The problem with using Android as a counterexample is that Apple iOS is more restrictive (e.g. privacy settings) than Android.
E.g. Facebook admitted they lost billions in revenue because of the Apple iOS ad tracking permissions change. That might be an example of Facebook forcing users to "sideload" Facebook+Whatsapp+Instagram to get around the privacy restrictions. In contrast, the Android platform didn't financially hurt them like that so there's less incentive to ask Android users to sideload Facebook apps.
So even a mega giant like Facebook has to follow Apple's rules because there is no sideloading to bypass them. A somewhat analogous situation in 2019 happened when Facebook violated Apple's app store policy and spied on teenagers by abusing their Apple developer account: https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+revokes+facebook+certi...
>Most users are not all that technical and the moment you require them to fool around with apks
I think some conversations about "sideloading" are muddy because casual conversation around it mentally includes alternative app stores rather than end users literally downloading raw ".app" bundle files
Apple can clearly make the OS secure/privacy friendly if they want to. The only layer of security that you may lose is the dubious “review” process, which clearly doesn’t do anything considering the amount of scam apps on the store.
Your sentences above are a prime example of a technology mindset being so familiar with the underlying technology that it actually handicaps the analysis of how people might use the tech in ways you don't expect.
The way the sideloaded app gets around the os-level restriction is that they would force users to give permission to the ad-tracking. Otherwise, the sideloaded app has crippled functionality.
That scenario can't happen on Apple's offical App Store because their policies don't allow apps to have crippled functionality when users opt-out of ad tracking.
The theme is that the side-loaded apps can exercise way more freedom with clever psychological dark patterns that bypasses os-level settings.
E.g. see related example from Twitter: https://www.techgoing.com/twitter-ads-may-track-users-in-vio...
There is a simple solution for Apple: disable ad tracking on iOS. The DMA doesn't require gatekeepers permit ad tracking. It only requires gatekeepers provide the same functionality they provide themselves. Apple is still perfectly able to provide a safe and secure OS under the legislation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/11/technology/bad-digital-ad...
But from first principles it's been clear that code auditing wasn't going to be sustainable long term. The real answer is for Apple to beef up their sandboxing to prevent things like cross app tracking, coercing permissions from users, etc.
This is what the Libre Android distributions (eg GrapheneOS, CalyxOS) have been (slowly) converging on.
Why not? It seemed to be going fine. As the number of apps increases, so does get money the App Store receives. I don't see anything inherently unsustainable in it at all.
Obviously, things like phone book access can be solved for sideloaded apps just as well as for App Store ones – just like Android has been doing for many years.
This point keeps being made in these threads on here, and the response I’ve seen made, which I agree with, is that this clearly isn’t the case when you look at Android. Sideloading already exists and it is far from a common way to distribute applications.
From a business perspective, it really doesn’t make sense to force users to pull from outside the App Store, because you’re basically going to destroy your business. Most users are not all that technical and the moment you require them to fool around with apks or whatever other format, you’re going to lose a huge percentage of them.