Biden Administration Report Recommends Sweeping Changes to Apple's Ecosystem

[sam_dean]

And look what a mess android is!

IKR!

 

[Ethosik]

Not sure if you are being sarcastic in your statement but even if this is permitted there is nothing stopping anyone to not use the official Apple AppStore.

Yes there is. It is no longer up to the individual but up to the developers. Facebook will leave Apple's store. Maybe Office will. Maybe Affinity will. Maybe Adobe will. Epic will create their own store, and purchase up exclusives (proof: They are doing that on PC to "compete" with Steam, so to "compete" with Apple's store, there will be exclusives). Its now developers.

And again, I keep repeating this yet NOBODY HEARS IT: Epic sued google for it being "too difficult to side load", so changes WILL come to Android too. All the people advocating this on this forum are NOT looking at the big picture. They just go "YAY I CAN EMULATE NOW!!!!".

What is SO EXTREMELY BROKEN with iOS that it is impacting the customers? Emulators? Porn apps? What? Tell me.

This is being driven by companies NOT people. Android will have changes too, things will be much worse. Let's stop it NOW before it's too late. Think more than 6-12 months down the road. Think long term, think of the ramifications.

I am tired of hearing the same thing over and over and over again that "we can keep it locked down, it changes nothing", it changes EVERYTHING. It's now under Epic, Meta, Microsoft, Adobe's control if I side load or not. And if you counter saying I can no longer use those apps, well you don't need to use emulators now too.

Nobody has answered if it can be 100% guaranteed that any and ALL iOS apps MUST 100% be offered in the Apple App Store too. Unless that is included in this law/regulation, then everything is going to change. The minute our favorite apps leave Apple's App Store, we need to side-load.

NOTE: Emulators is the most common discussion point in these conversations. If you don't care about emulators, take it as a generality.

 

[theluggage]

By this logic I shouldn't do any banking on my Mac or a windows machine either.

If you want to be truly secure, probably not - or at least not on the same machine that you use for untrusted software. Currently, the Mac lets you choose 'App store only' if you wish.

Thing is, even when you use a Mac or Windows machine, phones are increasingly being used for two factor authentication - whether its crude text messages with confirmation codes or more sophisticated key generators - and the e-banking apps on phones are offering more feature than the regular web-based services.

If I have to have one device locked down for ID, payments and banking use, then I'd choose the phone (don't want to be that guy fumbling with a laptop for tap-to-pay at the supermarket - the 2020s version of 'oh, no, the person in front wants to pay by cheque... ).

 

[sbailey4]

About time.

I spend over £1000 to open my device, I should be able to pick my default apps and side load apps without being burped and hugged by Apple’s creepy old men who decide what we should be allowed to view on something I’ve paid for.

iOS isn’t a service, it’s childish software that should work like macOS and android.

Side loading works perfectly on android, you get warnings and a switch to block it.

Yeah is sorta is. And you agreed to these terms when you made the device purchase.

"The Original Apple Software and Apple Software Changes are collectively referred to as the “Apple Software”) are licensed, not sold, to you by Apple Inc. (“Apple”) for use only under the terms of this License. Apple and its licensors retain ownership of the Apple Software itself and reserve all rights not expressly granted to you. You agree that the terms of this License will apply to any Apple-branded app that may be built-in on your Device, unless such app is accompanied by a separate license, in which case you agree that the terms of that license will govern your use of that app."

https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/iOS16_iPadOS16.pdf

 

[1885507]

Well at least you’re honest about not caring that the country is being openly destroyed because it’s “your side”

How powerful and influential the cult can be!

Either you didn’t understand the humor as it was written or you missed the point entirely.

Candidly speaking, if you’re rationalizing that I’d prefer an uncomfortable friend to a sworn adversary, no sooner would I prefer the former but part of being a friend is choosing reason over passion, senses over sensibility, and recognizing fact over fiction.

 

[wbeasley]

These same changes should be enforced on games consoles. All modern smart phones, tablets and gaming consoles are personal computers. They might use different interface mechanisms (gaming controllers, touch screens, keyboards and mice) but they're performing an increasingly overlapping set of tasks.

Add cars and tvs.

Why not say Samsung should allow users to load whatever interface they want instead of Tizen?

And cars... well tell Musk I want VLC so I can watch movies while driving

You buy an Apple product knowing what it is. If you dont like the limits, buy something else that suits better. All these comments about making it easier for "developers"... hahahaha. More like pirates. And where there is pirated software there are security exploits awaiting the unwary installing. BitCoin miners, hackers, key loggers. There goes your banking details. Oops. And let them into your browser history and photos and wait to get ransom demand letters...

 

[AppliedMicro]

What is SO EXTREMELY BROKEN with iOS that it is impacting the customers? Emulators? Porn apps? What? Tell me.

Apple's singular gatekeeping power. Apple should not singlehandedly decide what apps their hundreds of millions of users all over the world are allowed to download and on which conditions.

