A top-grossing scam on the App Store
Apple has just engineered the worst possible situation for themselves by being the <i>only</i> way to get apps on the store and by simultaneously incessantly marketing the store as &quot;Safe and Secure&quot;. The former encourages them to maximize the number of apps on the store, while the latter encourages them to shoot first and ask questions later.<p>If side-loading or alternative ways of getting apps onto the iPhone existed, then they could implement far stricter controls knowing that, worst case scenario, you <i>can</i> still get an app onto the iPhone. This is how it works on the Mac. Tor isn&#x27;t on the Mac App Store, but that of course doesn&#x27;t mean Tor can&#x27;t be used on the Mac.<p>This is one of the tricky parts about AppStore discussions, it&#x27;s not about being for or against the AppStore. In fact, I wish the AppStore was <i>MUCH pickier</i> about the apps it let in, and I also wish there was an alternative to the AppStore to catch cases that didn&#x27;t meet that strict bar. Then the AppStore could <i>actually</i> be about curation as opposed to fear-induced isolationism. Then Apple wouldn&#x27;t have to inadvertently have political side-effects when it disallowed apps like HKMap.live.<p>Being on the AppStore could still be advantageous beyond just &quot;either that or you don&#x27;t get to be on the iPhone at all.” Apple payment processing, iCloud integrations, Family-sharing, etc. could all be tied to being ON the AppStore, so there&#x27;d still be a huge incentive to try to ship that way. And side-loading doesn&#x27;t have to be easy or even on by default.