AltStore for iPhone in EU Will Have Apps Backed By Patreon

[MacRumors]

With iOS 17.4, Apple began supporting alternative app marketplaces in the European Union, and the first of these stores will be launching soon to give consumers new ways to install apps without having to use the App Store.

Developer Riley Testut, known for Game Boy Advance emulator GBA4iOS, is working on AltStore, one of several alternative app marketplaces. As noted by TechCrunch, app marketplaces like AltStore will be able to monetize in ways that aren't currently possible. AltStore will accept payment through Patreon rather than making money through paid apps or ads.

To use the first AltStore apps developed by Testut, customers will need to pledge $1 to $3 per month through Patreon. Video game emulator Delta will initially be free, and clipboard manager Clip will require a pledge of $1. Later, beta versions of Delta and Clip will require $3 per month to download and use.

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With Patreon, Testut is able to offer subscription-based pricing that does not provide a 15 to 30 cut to Apple. Patreon collects between five and eight percent of income earned, depending on Patreon join date, plus a payment processing fee that ranges from three to five percent.

Patreon's fees come in below Apple's fees, but should an AltStore app see more than one million first annual installs in a year, Apple will charge a 0.50 euro Core Technology Fee for each additional app install. The Core Technology Fee (CTF) makes it risky for free apps to be distributed through alternative app marketplaces, but Apple recently said that it is working on a solution to avoid bankrupting free apps that go viral and rack up too much in fees.

After AltStore launches and Testut has it working properly, other developers will be able to distribute their apps through it as well. They'll have the option of using Patreon like Testut does for his apps, or another alternative. Patreon has the benefit of providing reward tiers, exclusive blog posts for subscribers, and other alternative content, plus subscriber numbers can be capped to avoid Apple's CTF.

Testut plans to launch the AltStore as soon as he gets final approval from Apple, and as with all alternative app marketplaces, it will be limited to the European Union. Apps can only be installed through alternative means on the iPhone, not the iPad, and only in eligible European countries. There are no App Store changes for the rest of the world to allow for alternative app installation.

Last week, the European Commission (EC) opened a non-compliance investigation into Apple to determine if the changes that it made are sufficient to meet the demands of the Digital Markets Act. Apple could be forced to change some of its rules or change the Core Technology Fee if the EC decides that Apple's updates do not go far enough.

Article Link: AltStore for iPhone in EU Will Have Apps Backed By Patreon

 

[easy4lif]

Interesting concept. So they decided on renting apps rather then owning

 

[antnythr]

I’m just looking forward to the day developers can host their own open source applications and I can just download the IPA and drag-and-drop it to my iPhone in Finder, the same way I install applications on my Mac.

 

[madmin]

Thanks but if it's all the same with you I'd rather not be monetized

 

[hagar]

The horror, the danger, the mayhem. Let’s all burn our phones. /s

 

[MacHeritage]

This is certainly a different take but I don't do subscriptions.

 

[scorpio vega]

Pass. App Store is fine for me.

Definitely not using Patreon.

 

[spazzcat]

I'm glad it is so much easier to buy apps in the US ...

 

[DocMultimedia]

I remember when developers thought they'd be able to run everything on the web. Now they need their own app store just to run an ad based game.

The web is done. Long live the five hundred new app stores that simplify the downloading of ads.

 

[iOS Geek]

Having 3rd party app stores is really looking like a crapshow. Saw that coming a mile away. More of a garbage experience than anything else. Really struggling to see ANY sort of benefit from this bs mandate.

 

[@Brett]

I’m sure if people do not use the alternative app stores they will going to the EU to complain who will blame Apple in some way shape or form.

 

[hacky]

Having 3rd party app stores is really looking like a crapshow. Saw that coming a mile away. More of a garbage experience than anything else. Really struggling to see ANY sort of benefit from this bs mandate.

Two real benefits

• Potentially more cut of the app price for the dev itself
• Potentially new types of apps which would not be allowed in the Apple's App Store

I agree the subscription based alt store is nothing to write home about. Hopefully other alt stores will be more interesting than this take.

 

[Colpeas]

I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again. This CTF is pure extortion and Apple has absolutely no right what so ever to charge devs any money for apps that are not on AppStore. Let alone free ones. “Working on a solution….” Blah blah my butt. Just drop it entirely, what’s there to speculate about?

