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0 pointsechelon2y ago0 comments

Thank you for this!

Next up: make "side loading" apps a thing.

Do it with these stipulations:

1. Make it easy, part of the normal flow. Not hidden in an obscure panel or behind three or four dialogues.

2. Make it non-scary (no negs from Apple saying you'll destroy your device or safety)

3. Make it so it isn't called something negative like "side loading", but a part of normal user behavior: "download app", "web install", etc.

4. Make it so that Apple can't degrade the app experience for these apps.

If y'all can accomplish that, all will be right with the world again.

0 comments

bluescrn2y ago

Let’s stop using the ‘side loading’ euphemism and just call it ‘loading’. Let us load our own code.

hn927268192y ago

Meh. Android has had sideloading from the start. It's been the common term for not using the blessed app stores for a while, even when it's been allowed since the beginning.

nickpp2y ago

Most people do not have "their own code". Instead it is your code you want me and my grandmother to load and I simply do not want to, unless you go through Apple's hurdles to check and verify it.

VonGallifrey2y ago

I don't want to jump out of a plane therefore I want to outlaw skydiving.

Actually I don't have to outlaw things I don't like for myself. I will simply not go skydiving and other people are wellcome to take the risk for themselves.

No one is forcing you to load anything you don't want to. You don't need to force your decision onto everyone. There is a difference between "I don't want to load your code" and "I don't want anyone to have the ability to load your code".

2 more replies

throwaway506062y ago

And then Facebook forces you to use their "web installer" that simply allows them to spy on everything you do on the phone :-)

doikor2y ago

The spying is still be illegal in EU without user consent no matter if it is technically possible or not.

nozzlegear2y ago

But then for those of us not in the EU, Facebook et al suddenly have access to a plethora of data they didn’t have before via side loading thanks to a European law.

3 more replies

yjftsjthsd-h2y ago

Losing arbitrary code doesn't magically remove iOS's sandboxing.

ThePowerOfFuet2y ago

No, but it would permit the use of private frameworks.

mmmmmbop2y ago

This has already been achieved with the Digital Markets Act, which will fully come into force by March 2024.

meindnoch2y ago

How about you simply buying something else instead of an iPhone?

mmmmmbop2y ago

Since this will be required by the DMA as mentioned in another comment, the more accurate phrasing would be "How about Apple simply not selling their phones in the EU (if they don't like it)?"

Just like nobody's forcing a consumer to buy an iPhone if they don't like it, nobody's forcing Apple to do business in the EU.

Longhanks2y ago

God, sometimes I really wish they would do just that. Just a week ago, Germany launched a public transport ticket that can only be acquired via an app. Imagine the outrage if suddenly every iOS owner could not use that service (paid with tax money of course) that entirely depends on US software services because the companies decided the EU bullying is just enough for now (just like Google did with China).

If the EU wants to "boss around" like they do in this headline, maybe it should ensure having actual EU businesses capable of competing with US ones. But more regulation will surely do it, I’m sure, this time.

1 more reply

phist_mcgee2y ago

And when old grandma gets hit with a fake banking app download that steals her life savings all will be right with the world as well?

epolanski2y ago

That would happen also on a browser by going on a fake website.

Actually pulling it off through a fake app sounds to me even harder to do.

simion3142y ago

Stop with the FUD. I know you have a big imagination but the reality is that I can side load apps on Android, and all the big companies that push me t install their apps are using the official store and I never see random websites showing fake links to banking apps.

Guess what apps I have to side load, the apps the Stores do not allow, like Huawei app for my solar panels(iOS users will have to use the website since no side loading for them).

Please other Android users, can you help to fight this FUD? why did you side load apps? Do you see fake links to fake banking of FB apps? Did some big website pushed you to side load their app instead of an app from the store ?

throwaway506062y ago

Android Play store doesn't have the same user protections as iOS Appstore. There is no reason to force sideload on Android because you can already spy on everything the user does with your Playstore apps (why would you even expect anything else from Google? The whole thing is set up for spying). That's not the case on iOS. You're comparing incomparable.

1 more reply

prox2y ago

Yeah these suggestions often come from a place of “this is what I want” instead fully think it through. Those 4 steps and 5 warnings you need click through? Please! I don’t want to manage my family’s apple devices collection when things go wrong.

frankfrankfrank2y ago

Don’t worry, the EU apparatchiks have surely made themselves responsible for the consequences of their actions. It’s “Our Democracy”™ after all.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

bluescrn2y ago

Let’s stop using the ‘side loading’ euphemism and just call it ‘loading’. Let us load our own code.

hn927268192y ago

Meh. Android has had sideloading from the start. It's been the common term for not using the blessed app stores for a while, even when it's been allowed since the beginning.

nickpp2y ago

Most people do not have "their own code". Instead it is your code you want me and my grandmother to load and I simply do not want to, unless you go through Apple's hurdles to check and verify it.

VonGallifrey2y ago

I don't want to jump out of a plane therefore I want to outlaw skydiving.

Actually I don't have to outlaw things I don't like for myself. I will simply not go skydiving and other people are wellcome to take the risk for themselves.

2 more replies

throwaway506062y ago

And then Facebook forces you to use their "web installer" that simply allows them to spy on everything you do on the phone :-)

doikor2y ago

The spying is still be illegal in EU without user consent no matter if it is technically possible or not.

nozzlegear2y ago

But then for those of us not in the EU, Facebook et al suddenly have access to a plethora of data they didn’t have before via side loading thanks to a European law.

3 more replies

yjftsjthsd-h2y ago

Losing arbitrary code doesn't magically remove iOS's sandboxing.

ThePowerOfFuet2y ago

No, but it would permit the use of private frameworks.

mmmmmbop2y ago

This has already been achieved with the Digital Markets Act, which will fully come into force by March 2024.

meindnoch2y ago

How about you simply buying something else instead of an iPhone?

mmmmmbop2y ago

Since this will be required by the DMA as mentioned in another comment, the more accurate phrasing would be "How about Apple simply not selling their phones in the EU (if they don't like it)?"

Just like nobody's forcing a consumer to buy an iPhone if they don't like it, nobody's forcing Apple to do business in the EU.

Longhanks2y ago

1 more reply

phist_mcgee2y ago

And when old grandma gets hit with a fake banking app download that steals her life savings all will be right with the world as well?

epolanski2y ago

That would happen also on a browser by going on a fake website.

Actually pulling it off through a fake app sounds to me even harder to do.

simion3142y ago

Guess what apps I have to side load, the apps the Stores do not allow, like Huawei app for my solar panels(iOS users will have to use the website since no side loading for them).

throwaway506062y ago

1 more reply

prox2y ago

frankfrankfrank2y ago

Don’t worry, the EU apparatchiks have surely made themselves responsible for the consequences of their actions. It’s “Our Democracy”™ after all.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse