You have a third choice: don't install facebook at all.
No, you can't. You can have some protections against the most egregious overreaches, but if you're concerned about privacy you shouldn't be on Facebook, ever, on any platform.
Aside from that, there's no way Facebook will remove themselves from the app store. Apple isn't going to make sideloading easy enough for the average Facebook user.
No, you can't.
And if you could, the protections aren't that good.
And if they were, it's not going to happen anyway.
And if it does, that's Apple's fault for making it too easy.
And even so, you deserve it anyway for using Facebook.
Facebook has 2.95 billion MAUs and 73% of the entire US population actively use it, 93% of businesses are on it -- "just don't use Facebook" is a woefully out of touch take. And this is only Facebook and doesn't include IG and WhatsApp.
It's worked for me so far, and we're way past peak Facebook, so I don't see myself needing to use it in the future. Businesses still have phone numbers, and none of my friends or family are active on any Meta platform. I really don't think it's the pillar of society that you seem to think it is.
You can't solve a behavior problem with OS controls. It's not about what bits on the device are readable it's about what happens with the identity information shared with 3rd parties.
Meta makes the Facebook app. Currently, the only way to get the Facebook app on iOS is through Apple's App Store. Which means Meta has to follow all of Apple's guidelines.
Once sideloading is allowed, Meta can make a version of their app that does not follow Apple's guidelines.
Now, they can maintain two apps, but last time I checked, the cost of maintaining one app was lower than the cost of maintaining two.
Eventually, the App Store version will no longer work with Facebook's API. Or the iOS version, or a third thing. There will only be the sideloaded option.
I don't have the freedom to choose the version of the app I want. And now I can't actually trust any of the apps out there because none of them are required to follow any of Apple's guidelines.
Basically, they have far less incentive to try to push a side-loaded version of their app, or to try to create an alternative app store, on Android.
how did you come to that conclusion? certainly not true in the android world. I don't have the stats on prevalence of sideloadong vs. play, but all official apps are alive and well in play after decades of being able to sideload
Sure they could offer a sideloadable app on their website somewhere, but nobody will find it or use it. If your grandma searches for facebook and the top result says "Friendly for Facebook" instead of just "Facebook", do you really think she'll notice the difference let alone go on a wild goose chase of googling for alternative app stores and clicking through scary warnings?
FB won't remove their app from the app store but instead will add a new feature or offer a perk that is only in their side-loaded version and it will drive users in droves to install it.
> I don't have the freedom to choose the version of the app I want.
Sure you do. You can either use it or you don't. Regulating data privacy isn't Apple's job, if you want that fixed then you should take it up with the government or someone who can actually hold them accountable.
It's part of why I pay them, so I say it is.
> if you want that fixed then you should take it up with the government
Yeah, I'd strongly prefer the government do what it obviously should and reign in abusive, dangerous stalking-at-scale across the entire economy, but absent that, it sure is nice to have a choice to still get some of that regulation in one area of my life, by going with Apple.
Take away that option and I'm sure as shit not going to feel more free.
> Sure you do. You can either use it or you don't.
That's two choices, where now we have three. Buy Android and every app you download is malware; don't use apps; buy Apple and every app's trying to be malware, but at least they can't be nearly as good at it as on Android. Losing choice three doesn't increase my liberty.
Okay. It's meaningless in a legal context, completely unaccountable and contradictory to their own regulation.
You're welcome to insist otherwise but I don't think any just court would hear you further than that.
> Take away that option and I'm sure as shit not going to feel more free.
Nobody is taking away anything. These apps have always had the option to leave Apple's ecosystem, adding additional stores doesn't miraculously add that possibility. It's like saying that the Taco Bell opening up down the road is threatening your upscale Cantina burrito that you're eating as-we-speak.
> That's two choices
Okay, I'll amend it then. You can either use it, or you don't, or go buy an Android phone. Or degoogle your Android phone, that's 4 options.
Quit whining about liberty and put your stubbornness where your mouth is. Stay on the App Store if you insist, nobody will stop you. If you did it on a Mac, you'd probably look like a bit of a fool though. Plenty of longtime, respectful Apple devouts (see: Panic) acknowledge that the App Store is a raw deal and only distribute their apps themselves. There are people other than bad actors advocating for this, as shocking as it may sound. It is possible to see the forest through the trees.
This is really not true. Android has a thriving open source ecosystem of great free apps without any tracking. F-droid even has reproducible builds.
Apple doesn't have this precisely because the lack of sideloading. Not many open source devs want to pay the 100 bucks to offer something for free and to deal with the hit and miss app store review process.
> Take away that option and I'm sure as shit not going to feel more free.
No options will disappear. You don't have to use sideloading. The same way most users on Android don't do it. Even alternative stores like Huawei's are a fringe phenomenon.
I live in the United States of America, where the government is bought and paid for by companies who dislike privacy for their users.
In the meantime, it may not be Apple's "job," but it's part of their value proposition, and the grumbling from software vendors indicates it's reasonably effective.
> the grumbling from software vendors indicates it's reasonably effective.
If not the software vendors, who are you trusting to keep your best interests at-heart here?
Facebook would just shoot themselves in the foot with having to support two apps for little value.
FB complained about lost revenue from Apple locking down tracking so if $X is what they make per user via the official app store and $Y is what they make on the sideloading app store then there exists $Y-$X = $Z where $Z (or even $Z * some number) can be used for "customer acquisition" to convince people to switch with the goal of making more off them in the long run.
"Get $5 in FB Credit if you download this app", "Get access to this cool new filter if you install this app", etc. No, people here on HN won't be swayed by that but a good number of people will.
That means you that if a vendor does something particularly egregious, stuff akin to malware, they can pull the certificate for that vendor. They don’t do that often: IIRC, they’ve only done that in macOS a handful of times.
You don't have that "freedom" right now either, it's just the Apple Store one. Also the law is about giving options on the distribution system, not on "app versions". So if Epic or 37 Signals use their own channel to distribute their own apps with subscriptions fees, they can do it and Apple cannot take its cut. So, Apple might want to reduce their fees there. You know, competition.
Everyone will not get "the privacy/control tradeoff they want". They're going to get whatever the creator of the app decides. And sure, for TODO apps, you can choose from the 15 billion ones out there. But if you want ride-sharing, you have Lyft and Uber. If you want specific services, you will have to use their app.
And after the shit Epic pulled, I don't really think I want them in control of the payment processing portion.
Apple will still offer Uber, but they will take a smaller cut. Uber will still be available on the App Store because it is the most common App Store.
So, in your best case, we have a scenario that is neutral for me. Excuse me for not being thrilled by that.
Users made this choice when they bought an Apple product in the first place. Everybody knows well in advance that this is the current state of things, that is a well-informed choice by the end user.