Unless that is included in this law/regulation, then everything is going to change. The minute our favorite apps leave Apple's App Store, we need to side-load.

Yeah, so what?!?
What is SO EXTREMELY BROKEN with sideloading? (...or, as it's otherwise called, "software installation"?)

You may just as well download your favourite apps straight from their developers's websites and install them.
If you didn't trust their developers, they wouldn't be your favourite apps, would they?

It's now under Epic, Meta, Microsoft, Adobe's control if I side load or not. And if you counter saying I can no longer use those apps, well you don't need to use emulators now too.

You can choose not to use apps from those developers. Just as you can (presumably) choose to download them from their developer's website and install them, if you want to use them.

 

[Ethosik]

You may just as well download your favourite apps straight from their developers's websites and install them.
If you didn't trust their developers, they wouldn't be your favourite apps, would they?

Most of Facebook's anti consumer actions are at bay with Apple's privacy stance and app tracking etc. When Facebook leaves Apple's App Store, they can use any hacked code they can come up with to spy on everyone.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Most of Facebook's anti consumer actions are at bay with Apple's privacy stance and app tracking etc. When Facebook leaves Apple's App Store, they can use any hacked code they can come up with to spy on everyone.

Their app will still be sandboxed and you can choose which data you allow it access to.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Add cars and tvs.

Why not say Samsung should allow users to load whatever interface they want instead of Tizen?

And cars... well tell Musk I want VLC so I can watch movies while driving

You buy an Apple product knowing what it is. If you dont like the limits, buy something else that suits better. All these comments about making it easier for "developers"... hahahaha. More like pirates. And where there is pirated software there are security exploits awaiting the unwary installing. BitCoin miners, hackers, key loggers. There goes your banking details. Oops. And let them into your browser history and photos and wait to get ransom demand letters...

Oh noes oh noes ...

 

[amartinez1660]

There’s an open source endeavor, “DevilutionX” that allows you to play your copy of Diablo 1 on macOS (Apple Silicon even) and nowadays absolutely everywhere (Blizzard was too lazy to do it with one programmer from their own army of programmers I guess).

Is the Nintendo Switch considered a mobile platform? It sounds like it should, it’s a handheld, because that devolutionX endeavor ALSO works on Switch! I just don’t even know how to install it except by getting out of my way…

I’m actually against this blatant nose dive in private businesses… but hey if this is what people vote for I’ll for sure get on that bandwagon too and play it on my Switch as they will be forced to allow me to install whatever I want, right? Right.

 

[amartinez1660]

Yes there is. It is no longer up to the individual but up to the developers. Facebook will leave Apple's store. Maybe Office will. Maybe Affinity will. Maybe Adobe will. Epic will create their own store, and purchase up exclusives (proof: They are doing that on PC to "compete" with Steam, so to "compete" with Apple's store, there will be exclusives). Its now developers.

And again, I keep repeating this yet NOBODY HEARS IT: Epic sued google for it being "too difficult to side load", so changes WILL come to Android too. All the people advocating this on this forum are NOT looking at the big picture. They just go "YAY I CAN EMULATE NOW!!!!".

What is SO EXTREMELY BROKEN with iOS that it is impacting the customers? Emulators? Porn apps? What? Tell me.

This is being driven by companies NOT people. Android will have changes too, things will be much worse. Let's stop it NOW before it's too late. Think more than 6-12 months down the road. Think long term, think of the ramifications.

I am tired of hearing the same thing over and over and over again that "we can keep it locked down, it changes nothing", it changes EVERYTHING. It's now under Epic, Meta, Microsoft, Adobe's control if I side load or not. And if you counter saying I can no longer use those apps, well you don't need to use emulators now too.

Nobody has answered if it can be 100% guaranteed that any and ALL iOS apps MUST 100% be offered in the Apple App Store too. Unless that is included in this law/regulation, then everything is going to change. The minute our favorite apps leave Apple's App Store, we need to side-load.

NOTE: Emulators is the most common discussion point in these conversations. If you don't care about emulators, take it as a generality.

I suggest we take a sit back and enjoy the decline. This is pretty much like society at large honestly… it’s either “yay! Free stuff!” or “bring the bad mean powerful one down!” or something is the sort. Everything is treated this way and it will just get worse.

I hope Apple is at least allowed to give us a model of the phone where no sideloading can happen even if held at the hypothetical software gun point… hardware locked.
And if apps leave the App Store, I hope for a new developer to get in and fill the void. As free market will guide it, if too many people pirate the thing out of it, developers will naturally gravitate back to where profits happen.

Anyways, getting a barrel of popcorns to watch this all unfold.

 

[macsound1]

Their app will still be sandboxed and you can choose which data you allow it access to.

That's what we hope - but if government regulators are pushing for a desktop experience on mobile platforms - there won't be any sandboxing requirements of apps that install themselves.

