When/do you think sideloading will come to the U.S.?

[floral]

This involves both iPhones and iPads, but thought this was a better place to post it since iPhones are more popular.

Recent news has come out that the EU will push Apple to include sideloading/alternate appstores to their devices, along with the U.S. considering enforcing sideloading as well. If true, I think this is a change for the better, but some people have security and privacy concerns regarding other sources, which I understand. The question here isn't if sideloading is a good idea, but if/when it would expand from outside Europe and into the U.S., which is where I assume the majority of us live. (If you live somewhere else, be sure to comment where you're from and/or when you think sideloading would come to your area.)

Also for this poll, I removed vote viewing so heated discussions would be less likely to happen.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

IMO it won't be for a couple of years. Nothing happens quickly when it comes to government regulation in the U.S. Of course something could trigger a faster response but both sides would have to work together and that is something that is severely lacking nowadays..

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

You know I think they might as well just allow it for US too, because limiting it to Europe only is foolish as people can just change their Apple ID region to Europe and then boom they got sideloading. Not to mention President Biden said iOS should have sideloading so if it got limited to only Europe, expect an executive order to get signed demanding Apple make the same change here.

 

[I7guy]

I don’t. I think this will be by region.

 

[RSmith2023]

This involves both iPhones and iPads, but thought this was a better place to post it since iPhones are more popular.

Recent news has come out that the EU will push Apple to include sideloading/alternate appstores to their devices, along with the U.S. considering enforcing sideloading as well. If true, I think this is a change for the better, but some people have security and privacy concerns regarding other sources, which I understand. The question here isn't if sideloading is a good idea, but if/when it would expand from outside Europe and into the U.S., which is where I assume the majority of us live. (If you live somewhere else, be sure to comment where you're from and/or when you think sideloading would come to your area.)

Also for this poll, I removed vote viewing so heated discussions would be less likely to happen.

I don't see this happening until US politicians pass legislation requiring Apple to allow it here in the US and even once that happens it will be a year or two later.

They are only doing it in the EU because they were forced to.

 

[dk001]

I think it will be by region. Be cool to get it with the EU but ...

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

I don’t. I think this will be by region.

I think it will be by region. Be cool to get it with the EU but ...

You know what's the point of limiting it by region when we could just change our Apple IDs to EU with a push of a button to gain sideloading? It's a completely pointless restriction

 

[I7guy]

You know what's the point of limiting it by region when we could just change our Apple IDs to EU with a push of a button to gain sideloading? It's a completely pointless restriction

Sure. You could do that. Or the phone may have to have been activated in the region. Who knows what iOS 17 will bring until wwdc.

 

[Jayson A]

I don’t get why iPhone is so locked down but macOS allows apps from anywhere as long as you give it your blessing. Why should it be any different on iPhone?

 

[Wildkraut]

It will come, but it will take a while, probably 2-3 years later.
I don't think user revolts will be big enough to make Apple freely introduce it earlier in the U.S.

The AppStore is the new CD, DVD region lock.

You won't be able to simply create a new EU based AppleID to circumvent the lock-in, because Apple will try to locate the user region per GPS, WiFi, Cell Tower, Network Address.

Even EU users will lose these new features, if they stay over X days,months in the U.S.

Good that I'm in the EU.
Once it was different, we used to look jealous to the U.S. for having more openness, funny how things change.

iOS 16 has new system to restrict features based on user’s location

You can use an iPhone or iPad almost anywhere in the world, but some iOS features are only available in...

9to5mac.com

 

[Dieseldk]

Not sure it’s still this way but back in the iPhone 11 days, an iPhone bought in UAE would have facetime and one from Japan you wouldn’t be able to shut off the camera sound. The phones were the same model number as in UK, EU and many other countries.
maybe they will do i the same way with sideloading

 

[Nermal]

Thinking back to the Japan-only emoji keyboard in early versions of iOS, I wonder whether we'll see third-party "activators" just like we did back then.

 

[Tagbert]

It likely won’t come to the US until the US Congress passes legislation similar to the EU forcing Apple. They will drag their feet as long as they can.

 

[Paddle1]

It's too early to tell. Apple may decide to get ahead of potential legislation and legal battles and voluntarily roll it out in more places, in which case the UK could be considered an early beta rollout.

 

[Tagbert]

It's too early to tell. Apple may decide to get ahead of potential legislation and legal battles and voluntarily roll it out in more places, in which case the UK could be considered an early beta rollout.

