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People are arguing for the policy to change so that signed apps can be distributed outside of the App Store

People want to distribute outside of the App Store, but nowhere did they say they want unsigned apps
Yes and this can be done with enterprise certificates. Outside of the App Store. Download an ipa from the web and install it.
 
So? Developers can stop making apps for iOS if they don't like the fees. The fact remains iOS users spent more money than Android users. The greedy ones are the likes of Epic who are making a ton of money from someone else's platform but doesn't want to pay their dues.
The problem is Apple having a monopoly over the applications and has zero competiiition due to Apple blocking side loading which Google’s Android allows. If Apple does not want to do this voluntary the US congress can pass legislation to force the issue.
 
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I didn't miss your point, what made you think that? Its in my first sentence! All my point was you and I are different. And I bet my anecdote is not just MINE and other people on this planet think the same way.

You missed my point because I was basically saying what I bolded in your quote. The reason I gave you my anecdote was because in an earlier post you said, "My friends and family that have iPhones ONLY have iPhones due to the walled garden." I was simply providing my personal experience that contradicts yours.

I never said that no one else on the planet thinks like you, so I'm not sure how you arrived at that conclusion.
 
The problem is Apple having a monopoly over the applications and has zero competiiition due to Apple blocking side loading which Google’s Android allows. If Apple does not want to do this voluntary the US congress can pass legislation to force the issue.
Where is this a problem legally? What government agency has declared apple a monopoly? And sure congress can create legislation, and it can also be challenged up through the Supreme Court.
 
Having dealt with removing malware from consumer XP machines during the early 2000s, I have only one word about why sideloading is a bad idea.....Banzaibuddy
 
Apple can keep telling people what they want, but legislators and courts can and will eventually force them to open it up especially when some kind of local government app eventually gets denied
 
I am willing for sideloading to be banned on my phone, but not being able to run arbitrary software the the exact reason I don't own an iPad. And if they remove the ability to run arbitrary software from the Mac, then I will abandon the platform instantly.

Why is the phone different? Because it is the thing that has my phone number, which for better or worse has become a de facto security verification mechanism among other things. I am willing to tolerate a somewhat reduced level of functionality on that device in return for somewhat improved security. But that device and that device only.
A phone is much more privacy prone than Mac.
 
„onerous burden“, so a burdensome burden? You’re not as eloquent as you want to be. Anyway,
Apple should just admit to their failures, current and past, in regards to the App Store and its apps. It’s astonishing what kind of rubbish and straight up fraud and theft of intellectual and copyrighted property is available on the App Store. And the kind of in app ads around that have been making their rounds the past few years is sickening, disturbing and annoying.
That said,
I am glad that the App Store and App system on iOS is the way it is because it could easily be worse. We can I believe all agree on that. Just look at Android, it’s a different kind of Fest there.
Apple should admit to this and point out how easily it could be a whole lot worse and even though the status quo isn’t optimal, it’s the best yet. Forcing sideloading isn’t gonna solve problems but create them. I believe to understand the different viewpoints there are, but ultimately sideloading would mean chaos and uncertainty that no one wants.
 
In case people don't know already.

Even if you have been avoiding or deleting social media, many apps try to sneakily get access to your phone contacts.

Once they do that they grab and map your connections. So they know who your family, friends and relations are.

If a government ever became authoritarian enough or racist enough they have that data against you and they can hold it against your throat.

Save your family or obey?

That's why side loading and letting apps run wild is not only a privacy problem it is a deadly problem, especially in countries that have very poor human rights and dictators.
Do you really believe apple’s profit driven non-allowance of side loading apps has to do with human rights? The government literally knows who your family is. It’s on your birth certificate. And the taxes you file. And there are ways of getting this information elsewhere. This has nothing to do with human rights.
 
Do you really believe apple’s profit driven non-allowance of side loading apps has to do with human rights? The government literally knows who your family is. It’s on your birth certificate. And the taxes you file. And there are ways of getting this information elsewhere. This has nothing to do with human rights.
It can be both: Apple has tied its profits to principles of privacy.

Principles exists, and principles are important (to some of us), but they obviously don't stand alone when pushed by multi-billion cooperations. It is up to us to vote with our money on what we feel is important.. So yes: Apple disallows side-loading in part because of human rights. To give up and say "the government knows anyway" is to do nothing, especially in light of Apple having multiple solutions to minimize what information leaks out (not just side-loading, but randomized IDs, cookie-protections, encrypted Messages, on-device processing when possible, etc. etc.). Sure government knows important things about you, but they're not magic, and it is in our power to vote for companies that align their values with privacy principles to minimize what information gets out there.

But of course Apple also disallow side-loading because its good for their business. A win-win is twice as good. Apple has for years been betting their trillions on this alignment paying off. There is nothing pure about Apple in this regard, they never do anything out of the kindness of their hearts, they're in the business of making money, they are not our friend. But that's as good as it gets in the for-profit world, because they can benefit whilst we benefit. I can live with the compromise that they make money off of protecting my privacy, with all the ups and downs that bring.
 
