It's apple's appstore that is being dystopian. Not being able to install free apps without providing a credit card is ridicilous. I have 0 apps from the appstore on my work laptop for this reason.
Meh I don’t see much issue with this. I think they should be able to run their AppStore however they want but it’s when they tie in too many products together like the iPhone and the App Store that it becomes an issue because you simply can not have alternatives this way.
If you could install your own App Store, there would be no issues.
you can use the App store without a credit card. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204316
>4. Enter your credit card and billing information, then tap Next. You can also choose None.