That does seem like the wise plan of action, but, for anything having to do with the Apple Store and its revenue, Apple has shown a tendency to drag their feet and only implement the base minimum to satisfy the letter of each law as regulators impose them. They don’t seem interested in getting out ahead of regulators preemptively with a solution of their choosing but instead wait until a less desirable solution is imposed on them as long as they can squeeze out just a little more revenue from the App Store. It’s been a perplexing strategy.

 

[one more]

Not sure it’s still this way but back in the iPhone 11 days, an iPhone bought in UAE would have facetime and one from Japan you wouldn’t be able to shut off the camera sound. The phones were the same model number as in UK, EU and many other countries.
maybe they will do i the same way with sideloading

FaceTime is absent in the UAE sold iPhone models due to their monopolist internet & cellular service provider (Etisalat) elbowing Apple into it. None of the most popular free call/video services would work either (WhatsApp, Viber, etc.). So people there have to rely on a VPN and some random call/messaging services to get around these restrictions. As soon as any solution gets high enough number of users, it gets shut down by Etisalat too.

However, iPhones sold by Apple in the UAE do have a different model number and you cannot install FaceTime on them even if you go out of the region and reinstall the device completely. So those models are FaceTime deprived by Apple themselves.

Check out this page and the footnotes at the bottom:

Wireless carrier support and features for iPhone in the Middle East and India - Apple Support (AE)

Choose your country or region to learn about the wireless carriers available to you.

support.apple.com

 

[Wildkraut]

FaceTime is absent in the UAE sold iPhone models due to their monopolist internet & cellular service provider (Etisalat) elbowing Apple into it. None of the most popular free call/video services would work either (WhatsApp, Viber, etc.). So people there have to rely on a VPN and some random call/messaging services to get around these restrictions. As soon as any solution gets high enough number of users, it gets shut down by Etisalat too.

However, iPhones sold by Apple in the UAE do have a different model number and you cannot install FaceTime on them even if you go out of the region and reinstall the device completely. So those models are FaceTime deprived by Apple themselves.

Check out this page and the footnotes at the bottom:

Wireless carrier support and features for iPhone in the Middle East and India - Apple Support (AE)

Choose your country or region to learn about the wireless carriers available to you.

support.apple.com

Well, that's not a classic monopoly, that's the result of the autocratic dictatorship in UAE.

 

[one more]

Well, that's not a classic monopoly, that's the result of the autocratic dictatorship in UAE.

This too, but I think it is more about the money wrestling over there between the telcoms and tech savvy users. Ironically, they use Western specialists and expertise to filter out and block any undesirable traffic.

 

[AlexESP]

Not sure. Others mention examples like the camera shutter in Japan, but this implies a much bigger and complex change, and applies to many more people. I can see two main options, depending on compliance:

• Going for a “barebone OS” approach: major APIs disabled (GPS, camera, all default apps + iCloud, etc.), with a very complex activation process (installing profiles, lots of steps, restore, maybe connecting to a Mac…). In this case, I can see it being available worldwide.
• Riskier but probably compliance-safe approach: program of controlled 3rd party stores, which is easier to activate (maybe just installing a profile) and enables all APIs, but Apple still controls the approval process and has certain hand on payment reliability. I’d see this only happening wherever is necessary.

Anything in between of these ends of the spectrum probably could be also Europe-only.

 

[lemimouth]

However, iPhones sold by Apple in the UAE do have a different model number and you cannot install FaceTime on them even if you go out of the region and reinstall the device completely. So those models are FaceTime deprived by Apple themselves.

I bought my iPhone 13 Pro in 2021 in a Etisalat shop in Dubai while in vacation, and it is exactly the same model number that the ones sold in my european country.

Has this changed with iPhones 14 ?

 

[one more]

I bought my iPhone 13 Pro in 2021 in a Etisalat shop in Dubai while in vacation, and it is exactly the same model number that the ones sold in my european country.

Has this changed with iPhones 14 ?

My bad, Apple smartened-up on model numbers and they are now indeed the same.

However, FaceTime is still missing from the UAE models and if it works on the iPhone you bought, it probably means that they sell both FaceTime-enabled iPhones to foreigners and the crippled ones to local residents.

Look at the official Apple UAE page and try to find FaceTime in the tech specs. It is as if it never existed! If you open the same page in a country with FaceTime enabled, it is all there, mentioned in 9 different places on the same page!

Apple UAE page, 0 FaceTime mentions:

iPhone

Powerful. Durable. Phenomenal. Discover the new iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 16, and iPhone 16 Plus.

www.apple.com

Apple UK page, 9 FaceTime mentions:

iPhone

Designed for Apple Intelligence. Discover the new iPhone 16e along with iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 and iPhone 15.

www.apple.com

 

[Franjelisco]

Did anyone get sideloading with the Beta?