[JumpCrisscross]

> it doesn't sit well with me that Apple yields so much power on what software their phones can run after it sells them

At the end of the day, you can compile and run anything on your machine. This is just regulating distribution. Given the specific breaches at hand by Facebook and Google, a balance seems to have been found (acceptable to most users) between freedom and security.

[Skunkleton]

That is true only in the most technical of senses. Practically, Apple has near complete control over what is allowed to execute on an iOS device.

[rootusrootus]

Excluding technical users, Google Play Services is the same. And their grip only tightens over time.

[roywiggins]

Fortnite is only available on Android via sideloading, and I don't expect that will slow down Epic Games much.

[paxy]

You don't have to be technical at all to sideload apps on Android. Enough people I know have done it in minutes following a very simple guide.

[lozaning]

I dont see how you can make this claim when installing whatever you want on your android phone is as easy as tapping the setting for installing from unknown sources.

[abugheratwork]

I just want to chime in with "yes and yes". Let's be sure not to fall into a false dichotomy about which brand of problem is a problem. :)

[Skunkleton]

Google does a decent job w/ non-standard app stores. They have permissions that allow other apps to act as a trusted app store without opening the system up entirely.

I agree that Google Play Services is not competition friendly, but that is a different topic.

[hmottestad]

It's pretty true. Unless you manage to jailbreak your phone the only way to get it to run code (except for javascript) is by having, at some point up the chain, a certificate that's signed by Apple.

It's free to get one though, but it only lasts for a week or so. You can pay to become a developer and I think you get one that lasts a year instead.

[Nullabillity]

> At the end of the day, you can compile and run anything on your machine.

Iff you have a Mac. And even then, you need to recompile it every week.

[banana_giraffe]

I assume you're being hyperbolic to make a point, but really the need to recompile yearly when my dev cert is up for renewal isn't that bad.

I'd prefer something else for my personal toy applications so I don't even need to bother with this, but it's not a huge deal to me.

[steffan]

The parent is correct if you're not using the Developer Certificate, but relying on the Free Provisioning Profile - as the name implies, it is free, but it only lasts for 7 days instead of the 1 year you get with a paid developer account / Developer Certificate.

The advantage of the Free Profile is that (afaik) it can't be revoked or censored. Disadvantage is 7 day lifespan.

[banana_giraffe]

Ahh, thanks, I forget the free version exists. That is a very annoying limitation of it.

[twr]

Apple also weirdly limits the capabilities available to free developer accounts, like AutoFill and built-in IPSec/IKEv2 VPN support.

https://help.apple.com/developer-account/#/dev21218dfd6

[saagarjha]

You don't necessarily have to have a Mac, but this makes it significantly easier.

[nickbee]

At the end of the day, you can compile and run anything on your machine.

Not really. You have to pay the ransom^W^W$100 for a developer account every year.

[wlesieutre]

You can run stuff without it, but the builds expire after 7 days so it's a nuisance in practice.

[SalimoS]

not anymore, for your personal use you don't need to pay, but the build will expire in 7 days

[ryukafalz]

If you also happen to have a Mac to run XCode, sure. I don’t believe there’s a way to compile and load iOS apps from any other platform? (And you certainly can’t do it from the device itself.)

[saagarjha]

You can technically compile iOS apps on any platform, but you won't be able to link against the iOS SDK without Xcode. So in practice it's a bit annoying. Loading iOS apps is pretty simple on any platform with Cydia Impactor.

[CGamesPlay]

Please correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t this change retroactively prevent installed apps signed with the enterprise license from running on iOS devices?

[lostmyoldone]

If the article is correct, you are correct. The article seems quite clear this was about already installed apps that stopped working because Apple revoked their certificate.

[sandov]

Can you install rogue apps (i.e. not from apple's store) without jailbreaking the device?

[module0000]

Not using any installation mechanism provided by Apple. If you want to crack open the phone and begin trying to pin out the storage controller: then maybe.

The installer is a piece of software made by Apple, to install things that meet certain criteria(ie signed packages). It's not that you can't technically "install" other things, but there doesn't exist a mechanism to do so.

[saagarjha]

Yes, but they will still have to be signed by an enterprise or developer certificate.