Setapp Planning to Launch Alternative App Store for iOS in Europe

[spercharged69]

I’m curious to hear from app developers in the future that use alternative app stores. Competition usually drives the prices down, but that doesn’t mean developers end up with more revenue…

I list my apps on alternative app stores on Android. It's nice for incremental revenue. What a lot of people in Americanized western markets don't realize is there's many areas of the world with very low credit card penetration and effectively no way to buy things on Google Play as a result. They might pay for things digitally using weird digital currencies you've never heard of (like Razer Gold in Singapore) or via being billed directly by their cellular carrier and using the credit they have on their account as if it were a debit card (kinda like how things used to be before the App Store when you wanted to buy some J2ME game or ringtone via your carrier's content portal).

There's a bunch of different companies out there that help you get on these different app stores at little or no cost, and then anything you make from your app from this app store is just kinda gravy on top of what you were already making on the App Store or Google Play. For some developers this can be a significant revenue channel, for others it's a random check for a couple hundred bucks that you wouldn't have had otherwise.

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

I hope the UK is still considered part of ‘Europe’

Part of the European continent? Yes.

Part of the European Union? Nope.

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

I’m okay with this side-loading thing as long as it comes as an option for those who want to keep it “the classic Apple way”, can do so.

 

[Shirasaki]

So let’s just let the security and privacy talking point die down, ok?
Apple care neither for you.
Alternative store will stir Up the competiton so people in Apple will have To compete with better stores, rather than sitting in the comfort zone of Apple’s iron Grip protection.
Geez, the country touting the most free, people love the exact opposite when talking about using their phone.

 

[ChrisA]

... It will be available in the European Union only.

It will be available in the EU only, unless you have a VPN. I predict that MANY users from all over the world will be able to use this.

 

[canadianreader]

I really wish people with these super strong opinions on Android would spend literally any amount of time using an Android device. I'm too locked into the Apple ecosystem to ever switch over but a lot of these presumptions people make on how insecure Android is are truly just laughable.

To even install one of these additional app stores folks need to jump through so many hoops with increasingly scary warning messages. I wish I knew here this believe came from that you can just slip and drop your Android phone and in the process accidentally install a scam version of Google Play and half a dozen malware apps.

I use both iOS and Android. All my Android devices are degoogled, I sideload open source apps thru the F-Droid alt app store no malware no viruses and no tracking.

 

[4389842]

I hope the UK is still considered part of ‘Europe’

The UI overwhelmingly chose not to be part of Europe. Can’t have your cake and eat it.

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

The UI overwhelmingly chose not to be part of Europe. Can’t have your cake and eat it.

The UK is still part of Europe and will always be part of Europe. Can’t take the country out of the continent, can we now? LMAO.

 

[Shirasaki]

Crazy that consumers would complain about having more options.

There is a reason why companies and governments can get away with destroying our civil liberty.

I don’t want my PS5 to have multiple app stores and I don’t want my phone either. These are different types of devices

Because this mindset is everywhere, collectively creates a signal saying “we are ok to be controlled”.
Anyway, got a bit side tracked.
Point is, alternative App Store weakens centralised control by Apple, which is a good thing.

 

[Shirasaki]

The UK is still part of Europe and will always be part of Europe. Can’t take the country out of the continent can we now? LMAO.

Nature sure can. Just make sure sea level rises.
Nevertheless, i don’t Think UK people will benefit from alt store EU move.

 

[mrat93]

And one day, not too far away, there'll be another and better technology that will force us to buy even more adapters.

Come back to this comment in 10 years. If there’s a new connector on the horizon that looks promising to supersede USB-C, I will send you $100.

But that’s not gonna happen, because USB-C will be the last connector used by mainstream devices. There’s simply no need for an increase power or data, and little room for improvement with USB-C that it would be worth having manufacturers and users switch to a new connector.

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

Nature sure can. Just make sure sea level rises.
Nevertheless, i don’t Think UK people will benefit from alt store EU move.

Never heard of a natural disaster that is able to take a country out of its continent. Lol.

 

[mrat93]

I’m okay with this side-loading thing as long as it comes as an option for those who want to keep it “the classic Apple way”, can do so.

This will actually result in the App Store going away completely. Sideloading only, sorry.

 

[BaldiMac]

So let’s just let the security and privacy talking point die down, ok?

Why? Because you don't care?

Alternative store will stir Up the competiton so people in Apple will have To compete with better stores, rather than sitting in the comfort zone of Apple’s iron Grip protection.

Who cares about "store" competition?!? The App Store already has tons of competition among apps, low prices, and a huge variety of apps.

Geez, the country touting the most free, people love the exact opposite when talking about using their phone.

I have no idea how the government forcing private companies to change their products makes you more free.

 

[LeeW]

It was always going to happen. But as others have said, you don't have to use it.

Here is the issue though. I bet many will as there will be cheaper options for your favourite apps and other things that will entice many, many people.

 

[koil]

I don’t understand the people who are super excited about third party stores. Do you think apps will be any cheaper? Why would any developer pass the savings on to you? They won’t.

And do developers think these third party stores will be free? No, they’ll still have to fork over a portion of revenue. Probably just 1% lower than Apple’s cut at any given point in time, just to say they’re cheaper.

And developers will still keep their apps in the Apple App Store for the most part. Because only a small number of people are even going to install third party stores anyway. People who want emulators and…. ???

