[HN Gopher] iOS 17.2 hints at Apple moving towards letting users... ___________________________________________________________________ iOS 17.2 hints at Apple moving towards letting users sideload apps Author : tech234a Score : 45 points Date : 2023-11-10 21:26 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (9to5mac.com) (TXT) w3m dump (9to5mac.com) | tech234a wrote: | Documentation for the ManagedAppDistribution API: | https://developer.apple.com/documentation/managedappdistribu... | rcdemski wrote: | That's where my gut is landing on this one. They discussed | managed app distribution at WWDC and that's what feels like is | coming with 17.2. | | In my enterprise land I'm excited for these cleaner | integrations for MDM app distribution. | hkchad wrote: | As long as I can disable that in the MDM | Hamuko wrote: | Can you do it for Mac apps? Because if you can, I can't imagine | it not being possible. | cweagans wrote: | Yes, you can. You can configure that through SoftwareUpdate | in an MDM profile for macOS. | Wowfunhappy wrote: | This article links to | https://9to5mac.com/2023/04/25/ios-16-restrict-features-base... | which I find almost more interesting: | | > Currently, Apple uses hard-coding techniques to restrict iOS | features in specific locations. This means that most restrictions | are simply tied to the region of a device, either by software | settings or where that hardware comes from. But the company has | been working on a new, smarter way to precisely determine the | user's location. | | > Based on our findings, the new system internally called | "countryd" was silently added with iOS 16.2, but is not being | actively used for anything so far. It combines multiple data such | as current GPS location, country code from the Wi-Fi router, and | information obtained from the SIM card to determine the country | the user is in. | | > But why exactly is Apple developing this system? Well, we now | have a clue. [...] With the new "countryd" system, Apple will be | able to easily determine if the device is being used in an EU | country to allow sideloading. | | ...so here's what I want to know. I live in the US, but I | absolutely must have sideloading if there is any chance it's | possible. What unholy things will I have to do to convince my | iPhone I'm in Europe? | vasdae wrote: | If you absolutely must have sideloading why don't you buy an | Android phone? | toast0 wrote: | Neither Android nor iOS permit sideloading of iOS apps. | Android doesn't help much if that's what you want to do. | cherryteastain wrote: | Uh what? Every Android phone lets you install apps via .apk | files. | bluish29 wrote: | > I live in the US, but I absolutely must have sideloading if | there is any chance it's possible. What unholy things will I | have to do to convince my iPhone I'm in Europe? | | You can do this now but you will have to get apple developer | license for $99 and add your iPhone/iPad to the account and | generate signing certificate that you can use for side-loading | apps. A lot of effort and cost though but it is possible. And I | don't know if Apple will go after people if this becomes | popular. | samtheprogram wrote: | Wow I recognize your name, thanks for the macOS 10.9 fixes page | and your Chromium-Legacy downloader! | | If sideloading becomes popular, the real goal is to just be | able to run those apps that aren't in the store, right? As a | sibling comment says, just registering/paying $99/year to use | those apps but signed as yourself seems like the easiest | route... unless you don't want to pay Apple ~$8/month for this | feature out of principal or monetary reasons. | akmarinov wrote: | Move to Europe! | bottlepalm wrote: | Could be a huge opportunity for Valve to work their compatibility | layer magic on iOS, and allow us to finally play sooo many | quality games that the iPhone is perfectly capable of running - | new and old. | smoldesu wrote: | Proton relies on DXVK, which needs relatively recent Vulkan | coverage to work. | | You might be able to get Game Porting Toolkit to run on iOS | eventually, but that's probably a matter of hardware | compatibility (and of course, Apple blessing it). | ThatPlayer wrote: | MoltenVK might work though that only does up to Vulkan 1.2, | while DXVK requires 1.3. There is a legacy version of DXVK | that only requires 1.1. Or maybe MoltenVK can be improved. | guidedlight wrote: | Microsoft is also known to be working on an iOS gaming store, | as part of its Activision Blizzard acquisition. | graphe wrote: | Does anyone else read articles backwards? It seems to be the best | way for me to read articles since most of the are padded. The | last part was that it needs to be done by March 2024, if the was | the relevant info you care about. | frfl wrote: | Recipe blogs the are worst in this regard. Most have an essay | that you have to scroll past. I'm guessing in both cases, it's | about SEO. | ziddoap wrote: | I've only heard this anecdotally, and specifically for | recipes, but I've heard it's for copyright (and yeah, | probably SEO too). You can copyright your long-winded | explanation of your recipe, but not the recipe itself. | | A quick search seems to support the idea: | | > _Tips for Protecting Your Recipes_ | | > _1. Include Content Beyond the Ingredient List_ | | https://www.copyrightlaws.com/copyright-protection-recipes/ | frfl wrote: | I didn't mention it, but yes, I've read the same thing. So | two things, SEO and copyrighting :) | Semaphor wrote: | Just in case you didn't know: almost all have a jump to | recipe button at the top | mrtksn wrote: | Although I'm generally happy with Apple's walled garden model, | IMHO sideloading is getting much more important than ever for a | few reasons: | | 1) Apple engaging in rent seeking may stifle progress and create | another Nokia catastrophe. When a device is locked down, Apple | can make you purchase inferior services and if they can do it for | long enough they can end up irrelevant. Big things are happening | in China, not good idea to milk customers instead of head on | competition just because there's a political pressure on China | and locked down devices in users hands. | | 2) Political instabilities all over the world. Apple services | might not be available all the time and they might be limited due | to political reasons. | | 3) Huge appetite by the governments to control user's devices and | make vendors act as the police. Maybe you support this if you | feel like the power is on your side but don't forget that your | enemies can take over at any time. Locked devices are extremely | risky for any kind of resistance. | | It's also very interesting if Apple can manage to make this EU | exclusive. If Europeans manage to come up with actually popular | use cases, can Apple deny this to US users? For how long? AFAIK | in China WeChat can do a lot of stuff that it's not allowed in | the West, can Apple pull this in EU-USA context? IMHO it would be | much harder. | yladiz wrote: | > It's also very interesting if Apple can manage to make this | EU exclusive. | | I imagine it will be configurable, since I would guess there | will be region specific rules (for example China might only | want to allow App Store apps, which they can completely control | the distribution of). | apple4ever wrote: | I certainly hope so! Apple's App Store has repeatedly had | ridiculous rejections which stifles innovation, and their policy | of not allowing apps to purchase outside the App Store (such as | for Kindle and Netflix) is entirely customer unfriendly. | | Nothing changes for people who want the full security, but for | others it allows a massively better device with the tradeoff of | lower security. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-11-10 23:00 UTC)