Since Apple claims they need to gatekeep iOS apps to prevent fraud, and they let this one through, they should be held accountable as complicits.
They’ll refund anyone stupid enough to have fallen for it. What more do you need?
This instance just contradicted their marketing gimmick that they curate everything that goes into the App Store.
I would like them to open up their walled garden outside of the EU.
This isn’t malware, it’s a scam which is harder to detect. No filtering process is ever 100% successful. I’d argue they do a good job at keeping out most of the junk. A quick look at the Playstore confirms this.
Sideloading is accessible to anyone with 15 minutes to educate themselves on it. I have a torrent client, an ad-free YouTube, and UTM sideloaded on my US iPhone.
I do not want to download a different app launcher for every app I download. Especially given they won’t be restricted to Apple’s strict privacy policies. Imagine a different launcher for every bank card, none of them supporting Wallet anymore.
I realize not everyone will agree with this, but I bought an iPhone for easy of use and because I like Apple’s offerings. I knew about the walled garden going in, and if I didn’t want to participate in it, I would just bought a different phone - as anyone is free to do.
You raise some good points and I agree with most of them.
I live in Canada and the only option of I have to sideload is paying for a developer account which is $100 CAD/year, otherwise I am stuck with a version where I have to re-sign the apps every 7 days. I know that the EU version is cumbersome and still needs Apple to notarise apps. My point here is that it’s hard to sideload, within and outside of the EU.
I truly believe their notion of a “walled garden” is just nonsense. They use this to justify preventing other people from accessing their digital marketplace or creating their own marketplace. It’s just a money grab and a monopoly.
At least on Android, I have the option to use the Play Store, Samsung Store, or any other 3rd party App Store, or simply sideload for free. I don’t have this option with an iPhone.
