Actually I definitely do want to A) make it more difficult for spam callers to exist and B) make it more difficult for people to be fooled by them.

The problem with an App Store-like approach to that problem is that Apple would control who could call you and not give you the option to receive calls from someone they don't like.

I'm not against security or privacy. My problem is not having a way to bypass the App Store and what they allow (they ban more than just malware) when I want to install something.

I use Android for this reason. As soon macOS becomes like iOS, I'm out too.

> My problem is not having a way to bypass the App Store

The ability to bypass the App Store for yourself exists and has for a long time. The process might not be to your liking, but let’s stop pretending that you have no choice if you want to use iOS but not go through the App Store.

When I say "bypass the App Store", I mean installing an app like you can do on Android, Windows, macOS or Linux.

Jailbreak isn't supported by Apple and it's not something most people can or would do.

> I mean installing an app

I meant exactly that and didn’t mean Jailbreaking. Apple officially supports allowing you to sign apps for your own device with a free developer account, it’s just the signing expires after 7 days (unlike the paid developer accounts which expire after a year). It’s a hassle to need to reinstall weekly (hence my point about it likely not being to one’s liking), but there are apps[0] available to automate the process. So my point stands, nothing is stopping you from using iOS and installing apps from outside the App Store but yourself.

[0] https://altstore.io/

It's an interesting solution which I wasn't aware of (thanks for sharing), but requiring a weekly reinstall and a free developer account (and a computer to automate the process) doesn't seem to be something most people would use. It's also not comparable to what all other mainstream OS allow you to do.

When I install an apk on Android, it works until something breaks. Same on Windows, macOS or Linux. I also don't have to ask Google, Microsoft or Canonical for a free key so I can sign an app created by someone else.

I'm sure this is enough and acceptable for some users, just not for me.

> My problem is not having a way to bypass the App Store

As I’ve shown, there is a way, just not to your liking.

> I'm sure this is enough and acceptable for some users, just not for me.

I agree, I wouldn’t endure it either, but I also have a regular developer and an enterprise developer account so I’m not limited by the short duration.