AltStore – An alternative app store for non-jailbroken iOS devices

Re:AltStore – An alternative app store for non-jailbroken iO... by grishka on Sunday June 20, 2021 @09:00AM (#27569526)

To those who would say "but people would be manipulated into installing malware".

Firstly, Apple could make the unlocking process purposely hard. Many Android phones come with unlockable bootloaders, but the average person has no idea because you need a computer with the SDK to run that specific command to unlock it.

Secondly, people do get scammed on iOS devices anyway. Both through the web, and through poorly reviewed apps that slip to the app store every now and then. Moreover, Apple has a vested interest in not policing these thoroughly because they get to keep the 30% cut from the scammers' earnings.

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Re:AltStore – An alternative app store for non-jailbroken iO... by turtlebits on Sunday June 20, 2021 @12:09PM (#27571418)

What happens when you buy a new or used Android phone with malware baked into the OS image and a reset done through the UI doesn’t remove it?

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Re:AltStore – An alternative app store for non-jailbroken iO... by mdtusz on Sunday June 20, 2021 @12:51PM (#27571781)

What happens when you buy a used laptop?

There's inherent risk in buying a device from a third party that you may not fully trust, but that risk is in the hands of the buyer to assess, and to mitigate as appropriate. When the average person buys a used laptop from Craigslist, I doubt they're doing a full disk wipe and reinstalling the OS, and they're definitely not verifying the bios or other motherboard-level code. There shouldn't need to be some special case applied for tablets or laptops either. They're all just computers.

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Re:AltStore – An alternative app store for non-jailbroken iO... by jaynetics on Sunday June 20, 2021 @03:00PM (#27572936)

Most will show a warning on boot, something like "the bootloader has been unlocked [...] Only store crucial data on this device if you know what you're doing".

Yes, it might be possible to remove this warning with sufficient effort, but it is not like there is no way to compromise an iPhone.

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