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by lolsal 2112 days ago
> This would all go away if Apple simply made it a setting to allow other IPAs

It's not that simple. Right now when I look at the apps on my phone, I have a very, very high confidence that they are not malware. It's not 100% though - right? Because I have to trust some entity. I choose to trust Apple. If apple opens up side loading of apps, I have _much less_ confidence that when I look at my phone, the apps are not malware.

Unless I'm enrolling in an MDM, I implicitly trust everything on my device.

> This would all go away if Apple simply made it a setting to allow other IPAs

Again I think you're missing the point. Do you know how _awesome_ it is as a user that Apple manages my payment method and paying for random apps, and random subscriptions is managed by my Apple ID? I don't have to hunt down 'unsubscribe' emails, or call any phone numbers, or any of that garbage - I go into the control panel and click a button and now I'm no longer paying for that subscription. Allowing that stuff to happen outside of Apple would be a huge _negative_ for me.

> Keep the garden if you want it. Don't enable outside installs.

The wall around the garden is important. Sure, I could get my leg amputated in the street by a doctor with tools from my garage - but I'd rather have that done in a hospital where ingress and egress are more controlled and contamination is less likely.

> The difference here is Apple doesn't give you a choice.

Maybe the difference here is I made my choice already - I picked Apple. I don't want to have to think about every little feature and whether or not it increase my exposure to risk. If you value all that other stuff, go play in the Android world. I don't, so I don't even think about it until these threads come up.

> Even if the developer does all the legwork to build a payment system (for example, they have a web app as well) and market the app on their own, they have to give Apple their cut. You don't get a choice and neither does the developer.

You're conveniently omitting a huge feature of having Apple manage all of that stuff: _Apple manages all of that stuff_, not Epic or the kid that implements the next subscription-based flappy bird.

1 comments

In every single one of your responses you've omitted the possibility of there being an option for people to run sideloaded apps while allowing you the ability to stay in Apple's safe embrace.

Just like you say "we can use Android" why can't we say "you can just stay on the app store"?

You're not understanding what I'm saying; I'm not communicating the point well enough.

The fact that is impossible to side load apps is a feature to me. If Apple enables you and others to side load apps, it removes a feature and something I value.