The big question is: will there be some kind of "program" the user and/or developer needs to get into to be able to sideload/distribute independent apps?
The ideal status quo would be one where developers can make native apps, and users download and run them, without entering into a contractual relationship with Apple period. (Beyond the iOS EULA, which stands on legally shaky ground)
Speaking of which, if you don't like that kind of thing, never use a Xiaomi phone. It requires registering for a Xiaomi account to "unlock" the bootloader and install alternative operating systems (such as one without most of the spyware - why does the calculator app or the pdf viewer need a privacy policy?)
This account registration is baked into the phone while the bootloader is unlocked, and you have to factory-reset the phone and lock it back up to be able to dissociate the account from the phone.
Samsung is the same, you can't unlock them any more without signing in into both Samsung and Google accounts which allows the two companies to detect if the device was registered as stolen. And for what it's worth, Samsung is the worst of the bunch anyway as rooting it permanently bricks the TEE via an e-fuse.
I guess having an account enables that deterrance, but I don't see how it is related to unlocking the bootloader if there was not an account bound beforehand.
If signing into an account can be preserved despite the "unlocked" bootloader, there has to be some sort of hypervisor/"secure chip" type deal denying access to the part of the device the account info is stored, no? Otherwise one could erase the account info and pass the device as untainted anyways.
So, if that information is secured against alternative operating systems, then there is no harm in allowing them by default or upon local user authorization.
In other words, if it was strictly for theft deterrence then surely you would need an account to be able to factory reset the device at all, even with the bootloader locked?
> If signing into an account can be preserved despite the "unlocked" bootloader, there has to be some sort of hypervisor/"secure chip" type deal denying access to the part of the device the account info is stored, no? Otherwise one could erase the account info and pass the device as untainted anyways.
All Android devices have some sort of TEE these days, otherwise they wouldn't get Netflix and a bunch of other apps people will demand to work.
Yeah, I'm not denying the existence or need for a TEE, I just mean that either the TEE is secured against custom OSs and therefore signing in beforehand is unnecessary, or the sign-in information could be erased by a custom OS.
So requiring a login to unlock the bootloader doesn't really disincentivise any theft in either case, as I understand it.
Im fairly certain it will be just like macos, sure you can make apps people can download, but if you don't want your users to face scary popups when starting up your app for the first time you gotta cough up $99/year for a developer subscription
I disagree. Allow side loading of apps that still meet a threshold for safety, privacy, etc (determined through a program like you refer to), but eliminate the App Store cut of sales.
Who does the checking and verification that the apps are compliant with the “threshold for safety, privacy, etc”?
Apple do this now, using the Apps that pay the 30% on digital purchases to fund everyone. If they no longer make a fee from those to cover every app (including all the free ones), who pays to validate the apps?
And what about the plenty of policies Apple has that I don't agree with and they've declared not their problem?
* their developer policies (as in my own apps, think business apps, playing around, ... and no the little play education app is not enough)
* file synchronization apps (syncing books, development/source code, apps, photos and music on my webserver, ios, android, and laptops through syncthing)
* emulation (in both directions). Both emulating other systems on the iPhone and emulating the iPhone/ios elsewhere (strange how they have always allowed and even facilitated this for macos, but on either iphone or ipad ...)
* their policy about 30% cut on anything sold through apps. Sorry, but that's just going too far
* their charging policies (meaning what their devices allow for charging and how fast. And frankly 90% of the problem I have with their policy on charging is how complicated it is. If they merely instituted a rule "if it's apple equipment, it just works as fast as possible", that'd already be a big improvement)
At this point I'm very inclined to say, not getting the 30% cut and still having to check ... is Apple's problem, not mine. How about we treat it the way apple treats their customers' problems? At this point I don't care about whatever problems being reasonable presents for Apple.
What I got from the comment was that the overall intention and push behind sideloading, both by the community and what the EU mandates, is to not be bound by Apple's policies for appmaking, not just to use your own distribution infrastructure.
As far as I can tell the main use case for side loading that people are making inevitably boils down to piracy. Emulators, torrents, cracked software. 95% of the talk about “freedom” on Android revolves around Vanced and other kinds of piracy.
I’m glad to see people talking about alternative browsers for PWAs (yuck) and open source projects but I am thoroughly cynical about the motivations of the vast majority of people advocating for side loading on iOS. I worry that this ability to pirate like you can on Android will result in degradation in app quality in the App Store.
> I worry that this ability to pirate like you can on Android will result in degradation in app quality in the App Store.
Is it possible for quality on the App Store to get any lower?
80% of App Store revenue comes from Pay to Win games (according to the Epic trial). Most of the other apps monetize through subscriptions for things like streaming services or don’t charge money at all.
That brings me to another thing I'd like to add. Over the years I've paid for quite a few apps on the app store that PREDATED most of the "monetization" of the app store. And the social shit and the login and account and ... shit that games have now.
Essentially all of these have disappeared from "my apps" and I can't install them anymore. I want them back.
And now this emulator comes out with the super monkey ball that my dad bought for me on my initial ipod (not ipad, pod). I want that game back on my current ios devices, and that one, with essentially no interruptions to the gameplay, not the current shittified version.
The ideal status quo would be one where developers can make native apps, and users download and run them, without entering into a contractual relationship with Apple period. (Beyond the iOS EULA, which stands on legally shaky ground)