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App Sideloading - What do you expect?

JSDK

JSDK

macrumors regular
Original poster
App Sideloading for iOS and iPadOS is coming, to start with only for the EU, but probably everywhere at some point.

Personally, I'm looking forward to it. What do you expect from it, will it change the way you use your iDevice - which apps do you imagine you would download. Will it be a huge advantage for you, not to be locked in by having to download your apps through the App Store. Please share your thoughts on Sideloading on iOS.
 
Apps will still be sandboxed, so it is limited what the various apps you download from outside the App Store can access, unless you give them permission to do so. In addition, no apps will have access to the vulnerable parts of iOS. People who do not have much insight into this sort of thing will probably do well to stay away from sideloading. But I'm sure we'll get to alternative app stores that do well and can be trusted, just like app developers. I'm not too afraid of the safety aspect, but I also think I have a good sense of what I can touch and what I should leave behind.
 
I am gonna develop my own Shortcuts app, with real coding and scripting support.

The built-in Shortcuts app is just...not intuitive.
 
Nope not interested. I only side load on low end android devices. No side loading on expensive devices or devices I have my banking apps installed on and make purchases on.
 
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Depends on what Apple is forced to allow. If we see them forced to provide everything for free without any approval, then I'd guess that we'd see Google expand the Play Store to iOS and gain significant market share. A couple game stores may be successful as well. Large companies like Meta might have their own stores to avoid restrictions. Anything else would be fringe.

If Apple is allowed to approve apps and collect their licensing fee, I don't see anything outside of a game store or two being successful at a large scale.
 
It's already here- and has always been- on Mac. Where's the doom & disaster with the ability to buy apps from anywhere on Mac? Is there some? Yes. Will there be some cases for side loading on iDevices? Yes. Will the EU be destroyed by facilitating it for about 400 Million people? Nope. Again, see the entire planet's experience with Macs in the last 4 decades or so.

Along with competition driving some app prices lower, select developers getting to make more money on their apps (even if selling them for lower prices than in the App Store) may then be motivated by making a little more money for their own creations... to make more apps. That's great for developers and us consumers.

If someone in the EU wants to install perfectly good apps that the corp has refused for whatever reason- aka Epic games being a very obvious one- they'll get to buy & install & enjoy them on their iDevices... because- and brace yourself for this revelation- the owner of the tech will get to decide what they can install on their device instead of the maker of the device. I know, I know. Who in the right mind would want that? Again, see all Mac owners, among who there is probably only a tiny percentage who have never installed at least ONE app purchased from a source other than the relatively new Apple Mac App Store. If so, almost all of them suffered no cataclysm, no disaster, no malware, no loss of their first born, no locusts, fire & brimstone. 😉

All that added functionality that motivated lots of phone owners over many years to "jailbreak" so they could put other things on the iDevice will now be simpler- no jailbreaking required. Why did so many do that vs. just allow the corp to decide what they can and cannot do with their phone? Because they wanted other benefits that the corp wouldn't allow from THEIR store.

And in spite of such tangible consumer choice benefits and money savings, those who swallow the whole security/doom spin will still have the option of continuing to buy from the Apple store and refusing to engage in any alternates, which means their own iDevice should never be at any added risk.

Those who can appreciate this extraordinarily important, core function of capitalism (perhaps the most key variable that specifically benefits the BUYER side of the equation) can take advantage of better prices, alternative apps the corp refuses to make available in their store, etc.

Throughout all of history, ANY seller with a 100% lock on the source of any product pretty much ALWAYS exploits that lock. Customers never benefit from only a single source of supply. Introduce competition and it strikes a much better buyer:seller balance for consumers. Competition almost always means lower prices, greater range of offerings, etc... even pressing the former sole seller of anything to get competitive to try to maintain share... which means there is even a direct benefit for those who swallow the spin spun by the very company making a fortune off of their lock as sole supplier now.

The richest or near richest company in the world shouldn't need this kind of thing to continue to prosper. Make "insanely great products" and broaden the lines into new spaces to grow revenue & profit. This kind of stuff is exactly what ultimately inspires GOVs to take action to force change... which is exactly what is driving it in the EU.
 
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JSDK said:
App Sideloading for iOS and iPadOS is coming, to start with only for the EU, but probably everywhere at some point.

