[JTon]

> The major computing platforms now have gatekeepers (Google Play, iOS App Store)

So true. You can sideload on Android though. So all is not lost.

[stegosaurus]

I can. You can.

The general public can whilst the 'allow untrusted sources' box exists.

But once that box goes, the vast majority of the audience for software outside of Google Play is gone. F-Droid is already tiny as it stands!

[coroutines]

I think what OP is talking about is even though we know how to get over the walls of these gardens, the average user would not. :(

[Falcon9]

And with Xcode 7 you can deploy apps to your iOS devices with a free dev account.

[khedoros]

Which is fine, but if I write a piece of software that I want to distribute outside of the app store, then everyone that wants to install it needs their own Mac, right? I don't think that's quite comparable to side-loading, which can be done from the device itself, without any external account or hardware.

[vbezhenar]

There's nothing magical in Mac. iOS apps use standard cryptographic algorithms for their digital signature, so one can write a crossplatform client which will generate developer certificate for user, sign any given binary using that certificate and install it onto iOS device. For user it won't be any harder than typing "iport install things" (or click button with some fancy GUI).

I'm surprised that this idea wasn't implemented yet.

[HappyTypist]

Because when you do, Apple will require you to pre register devices and sign builds online from Apple servers, or do something else that blocks this

[rjvir]

Still requires an external Laptop/PC, you would not be able to install custom software using only the device itself.

[conradev]

It would require an enterprise cert or Laptop/PC to bootstrap, but theoretically you could build an on-device store. I'm still waiting for someone to build this:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BsOd4PXQ0SfsdMP0n30Ud_Aa...