I hope, really hope, that EU fines Apple so daaaamn hard for this. Tim needs to learn a lesson from this.

 

[Spock]

I can see this ending well....

 

[nitrobear]

Having 3rd party app stores is really looking like a crapshow. Saw that coming a mile away. More of a garbage experience than anything else. Really struggling to see ANY sort of benefit from this bs mandate.

"Last week, the European Commission (EC) opened a non-compliance investigation into Apple to determine if the changes that it made are sufficient to meet the demands of the Digital Markets Act. Apple could be forced to change some of its rules or change the Core Technology Fee if the EC decides that Apple's updates do not go far enough."

Blame Apple for this ********, not the EU.

 

[Timpetus]

Happy with AltStore as it is in the US currently. I don't like the idea of renting apps, I prefer to buy them one time.

 

[theinsaneworld]

The EU can’t mandate Apple give away access to competitors and other developers for free. The DMA doesn’t even state that they should and if it did, it wouldn’t hold up in litigation.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

I’m just looking forward to the day developers can host their own open source applications and I can just download the IPA and drag-and-drop it to my iPhone in Finder, the same way I install applications on my Mac.

This exactly.

As far as I'm concerned, "app stores" can go away entirely, ESPECIALLY the Apple one.

 

[AvgMrcl]

I'm glad it is so much easier to buy apps in the US ...

You understand you just will never have these apps, right?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Competition breeds creative approaches vs. any single approach. This is but one of many ways to get Apps on iDevices. Many more will follow... because competition makes it possible for such innovations to be rolled out, tried and evaluated. Judge them good or bad as you please but competition generally serves customers best interests. No competition generally enriches the "company store" with a complete hold on all transactions.

As I see it, EU citizens will increasingly be able to put apps on their iDevices like all Mac people worldwide have been able to do for all of the years we've had Macs. Those who want to only buy from Apple will keep right on using only the Apple App Store. Those desiring other options will have other options.

And yes, some apps will probably bail out of the App Store to go their own way but then clones of that app will likely sense an opportunity to take share via customers who will only buy such apps on the App Store. Those clones will evolve to be a suitable replacement app and still be for sale in the App Store. Customers can then get what they want either way.

My best gut guess is that after all these years of the world being accustomed to buying apps only one way, stripping an app off to its own store will simply result in a tangible drop in revenue. Interested developers will probably learn the very best option is leave their app in the App Store AND offer it direct (or in other ways)... exactly as they do with Mac apps... with no apocalyptic consequences any more rampant than the apocalypse we Mac people suffer by the very same flexibility for Mac apps.

Some may take their apps down to go their own way and learn a "need to be buyable everywhere" distribution lesson the hard way... but they will learn and then come back again to maximize their own revenue (even if App Store sales mean less profit for them- something is better than nothing). As we all know with Mac, there is abundant opportunity for an Apple Mac App Store AND individual stores for software apps AND app bundle offers AND more. It should work just as well for iDevices.

 

[Brain Damage]

I'm glad it is so much easier to buy apps in the US ...

Tell us why it’s easier, the app store will still be available for europeans…

 

[sw1tcher]

I can see this ending well....

That's a change from the usual crowd who cannot see this ending well.

👍 for being positive about this.

 

[SW3029]

lol. hard pass.

look, this alternative app store thing is going to go like this: Less than 1% of iPhone users who can install alternative app stores on their iPhone will. 100% of everyday, ordinary iPhone users who don't read MacRumors or tech blogs do not give a **** about alternative app stores. Apple's App Store will be the only one they ever use.

 

[wilhoitm]

If it is a recurring subscription then that is a "NO" from me!

 

[iOS Geek]

lol. hard pass.

look, this alternative app store thing is going to go like this: Less than 1% of iPhone users who can install alternative app stores on their iPhone will. 100% of everyday, ordinary iPhone users who don't read MacRumors or tech blogs do not give a **** about alternative app stores. Apple's App Store will be the only one they ever use.

Yep. And that would be further proof that the EU is overstepping. If the users actually wanted it...it wouldn't take an overreaching government to get it.