Personally, I'm looking forward to it. What do you expect from it, will it change the way you use your iDevice - which apps do you imagine you would download. Will it be a huge advantage for you, not to be locked in by having to download your apps through the App Store. Please share your thoughts on Sideloading on iOS.
Click to expand...
I wonder if it will be possible to be tricked into downloading malware via Facebook ads like what happened with these people.

www.channelnewsasia.com

Android malware scam victims lost more than S$10 million in first half of 2023: Police

Over 750 cases of Android malware-related scams were reported in the first half of 2023, including 11 cases involving the unauthorised withdrawal of Central Provident Fund savings.
www.channelnewsasia.com www.channelnewsasia.com
 
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I7guy said:
Mac isn’t ios. With a billion iPhone users there a lot of incentives for criminals to do whatever works.
Click to expand...

Cling to this as hard as you want. The EU law is established. Apple is complying. By the end of 2024, up to all 400M people in the EU will either be destroyed by the capability to shop other stores or not. Locusts & frogs & 4 horseman are heading their way or not.

A few months ago, another EU law meant that the new iPhone's USB-C port was going to suck up all the lint, be wobbly and suffer broken tongues like crazy. I just checked and have lint in my own pocket right now, I've not seen even one kiosk pop up to deal with wobbly or broken tongues... and not seen one story about Apple being swamped in having to fix those countless broken ports... especially in them opting to comply with an EU law on a GLOBAL scale.

Just like that compliance with EU law, this compliance will prove this whole issue is much ado about nothing. Will there be a few cases of dummies installing malware from a direct purchased app? YES. Is there a few issues of wobbly USB-C ports on iPhones? YES. There's also a few issues of iPhones spontaneously catching fire. Etc. One can likely make up the most unlikely of scenarios and then search a bit and find an example. Wasn't it only a week or two ago that a story about the iPhone getting sucked out of the plane when the hatch blew out survived the drop from thousands of feet?

But net: consumers in the EU are about to enjoy an added freedom to get apps at cheaper prices (driven DOWN by competition and/or select developers not having to add on Apples steep cut to their pricing) and MORE choice (such as anyone wanting to enjoy Epic games on their iDevices... and all kinds of other apps that Apple opts to exclude as keepers of the ONE and only store for the rest of us). As an:
  • American, I envy both greater freedoms EU consumers will soon have.
  • "Apple everything" guy who has side-loaded select apps for 24 years on my Macs... and longer on PCs and Amiga and Commodore 64, I feel the same envy of those EU consumers.
  • Apple shareholder who can see that this very easy, very lucrative money will now be pressured, I STILL feel envy... because I'd rather Apple further enrich themselves and us shareholders with "insanely great products" than this kind of nickel & diming nonsense. Once you become "King" of the capitalism market (aka richest company in the world) the standard of how you behave must evolve from when you were a little fish. Else- as is the case in ALL similar scenarios before- the only entities strong enough to smack you back into a more favorable buyer-seller balance is GOVs... and they always come for the King. Always.
I fully respect you believe what you believe. Reality will prove you very right or not by the end of 2024. Doomsday is coming to the EU or all those people will still be finding lint in their pockets... and no broken tongues.
 
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HobeSoundDarryl said:
Cling to this as hard as you want. The EU law is established. Apple is complying. By the end of 2024, up to all 400M people in the EU will either be destroyed by the capability to shop other stores or not. Locusts & frogs & 4 horseman are heading their way or not.

A few months ago, another EU law meant that the new iPhone's USB-C port was going to suck up all the lint, be wobbly and suffer broken tongues like crazy. I just checked and have lint in my own pocket right now, I've not seen even one kiosk pop up to deal with wobbly or broken tongues... and not seen one story about Apple being swamped in having to fix those countless broken ports... especially in them opting to comply with an EU law on a GLOBAL scale.

Just like that compliance with EU law, this compliance will prove this whole issue is much ado about nothing. Will there be a few cases of dummies installing malware from a direct purchased app? YES. Is there a few issues of wobbly USB-C ports on iPhones? YES. There's also a few issues of iPhones spontaneously catching fire. Etc. One can likely make up the most unlikely of scenarios and then search a bit and find an example. Wasn't it only a week or two ago that a story about the iPhone getting sucked out of the plane when the hatch blew out survived the drop from thousands of feet?

