Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
F.lux for iOS No Longer Available After Apple Says Side-Loading Violates Developer Agreement
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Seconded. I JUST got home to download this and *poof* it's gone. Darn.
*edit*
if you look around, you can find it. The f.lux folks even posted the hash so you can verify you're getting the real thing and not malware.
Last edited:
That's exactly my point.
There's absolutely no reason Apple should be holding their iOS back over arbitrary restrictions like these.
Will this be remotely removed from devices? Still works great for me and I've tried recompiling in Xcode and also deployed onto my phone as usual
If they allowed this, they would be exactly like Android in controlling what gets installed on their devices. It's pretty obvious that they don't want to be like Android in this regard. Why would you expect that they suddenly completely reverse their position? iOS is not like Android in regard to which apps can be installed, you had plenty of time to become acquainted with their stance. Quit acting like a baby as if this is something new!
Yeah, their Human Rights were violated by not being able to deploy their app. Their only way to get their rightful privileges was to use this trick.
You can hold Apple responsible for their strategic decisions (to control which apps get installed), but not for their actions to enforce this. Given their strategic decisions, this was a completely legitimate and even fully expected move. As usual it is shooting the messenger (the cease and desist letter to the f.lux developers), instead of the message (except for developers internal usage and within corporate environments, Apple vets and approves every single app to be installed on iOS devices).
I'm sure Xcode comes with long list of legalese.
Last edited:
I think Apple is probably more concerned that a "grey" market may emerge in addition to the Cydia "black" market. It's certainly not good for business if people can just get their apps from somewhere else other than Apple's walled garden. It's a loss of power. I'm sure they can spin this into a security concern.
Now the important question: is someone willing to maintain a fork?
They are registered developers. F.lux for the Mac is signed with a developer key so that Gatekeeper lets it pass. They could just terminate it and distribute the software anyway, but it would probably jeopardise any existing and future relationship with Apple. Perhaps some of their developers are registered individually and have something to lose.
Now the important question: is someone willing to maintain a fork?
They are registered developers. F.lux for the Mac is signed with a developer key so that Gatekeeper lets it pass. They could just terminate it and distribute the software anyway, but it would probably jeopardise any existing and future relationship with Apple. Perhaps some of their developers are registered individually and have something to lose.
Last edited:
F.lux, a popular app for the Mac that allows users to adjust the color of their screen based on the time of day, yesterday expanded to iOS with a beta app, but as of today, the app is no longer available.
Because iOS does not have the necessary documented APIs to allow f.lux to function, f.lux was skirting the App Store with private APIs and asking users to install its iOS app through Xcode, using a technique called side-loading. Apple has now informed f.lux that asking people to side-load apps onto their iOS devices violates the Developer Program Agreement, so f.lux can no longer be installed on iOS devices using Xcode.For those unfamiliar with f.lux, it's an app that adjusts the blue light of a screen based on the time of day to avoid interfering with the body's circadian rhythm. During the day, f.lux mimics natural daylight, but at as the sun sets, it cuts down on the amount of blue light and makes the screen more yellow, which is said to encourage better sleep.
F.lux is a popular Mac app that's been downloaded 15 million times, but with side-loading no longer available, f.lux for iOS is non-existant. F.lux's developers are urging customers who want f.lux for iOS to send feedback to Apple, as the company would need new documented APIs to introduce the app through official channels.
Article Link: F.lux for iOS No Longer Available After Apple Says Side-Loading Violates Developer Agreement
I use the accessibility options to invert colors with s simple triple press of the home button. Works for now until Apple wakes up.
Well, the reasoning and if it's right or good or not is one thing, but the part about it being an actual OS still holds regardless.
The only thing is that it also inverts the colors of images too, which isn't as good for the purposes of having a "dark mode" type of alternative.
I think all we can do is flood Apple's feedback page with requests for this. I did my part.
Really, if f.lux's patents issue, Apple should just throw those folks some money and cushy jobs and buy the whole thing. Apple loves to brag about health features and accessibility - and this seems like the perfect feature addition to iOS10.
Really, if f.lux's patents issue, Apple should just throw those folks some money and cushy jobs and buy the whole thing. Apple loves to brag about health features and accessibility - and this seems like the perfect feature addition to iOS10.
I don't think you know what you're talking about.. The flux Xcode project was an empty one that linked to a compiles binary file. The guy you quoted is saying if they released the source code for it instead of the precompiled binary they wouldn't have an issue. I think they're still using private APIs so that is why it's not allowed on the App Store.
This is disappointing, but not surprising at all. If the numbers on the f.lux blog are true (15 million total downloads, 176,000 visitors in just the last 24 hours for the iOS app), then there are a lot of people that want this on their devices. I wish Apple would just incorporate something like this into iOS so that we don't need side loading or jailbreaking to have something as nice as f.lux. I think that my iPad will stay on iOS 9.2 so that it can use f.lux and serve as a reading device at night.
Perhaps not as good a solution, you can dim the iPhone's backlight further than the dimmer control in Control Center lets you go by going into accessibility.
http://lifehacker.com/toggle-your-iphones-brightness-with-a-home-button-trip-1651329242
http://lifehacker.com/toggle-your-iphones-brightness-with-a-home-button-trip-1651329242
I don't think that this matters to Apple. Side-loading is not intended for distribution or deployment, but for testing your own apps on your own devices. For everything else there are other, dedicated channels: the App Store, TestFlight and enterprise certificates. Naturally Apple would oppose any misuse, especially if this gets out of hand and turns into a standalone distribution model that allows users to compile apps themselves and run them without any constraints imposed by Apple.
Now? You mean always.
Apple opened Xcode and free provisions to create new apps from starting developers. Side loading of other people projects were not the reason they opened the doors to Xcode signing, that's just a side effect.
Just because you can now side load stuff without paying does not mean everyone that worked hard to create their stuff will give you the source for free.
GoodNight and GammaThingy never worked as well as far as adjusting color temp at sunrise/sunset. F.lux did it right.