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A comment on Cydia, the original app store, sues Apple on antitrust grounds. Parent comment

Re:Cydia, the original app store, sues Apple on antitrust gr... by daveidol on Thursday December 10, 2020 @05:19PM (#25379555)
Apps in iOS are sandboxed anyway so spyware/virus concerns are less of an issue just due to the platform itself.

But I agree with the other posters: literally making it impossible for me to willingly do something with my own device is not a feature.

There are other ways to help prevent payment issues or privacy concerns - one of which is just sticking to the App Store (if it really is that valuable then won't the market decide?) - the other of which is requiring hoops to jump through like Google does with third-party applications on Android. Hell - look at Gatekeeper on macOS.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Cydia, the original app store, sues Apple on antitrust gr... by com2kid on Thursday December 10, 2020 @05:26PM (#25379647)
> Apps in iOS are sandboxed anyway so spyware/virus concerns are less of an issue just due to the platform itself.

On iOS, certain API restrictions are enforced by the app review process.

Not to mention some behavioral restrictions are purely enforced by the threat of being banned from the app store.

For example, apps could[1] spam you 10x a day with 3rd party advertising push notifications, but that is banned by app store policy, not by any technical limitation of the platform.

[1] For awhile this was a serious problem on Android until Google clamped down on it, again, using store policy not technical restrictions.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Cydia, the original app store, sues Apple on antitrust gr... by daveidol on Thursday December 10, 2020 @05:31PM (#25379687)
Fair point, but I have to believe Apple could come up with technical solutions to these issues. Or not - in which case we end up with a world not that unlike macOS. Which isn't that bad in my opinion. I'd still rather have that option than being told I can't do what I want with my own hardware.
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Re:Cydia, the original app store, sues Apple on antitrust gr... by com2kid on Thursday December 10, 2020 @05:48PM (#25379833)
MacOS was never a large enough target for malware and adware.

Think pre-SP2 Windows XP. Think the JRE updater installing the Ask Jeeves toolbar. (Or Chrome, that was slimy....)

Drive by app installs initiated from Safari on iOS would be Bonzai Buddy all over again.

Right now if a handful of misbehaving apps makes it past the app store review process, it is in the news.

What happens if that review store process is no longer there? How many alternative keyboards will be going around stealing credentials? How many apps spamming ads 24/7?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Cydia, the original app store, sues Apple on antitrust gr... by heavyset_go on Thursday December 10, 2020 @07:36PM (#25380820)
> On iOS, certain API restrictions are enforced by the app review process.

Notarization for apps on macOS already checks for private API usage[1] even if the apps aren't distributed on the Mac App Store.

[1] https://www.waynedixon.com/2019/05/16/new-notarization-requi...

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Re:Cydia, the original app store, sues Apple on antitrust gr... by saagarjha on Thursday December 10, 2020 @08:03PM (#25381033)
I think those checks are primarily for security-related private APIs, not the ones that you would normally get when submitting to the iOS and macOS App Stores.
[ Parent | on HN ]