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SMH4KIDIOT

macrumors member
Aug 15, 2019
66
232
This is honestly one of the most ridiculous and illogical arguments to use. It isn't the defense you think it is. No marketplace will be 100% issue free (it's not possible) but by pointing out that it already happens doesn't change the fact that opening it up will make it MORE common. If anything, you're making an argument AGAINST opening it up, because by opening it up...what is already happening will just become more common and with less possibility of being stopped. More stores = more attack vectors.
Your argument does not make sense. You are essentially arguing that iOS and Apple lacks security.

This is Apple's app distribution rules for web distribution.

Distributing directly from your website


Apple will authorize developers after meeting specific criteria and committing to ongoing requirements that help protect users. Authorized developers will get access to APIs that facilitate the distribution of developer’s apps from the web, integrate with system functionality, back up and restore users’ apps, and more. Apps offered through Web Distribution must meet Notarization requirements to protect platform integrity, like all iOS apps, and can only be installed from a website domain that the developer has registered in App Store Connect.

Apps have to be notarized, and it can only be installed from certified domain after you cross 1 million installs after 2 consecutive years of being in good standing. Difference now is that 3rd party can serve the apps vs Apple.
 
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gk_brown

macrumors regular
Dec 26, 2020
224
504
I have no interest in alternative apps stores, but the ability to download directly from the vendor's website makes sense.
 
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jazz1

Contributor
Aug 19, 2002
4,445
18,148
Mid-West USA
I've got mixed feeling about this. I do live in the USA. Will Apple open up non-Apple app. downloads here?

I'm a bit wary of downloading apps. from anywhere but Apple's walled garden. I don't know why, but I do it on my MacMini?

If non-Apple app. downloads outside of the Apple app. store come to be here will developers pretty much abandon the official Apple app. store?
 

Beautyspin

macrumors 65816
Dec 14, 2012
1,003
1,173
well, good luck to all folks who bought an iOS device for their elderly loved ones b/c they were sure inexperienced people cannot be tricked into downloading counterfeit applications that may expose their data/steal their credentials.
They don't have to go outside the Apple's Appstore to download scam/counterfeit apps. Apple works diligently to supply people those apps in the official app store for a low low 30% cut.







Should I go on?
 

gk_brown

macrumors regular
Dec 26, 2020
224
504
If non-Apple app. downloads outside of the Apple app. store come to be here will developers pretty much abandon the official Apple app. store?
I doubt it. The app store is still a great way to maintain visibility. If you're a small developer/company, how else would potential users even know how to find your app?
 

swm

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2013
518
848
Inexperienced users have been getting tricked into downloading apps that could expose their data, steal their credentials, and worse from Apple's App Store for years.
thanks, that proves my point even more. even a centrally curated single-source-of-apps is not perfect, so why bother anymore. let's try removing counterfeit apps/scamware from any random website. because email/im based scams don't work anymore, right?

on the other hand I expect apple to make the process difficult enough to make sure it doesn't happen by mistake. but maybe this will be a lesson for everyone.
 

swm

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2013
518
848
I take the time to research and vet software before I install it, and make sure I’m getting it from the developer or reputable source. I’ve never had a major issue, because I don’t install jank software on my computer.
that's good for you and it would be close to perfect if everyone would follow your lead, but sadly they don't. solutions have to be able less experienced people. there's a huge gap.
 

HobeSoundDarryl

macrumors G5
There's nothing "enjoyable" about how apps are handled on the Mac. The app experience on Mac is a fragmented PITA and would be far better being handled the iOS way.

Haha! I have "enjoyed" getting select apps in Big Mac app bundles for dirt cheap prices.

I have "enjoyed" having all of the money go to the creator of the app instead of the first 15% or 30% right off the top going to a single "company store." And that's not anything against Apple per se... I just don't feel like they "need" the 15% or 30% of the apps after I've paid way, way, wayyyyyyyy up for the hardware and Apple's own apps.

I have "enjoyed" the flexibility to get apps not available in the Mac App Store... and/or that Apple would simply reject from offering in the store for whatever reason.

I have "enjoyed" getting apps for less cost than they would cost in the App Store when the markup needs to cover the 15%-30% cut.

And for all of the apps I've downloaded direct, none have robbed my bank accounts, unleashed an endless stream of virus/trojans upon my computers, destroyed my life/home, rained locusts & frogs, nor triggered any apocalypse whatsoever... like the one so thoroughly predicted for the EU that we're still awaiting well over a month since the law took effect. Where's all that certain destruction?

At least for me, there has been plenty of "enjoyment" in the freedom to get apps from whichever source of them I desire... and not have "daddy" deciding if I can install an app on MY tech, etc. But, of course, I respect your very different opinion... and fully appreciate our friends in the EU enjoying Mac-app-like freedom of choice for their iDevices. Congratulations EU!
 
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Haiku_Oezu

macrumors 6502
Oct 31, 2016
491
652
I really really wish I could just sideload an ipa from my Mac with Apple Configurator instead.
 

sw1tcher

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
5,449
18,882
This is honestly one of the most ridiculous and illogical arguments to use. It isn't the defense you think it is. No marketplace will be 100% issue free (it's not possible) but by pointing out that it already happens doesn't change the fact that opening it up will make it MORE common. If anything, you're making an argument AGAINST opening it up, because by opening it up...what is already happening will just become more common and with less possibility of being stopped. More stores = more attack vectors.
The point is alternative app stores and downloading/installing apps off the web isn't going to turn the iPhone into a "security nightmare" and alternative app stores aren't going to be, as I've seen some people describe it, the dangerous "wild west," not when apps will be notarized by Apple to ensure their privacy and security.