This literally doesn’t matter. It’ll get put in, for EU-only, and for anyone else who requires it by law. The low numbers these third party stores see will make it not worth the cost to run them. Or maybe we’ll just see big-company-specific stores because everyone wants their own “launcher” - like a Microsoft app store that only hosts microsoft apps etc

Just… a pointless exercise really. Nothing to get worked up over.

Apple have denied users access to whole categories of applications.

E.g.

• Actual alternative browsers is the big one for me, I want real WebExtension-support
• Cloud gaming
• Programming language interpreters
• Porn
• Anything requiring NFC card emulation besides the few blessed use cases Apple graciously allow
• Proper photo backups (apps that aren't Photos.app can't automatically backup, you have to manually launch them)
• Emulators
• In a way, open source software, because the vast majority of projects don't have any actual income stream to pay for developer accounts
• Anything that Apple decides is already "OS functionality", see the MDM app crackdown a while back
• etc.

Apps like these (and other categories I'm not thinking of right now) will be available through 3rd party app installations finally. Even if you aren't interested in any of it (you should be interested in alternative browsers and open source software), there are many of us who are.

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

This will actually result in the App Store going away completely. Sideloading only, sorry.

Says who? Any context for that statement?

 

[fi1on]

Sideloading doesn't bother me at all. I'm more worried about Google, Meta, Microsoft and probably couple other companies will launch their own stores that don't have to comply with all AppStore rules and delist their apps from AppStore. So I'll have an "option" and "choice" expect there will be no alternative. Sideloading on its own is great for smaller devs, myself included but I'm pretty sure this is heading in the same direction as PC gaming - every publisher having their own storefront and players have to install 15 different loaders, even for games bought on Steam.

 

[acader]

Since Apple is only a hardware company…and is very concerned about our privacy… I believe the best is just to make the App Store free, so they have what they want!

Apple is not a "only a hardware" company. They make the suite of software with it. Without that software, the hardware is meaningless.

 

[syndalis]

In the sideload-friendly world of android, spyware apps that can track the cameras, microphones, text and call logs, take screenshots, all of this **** can be installed on a non-rooted device and hidden away from view - I just had to help a friend with one of these things on his samsung device. This is impossible on an iPhone without jailbreaking, and jailbreaking causes a number of obvious hints that something is wrong.

So, my concern here stems from if apps can just be installed on my device, and they get full SDK and sensor access... iPhone is going to end up in the same morass as android in terms of trust.

 

[acader]

Sideloading is risky. A dev with malicious intent can develop a great looking, but malicious app (e.g., keystroke logger) and put it on Setapp. Since Setapp does not have same verification qualifications as the Apple Appstore, the app gets hosted on Setapp and people start downloading it. And then.....

Setapp is a business too. They may not charge 15% - 30% that Apple charges, but they will surely charge the devs money to host their apps. Maybe 10% - 20%, but it is not going to be free.

Warranty - If a sideloaded app bricked your iPhone, Apple is not going to honor an Applecare+ exchange I think. That's $800 - $1400 loss to the end user.

Either the EU has clearly thought about it and hasn't yet published the rules for the third part app stores OR they will wait until the first few scape goats learn the hard way.

 

[spercharged69]

Sideloading is risky. A dev with malicious intent can develop a great looking, but malicious app (e.g., keystroke logger) and put it on Setapp. Since Setapp does not have same verification qualifications as the Apple Appstore, the app gets hosted on Setapp and people start downloading it. And then.....

Setapp is a business too. They may not charge 15% - 30% that Apple charges, but they will surely charge the devs money to host their apps. Maybe 10% - 20%, but it is not going to be free.

Warranty - If a sideloaded app bricked your iPhone, Apple is not going to honor an Applecare+ exchange I think. That's $800 - $1400 loss to the end user.

Either the EU has clearly thought about it and hasn't yet published the rules for the third part app stores OR they will wait until the first few scape goats learn the hard way.

It seems like the solution to this is not installing the Setapp store?

Which you can do right now? Regardless of whether or not Apple allows this?

 

[DanTheMan827]

Hopefully there’s some way to enable sideloading outside of the EU… if it requires a device purchased from the EU, I may very well import my device.

Sideloading is such a huge feature. Hopefully the US wakes up and actually starts enforcing their antitrust laws again.

 

[NEPOBABY]

I won't side load anything on a phone.

For the same reason I don't let someone enter my house and start an eBay flea market in my living room.

Malware and ransomware are growing problems and policing them is increasingly hard.

We have heard no solutions from so called "law makers" and their experts on how this will be policed.

App signatures are not enough. People buy and sell signatures on dark markets.

As for the supporters of side loading on this forum, the most vocal of them on the first page have a history of supporting piracy on the forum and being wrong about every security related subject they comment about.

These people don't even understand the difference between side loading on a phone/console versus classical app installers on a desktop computer. They think 'side loading' is what we do when we install a desktop app.

These are not rational people and know little about computer history and current security events.

 

[d-klumpp]

There may be some technical reasons to care (e.g., decreased security), but most users probably won't be impacted because it's unlikely any amazing, novel app will be available solely on another marketplace. I likely will never stray from the original Apple AppStore because any decent app that eventually emerges elsewhere will want to be on the AppStore to access the larger market of people like me who ignore the vast see of useless me-too apps.

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