Sideloading and alternative App stores?

[cbns]

How is there no macrumors post on this yet? This is the most interesting thing.. and crickets.

What stores are there? What is recommended?

SideStore trustworthy?


any restrictions for sideloading to work?

do you have to be in the EU? Do you have to have an EU iphone? Do you have to have it set to an EU country under region?
all of the above?

 

[DeanL]

It's because there aren't any alternative app stores.
There isn't "sideloading". All apps need to come from the Apple App Store or an alternative App Store.

 

[cbns]

It's because there aren't any alternative app stores.
There isn't "sideloading". All apps need to come from the Apple App Store or an alternative App Store.

SideStore

An alternative app store that aims to make sideloading apps as seamless as possible.

sidestore.io

are you sure?

 

[Blue Hawk]

SideStore

An alternative app store that aims to make sideloading apps as seamless as possible.

sidestore.io

are you sure?

This doesn’t look secure to me

 

[SpecMode]

1. 17.4 has been available for all of 92 minutes, give it time
2. Apple still has a review and approval process for alternative app stores in the EU that anyone creating one has to go through, which could take a while
3. SideStore is not one of those "approved" alternative app stores, and essentially bypasses the normal App Store cryptographic signing process by using an iOS developer certificate and VPN connection to trick iOS into thinking that sideloaded apps are authorized to run using the developer entitlement
   1. Because this method uses a developer certificate to run sideloaded apps, SideStore has to "refresh" every app it installs to keep them from expiring after 7 days

 

[iOS Geek]

This doesn’t look secure to me

Agreed. Not exactly a confidence booster for things to come. If anything, it is a prime example of the downsides/consequences of this forced "feature".

 

[ManuCH]

SideStore

An alternative app store that aims to make sideloading apps as seamless as possible.

sidestore.io

are you sure?

That's not an official alternative App Store as required by the new EU rules. That's a hack abusing the Apple ID ToS. They even recommend using a "burner iCloud account" to install the thing. I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole.

 

[Lex404]

I'm waiting too.

Curious if Microsoft, Epic and Steam will bring their own stores. In the gaming industry this seems like a gold mine for them.

 

[contacos]

There have been plenty articles about it, there simply isn’t anything else to update on. The whole thing is a dumpster fire. Even META already said, they are not going to bother with its own store

 

[iStorm]

How is there no macrumors post on this yet? This is the most interesting thing.. and crickets.

What stores are there? What is recommended?

For one thing, MacRumors is based in the US and therefore is unable to use or test out the feature themselves to write about. They'll likely have to wait to get information from EU users/tech sites. Plus, it's only been out for a few hours.

They did report earlier that Setapp will be coming in April.

Setapp Will Be One of iPhone's First Alternative App Marketplaces in EU

MacPaw today announced that Setapp will be available as an alternative app marketplace on the iPhone in the EU starting in April. Those wanting access to the beta version can join a waitlist, and developers interested in the platform can apply on this page. Alternative app marketplaces are...

forums.macrumors.com

do you have to be in the EU? Do you have to have an EU iphone? Do you have to have it set to an EU country under region?
all of the above?

I believe it's locked to SIM carrier information. Simply changing the region or having a EU phone won't do anything.

 

[cbns]

1. 17.4 has been available for all of 92 minutes, give it time

I presume a reputable news site would want to beat others to the punch.
Guess I was wrong.

 

[Blue Hawk]

You can disable app marketplaces in the screen time settings

 

[max2]

This iOS alternative app marketplace is 'ready to launch' on March 7 — Mobivention to offer business-focused applications not available on the App Store

Mobivention is a new alternative App Store launching on March 7, the date Apple has chosen to allow third-party marketplaces.

www.msn.com

March 7th

 

[SpecMode]

I presume a reputable news site would want to beat others to the punch.
Guess I was wrong.

A reputable news site values being accurate at least as highly as being fast. Otherwise we would probably have already seen a post about "alternative app stores" like SideStore (which isn't approved by Apple) and "sideloading" (which also isn't supported by Apple) that has nothing whatsoever to do with 17.4, just because someone wanted to the the first to publish something for the clicks.

 

[MiamiBeach]

For one thing, MacRumors is based in the US and therefore is unable to use or test out the feature themselves to write about. They'll likely have to wait to get information from EU users/tech sites. Plus, it's only been out for a few hours.

They did report earlier that Setapp will be coming in April.

Setapp Will Be One of iPhone's First Alternative App Marketplaces in EU

MacPaw today announced that Setapp will be available as an alternative app marketplace on the iPhone in the EU starting in April. Those wanting access to the beta version can join a waitlist, and developers interested in the platform can apply on this page. Alternative app marketplaces are...

forums.macrumors.com

I believe it's locked to SIM carrier information. Simply changing the region or having a EU phone won't do anything.

Will be interested to see how this will work for those that use dual sim with a US and an EU carrier. Will it be based off of the primary SIM?

 

[cbns]

You can disable app marketplaces in the screen time settings

can't find that. even if i set my phone to german.

what was the option you select in the window before it?

 

[Blue Hawk]

can't find that. even if i set my phone to german.

what was the option you select in the window before it?

Screen time - Restrictions - Enable

 

[cbns]

COuld I have

Screen time - Restrictions - Enable

Danke schön.


Does not show up for me. I wonder if it’s because I had my phone sent to United States region when updating? I also did not see the mention about the European marketplaces in the iOS preview under software update

 

[cbns]

All right, never mind I figured it out. It has to do with the location of the Apple ID you signed in with.

 

[contacos]

All right, never mind I figured it out. It has to do with the location of the Apple ID you signed in with.

Nope. My Apple ID is from the US and I am in Germany

 

[melapple]

Nope. My Apple ID is from the US and I am in Germany

So you are seeing the EU-only features on your iPhone? I’m asking because I have yet to update to 17.4 but am on the fence because I’m based in Italy but my iPhone is set to US region and main account is US based even though I have several other Apple ID accounts from EU countries (including Italy)

 

[JFLECHUGA]

Will be interested to see how this will work for those that use dual sim with a US and an EU carrier. Will it be based off of the primary SIM?

I am testing SetApp and it is working very well on all my devices, it still has few apps and I guess that as it is implemented it will fill up like the AppStore of our beloved Apple!!!

 

[one more]

I am testing SetApp and it is working very well on all my devices, it still has few apps and I guess that as it is implemented it will fill up like the AppStore of our beloved Apple!!!

SetApp is a subscription based platform, right? So if a user stops paying them 9.99$ per month they lose their app access. Not a very interesting model, IMO.

Edit: it is actually 12.49$ per month, in order for it to also work on iOS devices.

 

[JFLECHUGA]

SetApp is a subscription based platform, right? So if a user stops paying them 9.99$ per month they lose their app access. Not a very interesting model, IMO.

Edit: it is actually 12.49$ per month, in order for it to also work on iOS devices.

I'll tell you the full version on the 31st that I'm out of subscription, if it's the way you say, I'll uninstall everything I've downloaded (it's little) and see other repositories. I don't like subscriptions either, it looks like you're getting married again. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I'll tell you!!!

 

[JFLECHUGA]

SetApp is a subscription based platform, right? So if a user stops paying them 9.99$ per month they lose their app access. Not a very interesting model, IMO.

Edit: it is actually 12.49$ per month, in order for it to also work on iOS devices.

Another thing, for each device you add iPhone, iPad, etc. you have to pay a surcharge of $2.99 it seems to me that that is the amount more or less + taxes. Come on, it's not a bargain, if the apps I have downloaded are blocked, I forget about SetApp.