 

[gotluck]

Shocking! I never really thought this day would arrive. I figured eventually all OS's would move to the walled garden model and side loading restrictions would become commonplace even on desktop.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I suggest we take a sit back and enjoy the decline. This is pretty much like society at large honestly… it’s either “yay! Free stuff!” or “bring the bad mean powerful one down!” or something is the sort. Everything is treated this way and it will just get worse.

I hope Apple is at least allowed to give us a model of the phone where no sideloading can happen even if held at the hypothetical software gun point… hardware locked.
And if apps leave the App Store, I hope for a new developer to get in and fill the void. As free market will guide it, if too many people pirate the thing out of it, developers will naturally gravitate back to where profits happen.

Anyways, getting a barrel of popcorns to watch this all unfold.

You're gonna need Butter Popcorn and Caramel Popcorn and ooooh chocolate covered popcorn here my man.

 

[LeahJoFoxtrot]

I’m sure Joe Biden doesn’t even remember what Apple is anymore, he most properly just thinks it’s a fruit

We get it. You're a Trumper. This is the second conservative chest thumping post I've seen on one page.

 

[LeahJoFoxtrot]

There's about a million other things this guy could be focusing on instead of this.

Like taking the rights away from trans people. Definitely.

 

[LeahJoFoxtrot]

I love how some people still think JOE BIDEN is a 'good president' 2 years after nonstop catastrophe and decay in the West. And when there's failure, it's always 'incompetence' or 'congress' - no room for further debate or nuance. Inconceivable that it's being willfully done, even though he's a WEF/OSF globalist diehard.

A much poorer nation that refuses to acknowledge what a recession (and soon a depression) is, impending WW3 and nuclear war, wide open borders, runaway cost of living increases with inflation, installed DA's siding with violent criminals not victims, child abuse and indoctrination in schools, the list goes on and on and on... I wonder what's next.

I preferred mean tweets, but you do you on 24/7 mental gymnastics to make this all a good or even benign thing.

Somehow I think if your guy won we'd be looking at all the same situations and you'd still be blaming "the damn Democrats"

 

[LeahJoFoxtrot]

I'm having fun thinking how this article would have been written and the comments had it been "Trump Administration Report Recommends..." 😄

Heads would have exploded. Heck just Trump originally going after TikTok had everyone up in arms. Not to mention all the censoring the Biden administration was a part of working with Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. during the COVID years. Makes you wonder what they're up to? 🧐

The only reason Trump was anti-TikTok was because everyone on there was making videos that hurt his feefees. He didn't care a thing about spying by Gyna (as he calls it)

 

[lartola]

That is ridiculous. Every government authority in the USA and the EU has been unable to make claims of a monopoly stick. If you take Intro to Economics 101, you will find they don't come close to meeting the definition of a monopoly. Their business practices are questionable in some circumstances, but not a monopoly by any definition.

The mobile market is wide open. What is iOS's percentage of it? 20%? How do you define that as a monopoly?

20% is outside the US. In the US iOS has over 50% of the mobile market. That puts Apple pretty close to a monopoly there.

 

[1885507]

He didn't care a thing about spying by Gyna (as he calls it)

Gyna 😂 I’m dead. 🤣😂🪦

 

[lartola]

Nobody has answered if it can be 100% guaranteed that any and ALL iOS apps MUST 100% be offered in the Apple App Store too. Unless that is included in this law/regulation, then everything is going to change. The minute our favorite apps leave Apple's App Store, we need to side-load.

It’s not in that new EU law, it’s in Apple’s law. Apple simply doesn’t allow any way to install apps on iOS/iPadOS other than by downloading them from the appstore, where Apple gets a hefty 30% cut off of the developers’ revenue from paid apps and/or in-app purchases. That’s what the new law in the EU intends to change.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Somehow I think if your guy won we'd be looking at all the same situations and you'd still be blaming "the damn Democrats"

I don't have a dog in this fight, i don't even live in the US but have the damn Democrats given back all that stolen FTX money yet?

 

[PowerButton]

This makes no sense. If you start a company, build it into a huge company, do you lose your rights to operate your product (app store) how you see fit? The competition cries and cries.. ok, so make your own phones into a trillion dollar company then? It's like if you created a bakery and grew it into a huge chain - then Krispy Kreme complained to the government that your bakery wont let them come in and sell their donuts in your stores. Like wtf kind of logic is this?

If competitive app stores are allowed on the iphone, be prepared for WAY more spyware/malware to slip through the cracks. Do you think Samsung polices their app store as well as Apple does? Sometimes bad apps slip through even WITH Apple's much higher focus on security and privacy.

👆
THIS
EXACTLY

 

[BaldiMac]

It’s not in that new EU law, it’s in Apple’s law. Apple simply doesn’t allow any way to install apps on iOS/iPadOS other than by downloading them from the appstore, where Apple gets a hefty 30% cut off of the developers’ revenue from paid apps and/or in-app purchases. That’s what the new law in the EU intends to change.

They get 30% on less than 2% of apps. 85% of apps pay Apple nothing but the $99 developer fee.