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So yes: Apple disallows side-loading in part because of human rights.

There was a guy in another thread that challenged my comparison of Apple to Big Brother (because most here only draw that parallel with the government, for some reason), as if my assertion was absurdly far-fetched.

... I don't feel so ridiculous now. Jesus Christ, Apple has this person literally saying "freedom is slavery".
 
Do you really believe apple’s profit driven non-allowance of side loading apps has to do with human rights?

Do you think Apple employees don't have family and children and worry about their future?

What you are doing is the fallacy of dehumanising individuals just because they work for a corporation.

Your give up attitude is why countries slip into dictatorships. They just say 'Ah well I don't care because I'm powerless'
 
Do you think Apple employees don't have family and children and worry about their future?

What you are doing is the fallacy of dehumanising individuals just because they work for a corporation.

Your give up attitude is why countries slip into dictatorships. They just say 'Ah well I don't care because I'm powerless'
I honestly have zero idea what you’re talking about. You’ve completely miscategorised what I’m saying and run with it. How is sideloading apps related to human rights? What’s your answer to literally anything I said?
 
It can be both: Apple has tied its profits to principles of privacy.

Principles exists, and principles are important (to some of us), but they obviously don't stand alone when pushed by multi-billion cooperations. It is up to us to vote with our money on what we feel is important.. So yes: Apple disallows side-loading in part because of human rights. To give up and say "the government knows anyway" is to do nothing, especially in light of Apple having multiple solutions to minimize what information leaks out (not just side-loading, but randomized IDs, cookie-protections, encrypted Messages, on-device processing when possible, etc. etc.). Sure government knows important things about you, but they're not magic, and it is in our power to vote for companies that align their values with privacy principles to minimize what information gets out there.

But of course Apple also disallow side-loading because its good for their business. A win-win is twice as good. Apple has for years been betting their trillions on this alignment paying off. There is nothing pure about Apple in this regard, they never do anything out of the kindness of their hearts, they're in the business of making money, they are not our friend. But that's as good as it gets in the for-profit world, because they can benefit whilst we benefit. I can live with the compromise that they make money off of protecting my privacy, with all the ups and downs that bring.
This has literally nothing to do with human rights.
 
I really don't see how consumers benefit from side loading. Freedom of choice? so what? How is that freedom? Having to choose between a Wild West source to find apps doesn't seem like freedom to me. It seems like a nightmare to have to hunt things down all the time. It seems like a nightmare to worry about dozens of payment methods.

Side loading makes sense on a computer because its what we have always done. A computer may require a unique set of applications that a phone or tablet may not typically require for work. Plus its really too late to go back now. Most are not using their phones for work where they need specific unique apps. Most apps could also likely be a web app that would be required for work purposes.

In my experience the apps that are banned from the App Store tend to be apps pirating other apps like game emulators or apps trying to do something a little shady. Most users have no interest in such apps and I'm willing to bet 99% of actual iOS users prefer the single safe App Store. That 99% of users don't even think about the notion of a different App Store or side loading. These are all geek power user concepts and do not represent the opinions of the vast majority of iOS users.

If there were legitimate apps held back by the App Store that might be one thing but almost every major legit app including Epic, after all their BS, is allowed as long as they play by the rules. Rules that really do not impact consumers. A developer paying Apple 15% or 30% has zero impact on users. 15% for apps under $1,000,000 is also a very modest fee considering the transactions, hosting, distribution and marketing Apple provides. If an app suddenly earns $1,000,000 its using a ton of bandwidth for distribution. Something a shared web host will likely not allow. You really need a CDN to handle the speed and traffic to host and distribute a popular app. Then there is the financial part of all of it. Can every app developer promise the same level of financial security for payments? What if a developers site is hacked and the hacker steals all the banking details of every user? Will they be prepared for lawsuits?

Yes computers do it all the time but this is also one of those things most users actually hate about computers. They don't want to think or put in a ton of effort to find, update and research apps. They don't want to worry about thinking about if an app is safe or not. They just want a safe way to get tools to do stuff.

I’d like to know where you got your information from… sources? You don’t see how consumers benefit from being able to side load? Maybe the fact that we can download what we want? And about bandwidth issues, that’s rarely an issue in this day and age. If a developer is earning that much money he can get his own dedicated 1Gb/s port and the problems solved. Why would a developer getting 1 million downloads use a shared server? Makes no sense.

It’s too late to go back now? Why is it too late? Things change all the time. And allowing side loading is a step forward. Not a step back.

The bottom line is. These devices are our devices. We should be able to do with them as we please. As long as we aren’t breaking any laws. Sure there will be some shady apps, and apps that have bad intentions. But has an android device caused any problems that have resulted in side loading apps that threaten huge amounts of people? Not that I can remember. There may have been a few here and there, but let’s face it. If someone can create something that would harm multiple users with just one device downloading the app, then they are smart enough to figure out another way of doing it without spamming their app and using a device that side loaded it.