Do you use a Mac? Is the Mac a "security nightmare?" Remember when Apple ran these Mac ads touting its security?




It was only recently that Apple wanted us to believe that the Mac is this dangerous wild west thanks to Apple's bean counters who realized how profitable the App Store was. Craig Federighi even threw the Mac under the bus in an attempt to protect that profit.

If alternative's to Apple's App Store becomes a "security nightmare," then doesn't that say something about Apple's notarization process? Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if Apple approved shady apps just to say "See, we warned you about the dangers."
 

HobeSoundDarryl

macrumors G5
Welcome to your security nightmare.

When does the nightmare manifest in the enormous EU market? They've had this law in place for over a month now. When are those bank accounts emptied? When are all the phones bricked by ransom demands? When are residents losing their homes/cars/money/livelihoods/firstborn/etc? Where's the locusts, frogs, plague & pestilence? Where's the 4 horsemen?

I'd think at just about 6 weeks later, there would be a LOT of that kind of devastation popping up already. So many of "us" seemed certain this was a major doom security event for them. When does it show?

And, of course, Macs have had this same freedom globally for as long as I've owned Macs and then some. While there is the occasional tale of woe along such lines, where is the mass doom events due to accessing apps from sources other than the Mac App Store.

The great benefit of the security threat before such a thing goes into play is that all such comments are at least plausible. Security is a universal want... so any plausibility that security is threatened is usually received well.

The great weakness is the "boy who cried wolf" effect AFTERWARDS when none of the broad doom seems to manifest. I'd think many millions in the EU would already be suffering their utter destruction by now and yet, I don't think I've seen a single story about ONE person suffering.

Is 6 weeks not long enough for the "crime syndicates" to make their nefarious plays? Do all trojans and virus lay dormant for some amount of time and then do their terrible things? Does ransomware infect but then wait some lengthy period of time before the bad guys demand the ransom? Or was all of that... like "lint magnet/broken tongues/fragile port/wobbly port" spin when USB-C was "forced" into iPhone... much ado about nothing... again?

"Wolf! Wolf!" the sheepherder cried again... but THIS time the villagers did NOT come.

Show me lots of wolf... else, I'm no longer buying the security spin. And don't trip on any broken USB-C tongues. There should be mountains of them by now based upon that anti-EU-law hype since iPhone finally went USB-C. Where are they? Perhaps the crime syndicates can't climb over all those broken USB-C tongues to do their evil in the EU because that mountain is just too high? Move over Alps: a great pile USB-C tongues has sprung forth. :rolleyes: Or not.

"Think different."
 
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Supermallet

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2014
1,895
1,910
that's good for you and it would be close to perfect if everyone would follow your lead, but sadly they don't. solutions have to be able less experienced people. there's a huge gap.
Don’t worry, Apple will be sure to spend a lot of time and money letting people know how unsafe it is to download software anywhere but the App Store, likely enough to scare most people away from trying.
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,564
6,062
This will possibly make it much easier for pirates to crack apps.
Apple's requirements that it come from a developer that's been in good standing for two years should minimize that risk.

But I disagree - any DRM that relies on a client machine performing a check is futile. The client machine is a totally rogue actor - any control you have over it is an illusion. A server must be tightly integrated for DRM to work. The client side code must be utterly worthless without the server.

===

This sounds like the first real improvement for iOS developers in about a decade. Bring it to the US and I might consider making some iOS apps again.
 
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TundraKing

macrumors member
Feb 12, 2021
59
59
Now this is the way it's supposed to be...........

We've done it on the Mac for 40+ years..... It's long..... long...... overdue on the other Apple platforms....

Now that wasn't so hard was it Apple.... Just roll it out globally and be done with it....
 

blackcrayon

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2003
2,257
1,826
Inexperienced users have been getting tricked into downloading apps that could expose their data, steal their credentials, and worse from Apple's App Store for years.







Sounds like you're proving the point - if it's bad there, imagine if there's zero vetting instead of imperfect vetting. I'm certainly in favor of installing apps anywhere for myself, but I can't imagine it will be as safe for users overall.
 
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jasonsmith_88

macrumors regular
Jul 27, 2016
163
346
Only apps that have had one million annual first installs or more on iOS in the EU in the prior year are eligible for download from a website.

This completely goes against the spirit of DMA. Hopefully the EU cracks down on this nonsense.

Imagine if you bought a car and the manufacturer physically prevented you from visiting an independent mechanic unless they had serviced 1 million of the manufacturers vehicles in the previous year. Literally no one would defend such a model, which is probably even illegal in many markets. Yet people still defend Apple.

The entire point of the DMA is to make it easier for developers to distribute apps. Requiring 1 million downloads in the previous year does not fulfil this goal.

As a developer myself, I’m sick of wasting hours of my life for nonsense rejections every time I submit an app for review, answering the same questions over and over again, taking days to get updates approved. I don’t need the “marketing” or “visibility” of the App Store, as the apps I develop are companion apps to other systems. I just want to give people a link where they can download the app. And please don’t tell me I’m benefiting from Apple’s development tools for free when the consumer pays $1,000+ USD for their device and I pay $99 a year to be in the developer program.
 

TundraKing

macrumors member
Feb 12, 2021
59
59
Sounds like you're proving the point - if it's bad there, imagine if there's zero vetting instead of imperfect vetting. I'm certainly in favor of installing apps anywhere for myself, but I can't imagine it will be as safe for users overall.
If you have a Mac ever install an app from a website directly??? There you go...

Some are careful with their machines/phones/tablets etc...and some aren't.... It's always been that way and it always will be. I expect this to be the norm globally before too long anyways.....
 
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