But net: consumers in the EU are about to enjoy an added freedom to get apps at cheaper prices (driven DOWN by competition and/or select developers not having to add on Apples steep cut to their pricing) and MORE choice (such as anyone wanting to enjoy Epic games on their iDevices... and all kinds of other apps that Apple opts to exclude as keepers of the ONE and only store for the rest of us). As an:
  • American, I envy both greater freedoms EU consumers will soon have.
  • "Apple everything" guy who has side-loaded select apps for 24 years on my Macs... and longer on PCs and Amiga and Commodore 64, I feel the same envy of those EU consumers.
  • Apple shareholder who can see that this very easy, very lucrative money will now be pressured, I STILL feel envy... because I'd rather Apple further enrich themselves and us shareholders with "insanely great products" than this kind of nickel & dining nonsense. Once you become "King" of the capitalism market (aka richest company in the world) the standard of how you behave must evolve from when you were a little fish. Else- as is the case in ALL similar scenarios before- the only entities strong enough to smack you back into a more favorable buyer-seller balance is GOVs... and they always come for the King. Always.
I fully respect you believe what you believe. Reality will prove you very right or not by the end of 2024. Doomsday is coming to the EU or all those people will still be finding lint in their pockets... and no broken tongues.
Click to expand...
Doomsday doesn’t have to come to the masses. A few unfortunate highly publicized cases of the criminal way an iPhone may have used without any way to stop it, will show the stupidity of these laws.
 
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HobeSoundDarryl said:
Cling to this as hard as you want. The EU law is established. Apple is complying. By the end of 2024, up to all 400M people in the EU will either be destroyed by the capability to shop other stores or not. Locusts & frogs & 4 horseman are heading their way or not.
Click to expand...
Of course, this is nothing but a straw man. No one is claiming it will destroy the EU.

Depending on how these regulations are implemented. We will likely see an increase in malware, piracy, and privacy violations. How much depends on the details.
 
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I7guy said:
Doomsday doesn’t have to come to the masses. A few unfortunate highly publicized cases of the criminal way an iPhone may have used without any way to stop it, will show the stupidity of these laws.
Click to expand...

Let's see this play out. None of us commentators can do anything about it anyway. The law is set. Apple is complying. It won't affect any of us outside of the EU as we will still have only one source all apps. By the end of 2024, we should see the outcome.

If any of us live within the EU, we can dodge any ramifications that concern us by proceeding as if there are no third party options and only buying our apps from the Apple store. If someone pulls their apps from the store to sell direct anyway, we can pick up a similar app from the Apple store. It seems like among millions of apps in the store, there are plenty of copycats of nearly everything.

This is a classic, isolated case study... which will objectively prove something. All of the rest of us can observe the experiment and see how bad or how good it plays out. We'll know this year.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Let's see this play out. None of us commentators can do anything about it anyway. The law is set. Apple is complying. It won't affect any of us outside of the EU as we will still have only one source all apps. By the end of 2024, we should see the outcome.

If any of us live within the EU, we can dodge any ramifications that concern us by proceeding as if there are no third party options and only buying our apps from the Apple store. If someone pulls their apps from the store to sell direct anyway, we can pick up a similar app from the Apple store. It seems like among millions of apps in the store, there are plenty of copycats of nearly everything.

This is a classic, isolated case study... which will objectively prove something. All of the rest of us can observe the experiment and see how bad or how good it plays out. We'll know this year.
Click to expand...
You call the EU isolated? The point is these laws are enabling criminal activity to 1B users. That’s not isolated.
 
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This law is an EU law, not a global one. The ramifications of it in the short-term will be isolated to EU consumers. The rest of the world will not have the same new options they will have. There's over 8B people on planet Earth. Up to about 400 million of them will have some new options for dealing with iDevice app purchases/revenue.

In short, this law applies for about 5% of the global population. The other 95% or so are outside of the scope of this law and will continue to buy our apps, etc, exactly as we do now.
 
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I expect to be able to test more than two apps at a time (not counting AltStore which at least reduces the hassle of being physically tethered to a computer for signing.) Being able to do so for more than a week without problems would be nice as well.
 
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