[SOLAR_FIELDS]

As answered in a sibling comment, if you want Delta, or really any decent emulator on iOS, this is basically your only choice. I think Riley envisioned this to be used for other things outside of Delta, but it’s been around for over half a decade now and no other huge, significant driving use cases has been knocking down the AltStore doors. Perhaps that’s a good thing, because Delta has always existed in quasi acceptable territory for Apple, and further attention might force Apple’s hand into killing it entirely.

Interestingly it also I think helps Apple argue for the walled garden use case. If walled garden was so bad and people are itching to side load their apps, why aren’t there a shit ton more apps on AltStore? It’s not like Riley wouldn’t welcome other use cases. And I don’t think it’s particularly difficult for either developers or end users to use this workaround. It leads me to believe that really people don’t want sideloaded apps as much as HN would lead us to believe, or there would at least be someone other than Riley using AltStore.

[waboremo]

It can't help Apple argue for a walled garden while simultaneously remaining small out of fear of Apple ending the project. No reputable companies are going to rely on a project under the whims of Apple maybe potentially killing it overnight.

[daveidol]

There are actually hundreds of apps and communities using AltStore and similar sideloading methods. Check out /r/sideloaded