

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#99
post #76
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just found it surprising how dead it is (according to Steam, anyways). Apple will have to do something drastic (and uncharacteristic) to recover. > Does that 2.08% Linux include the Deck btw? [edit] I think I was wrong, see sibling comment which indicates that 41% of Linux users are on the Deck's OS.

A good start would be to support some existing API (Vulcan and OpenGL) instead of making their own (Metal). Or throw in the towel and do what Linux gaming did and just make a compatibility layer for Windows APIs and DirectX (wine/proton). Though this compatibility layer stuff has big issues with anti cheat software making it not really suitable for many online games.

Games written with Vulkan can run on MacOS with the help of the MoltenVK [1]. You don't need to rewrite the game, just recompile for MacOS. The game can use Vulkan API but loads the MoltenVK shared library at runtime. It acts as a translation layer for Metal which is very similar to Vulkan. There are some gotchas, such as you can not use geometry shaders because Metal does not support them.

[1]: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/MoltenVK

Re: Epic Games Store and Fortnite Arrive on EU iPhones

#100
post #58
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re still iOS apps executed in the same sandbox and notarized by Apple. It’s not like they can suddenly read more data from your device just because you downloaded the binary from Epic’s S3 bucket instead of Apple’s S3 bucket. Of course Apple would like you to have a vague feeling of fear, uncertainty and doubt about third party distribution. The truth is that the only extra layer of defense provided by Apple’s A…

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.
Post reply on HN