The Apple Nanny State

[Ctrlos]

Does anyone else feel Apple is becoming a little heavy-handed with its user protections of late? I'm not talking about big things like sideloading (we don't need another one of those threads!) but rather more minor things.

Take for example family sharing. Now of course I don't want my kids to just be able to buy and download whatever they want from the App Store otherwise I end up as one of those '£5000 on IAP' stories in the news. But in recent months Apple have also locked down the family library meaning kids need to ask your permission just to redownload an old app from your parental purchase list and its driving me nuts.

They added in the ability to put icons anywhere except you can't because things must still obey the 2x2 grid system (eg you cannot have an iPhone widget in between 2 columns of icons; it must sit to one side) and for the love of all that is good why do they not think people can't be trusted with something as basic as manual focusing in the camera app.

Come on Apple, let it be.

 

[aperfectcircle]

The need for me to allow opening a torrent magnet (purely for legal purposes of course) in Transmission every damn time certainly drives me nuts. Where is the “always allow” option? So, yes, when it comes to macOS I would have to agree with you that the additional security and user protections that have been introduced over the last few years have given me serious Microsoft Windows vibes.

 

[ignatius345]

Apple has always been very locked down and controlled. I think it's in the DNA of the company. The Mac has always had some more ability to be customized, but from iOS onward especially, everything is just tight as a drum. People I know who use Androids, that's their #1 reason: that they have more control over everything. The Mac is a bit looser, and I'm thankful for that.

The need for me to allow opening a torrent magnet (purely for legal purposes of course) in Transmission every damn time certainly drives me nuts. Where is the “always allow” option?

That one bugs me a bit too (not being able to opoen magnet links without intervention). However, it seems possible that would open up some attack vector I'm not steeped in IT security enough to understand. I'd definitely rather have that extra click than have god knows what malicious code able to launch itself. Especially on the *cough* purely legal purposes websites

 

[anthony11]

Take for example family sharing. Now of course I don't want my kids to just be able to buy and download whatever they want from the App Store otherwise I end up as one of those '£5000 on IAP' stories in the news. But in recent months Apple have also locked down the family library meaning kids need to ask your permission just to redownload an old app from your parental purchase list and its driving me nuts.

? So change the prefs to be have the way you like. Remember that some apps are stingy in that they require repurchasing per-device. That's on the app, though, not Apple.

 

[anthony11]

The need for me to allow opening a torrent magnet (purely for legal purposes of course) in Transmission every damn time certainly drives me nuts. Where is the “always allow” option?

Huh?? Transmission is not an Apple app.

*Browsers* are paranoid about trojans for good reason. If you want yours to not ask, simply tick the box that tells it to open them automatically.

 

[ApAx]

I see it as a mix of several "philosophies":

• more user-level control erodes Apple's highly polished brand and consistent UX ethos (historically)
• more user-level control opens up need to provide more support (in my career, there are two major software vendors, and the one that allows heavy client-side customization has 4x the support staff)
• each iPhone that is authenticated into Apple's increasing number of cloud services is now effectively an entry point for bad actors
• market differentiation - as in my second point above, Apple wants to be the option for consumers who like the walled garden, Apple knows best approach as opposed to the Wild West of Android

 

[Ctrlos]

? So change the prefs to be have the way you like. Remember that some apps are stingy in that they require repurchasing per-device. That's on the app, though, not Apple.

Unfortunately it's all or nothing. I either let my kids have free reign on family payments options (nope!), cut them loose or continue to verify redownloads

 

[Ctrlos]

I see it as a mix of several "philosophies":

• more user-level control erodes Apple's highly polished brand and consistent UX ethos (historically)
• more user-level control opens up need to provide more support (in my career, there are two major software vendors, and the one that allows heavy client-side customization has 4x the support staff)
• each iPhone that is authenticated into Apple's increasing number of cloud services is now effectively an entry point for bad actors
• market differentiation - as in my second point above, Apple wants to be the option for consumers who like the walled garden, Apple knows best approach as opposed to the Wild West of Android

The redownload verification was only added by Apple 6 months ago. It was perfectly fine before. I specifically curate my own download lists so my kids can just have free reign on it. There is nothing there I wouldn't let them use.