Side loading will eventually be allowed on iOS devices because from my research, most people ARE NOT against it like you say (again where is your source?).
 
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I just want Apple to stop their censorship campaign against any app that is slightly right wing.

The App Store should only review if an app has malicious code, and not care about the content within the app.
Free Speech > nanny state
 
Do you really believe apple’s profit driven non-allowance of side loading apps has to do with human rights? The government literally knows who your family is. It’s on your birth certificate. And the taxes you file. And there are ways of getting this information elsewhere. This has nothing to do with human rights.
What profit driven non-allowance. There are different ways of looking this other than profit.
 
This has literally nothing to do with human rights.
I promise you it does. Maybe not to you, that's fine, but side-loading is very much linked to privacy, and privacy is a human right according to Apple (and I agree with their statement). Side-loading is linked to privacy because side-loading increases the attack surface for hacking, in all the ways it happens on open platforms. As cited by Apple that means apps can't be recalled, even if it's a hostile app that's exploring weaknesses in some iOS version. And e.g. governments can insist phones contain certain apps, no matter how privacy-hostile those apps are.

None of those examples are fictitious. Side-loading is linked to privacy.

It’s simple. If you are against it. Disable it.

The bottom line is. These devices are our devices.

That's great for you, truly, I see your point and we definitely agree consumer-choice is a virtue, but… there is a balance to strike, because what's easy for you to keep disabled is harder for citizens of regimes that demand side-loaded apps, harder for parents who get duped into installing all kinds of ****, harder for kids who end up with insidious apps that crawl their phone for all kinds of data, in short it's a dangerous can of worms to open up.

Apple has fundamentally aligned their phone to privacy, and it is very much not an open platform. It never were, really. With all due respect, because your points are genuinely understandable and relatable, I think Android or other open platforms would be much more suitable for the direction you desire. To be clear, I'll cheer if Apple opens up where it doesn't sacrifice privacy, they need to play by transparent rules and there's lots to criticize them and their way of handling things for. But I really hope they can keep a lid on their platform to such an extent that I don't have to worry at all about what apps my parents and kids install, or what apps people elsewhere are forced to install.
 
I promise you it does. Maybe not to you, that's fine, but side-loading is very much linked to privacy, and privacy is a human right according to Apple (and I agree with their statement). Side-loading is linked to privacy because side-loading increases the attack surface for hacking, in all the ways it happens on open platforms. As cited by Apple that means apps can't be recalled, even if it's a hostile app that's exploring weaknesses in some iOS version. And e.g. governments can insist phones contain certain apps, no matter how privacy-hostile those apps are.

None of those examples are fictitious. Side-loading is linked to privacy.





That's great for you, truly, I see your point and we definitely agree consumer-choice is a virtue, but… there is a balance to strike, because what's easy for you to keep disabled is harder for citizens of regimes that demand side-loaded apps, harder for parents who get duped into installing all kinds of ****, harder for kids who end up with insidious apps that crawl their phone for all kinds of data, in short it's a dangerous can of worms to open up.

Apple has fundamentally aligned their phone to privacy, and it is very much not an open platform. It never were, really. With all due respect, because your points are genuinely understandable and relatable, I think Android or other open platforms would be much more suitable for the direction you desire. To be clear, I'll cheer if Apple opens up where it doesn't sacrifice privacy, they need to play by transparent rules and there's lots to criticize them and their way of handling things for. But I really hope they can keep a lid on their platform to such an extent that I don't have to worry at all about what apps my parents and kids install, or what apps people elsewhere are forced to install.

It would be easy enough for apple to bury a disable side loading or enable a side loading switch. So then you wouldn’t have to worry about it. At least that’s my opinion.
 
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Notice that the App Store is brimming with scam apps and that apparently preventing sideloading doesn't actually keep users safe.
Notice that Apple advertises how safe and secure MacOS is on their site, and will only flip-flop on that to protect their 15% iOS App Store cut.
Notice that cherrypicking things from a single response to another post is a disingenuous way to try argue your point.
Notice moving of goalposts.

Yes, there are scam apps. They stay within their sandbox, they don't do most of what constitutes malware (viruses, trojans, memory & storage mining, UI logging outside app, microphone/camera recording outside app, etc); without that sandbox (say, by allowing sideloading), regular malware flourishes.

I'm an app developer, have done several for major TLA companies - including specializing in software security. Open sideloading, trust me: ecosystem security collapses. Yeah iOS isn't perfectly secure, but that it's not perfectly secure does not equate it to the $#!^storm which is sideloading. Don't confuse the security levels of "a piece of physical mail could be a scam" and "someone could break your glass windows and enter", with "the front door has been removed and nobody is home".
 
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