[HN Gopher] Apple forced to allow Sideloading and 3rd-party app ...
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Apple forced to allow Sideloading and 3rd-party app stores under
new EU law
Author : jklp
Score : 19 points
Date : 2022-03-25 20:21 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
| dm319 wrote:
| Good to see the general purpose computer in your pocket being
| recognised as one.
| olliej wrote:
| No talk of extending it to cover consoles though, despite them
| also being general purpose
| paxys wrote:
| Game consoles are _very_ far from general purpose.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| What general purposes do game consoles serve, other than
| being multimedia centers? Do users use the browser and other
| internet features on consoles extensively? Can you make
| payments, hail a ride, order food with them? Can you contact
| emergency services with them? Can they save your literal
| life?
| car_analogy wrote:
| Exactly. They are general purpose computers, artificially
| crippled by their manufacturer, to prevent their (supposed)
| owner from using their full potential.
| lwansbrough wrote:
| This is a silly argument. Nobody is checking their bank
| account on their Xbox. We can acknowledge that iPhones
| are needlessly closed platforms while also acknowledging
| that there are legitimate purpose-built computers in
| various form factors (gaming consoles being a good
| example.)
| wdb wrote:
| Then I hope Apple allows an option to enable an opt out for these
| third party stores
| olliej wrote:
| The problem is when some critical app forces you to use their
| store.
|
| I hope at the very least apple can mandate that the additional
| app stores enforce the same privacy and safety rules, or would
| the EU consider that allowing people to not be spied on be to
| much of an infringement of the rights of business?
| lizardactivist wrote:
| Apple ecosystem isn't the bastion of privacy and security you
| think it is.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| I'm betting that one would have to opt-in to use those stores
| in the first place.
| olliej wrote:
| Until Facebook is only distributed through their own store
| that doesn't require app tracking transparency. Or Teams, or
| slack, ...
| Apocryphon wrote:
| I think that's unlikely to happen, for a host of consumer
| experience and market viability reasons:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30280457
|
| One should note that Meta _could_ create their own Android
| third party store right now, like Amazon has (pretty much
| only to support their Kindle Fire devices), yet they haven
| 't had any interest in doing so. One could claim that's
| because Android users don't pay as much for apps as iOS
| users do, but that's still a lot of users worldwide, and a
| lot of data that could be tracked. Yet they don't bother
| to.
| paxys wrote:
| Android has an explicit opt-in for allowing sideloading, and a
| whopping 0.06% of users currently utilize it. I really don't
| know why this issue is causing such a big fuss in the iOS
| ecosystem.
| mattl wrote:
| "Apple would be forced to allow sideloading and third-party app
| stores under new EU law"
| im_nullable wrote:
| Apple will soon require 3rd party app stores to remit 27% of all
| revenue.
| olliej wrote:
| If not the stores themselves, then presumably the apps will
| have to pay.
|
| I'd also hope that the store are required to enforce the same
| security protections as the main App Store.
|
| I don't want buying an app to now come with the risk of
| uncancellable subscriptions, gross invasion of privacy,
| malware, etc
| Apocryphon wrote:
| Presumably, they could just treat iOS like macOS, where there
| already is a notarization system that covers apps distributed
| outside of the Mac App store.
|
| https://developer.apple.com/documentation/security/notarizin.
| ..
|
| Also, people forget that iOS itself has many security
| protections built into the _platform itself_ that go beyond
| App Store review.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30199125
| metadat wrote:
| Fascinating read, especially
| https://arstechnica.com/information-
| technology/2019/09/for-t...
| jurschreuder wrote:
| I hope some healthy competition will make app development on
| Apple easier. Submitting to the AppStore is often half of the
| development time for a simple app, the user experience is
| terrible. Xcode sucks and they force you to use it. Just let us
| use third party tools it's better for your own platform also.
| Just let us make iPhone apps in VIM, like civilized people. Maybe
| webapps will also now finally get proper support like Android,
| you just know the platform could be way better if they did not
| force you past their toll booth, even for free apps.
| eps wrote:
| The best bit is that the proposal requires devices to support the
| original app store AND side-loading.
|
| Which is exactly what Apple doesn't want, because of (a) Fortnite
| / alt payment options (b) Facebook / privacy restrictions bypass,
| i.e. the loss of revenue and the loss of credibility as a (sort
| of) privacy-oriented platform.
|
| So I am _sure_ they will fight to at least make it an OR.
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(page generated 2022-03-25 23:02 UTC)