A walled app store is neither necessary nor sufficient to prevent malware and scams. This is just Apple trotting out their usual arguments to try and stem the tide of countries that are mandating side-loading.

If that's a concern, then download apps from the App Store. Just don't make it practically impossible to do anything else.

The worry (not sure it is merited) is that major app developers like Meta, Google, etc will start their own app stores, leading everyone to need to start downloading apps from outside Apple’s App Store.

Which hasn't happened on Android, Meta is big enough to have their own app store yet all their apps are on Google Play.

Yeah, I think it not happening on Android is probably evidence it won’t happen. Unless Meta et al have been waiting until they can do it on both major platforms.

Oh no, people will be able to choose who to trust on their devices, and then they might not choose apple! The horror!

Lmao

Well, we’ve kinda already decided. I don’t trust Meta, and am happy with them having very strict limits on what they can access.

> The App Store vets apps thoroughly to ensure there's no malware.

nice joke

at best, that sentence needs to say "less malware"

> You don't want random apps on your phone

No. Just the ones that I want are fine, thank you.

I want random apps on my phone. The computer has all these same risks yet the sky doesn’t fall.

This is the part I wish Apple apologists get. Your precious Macbook Pro allows arbitrary apps to be installed over internet, and that seems to be doing just OK.

They think that every part of apple is fine.

But to be honest, I am in android and I have some deep criticisms of android too. Wish things were more linux like (ie. literally running pure linux in mobile phones), there is pinephone os but I kinda wish that it becomes mainstream enough

Not really. A random app I download from Github Releases can easily ship my ~/.ssh/id_rsa off to some server and I'd never be wiser. That's very hard to do on a phone.

They're not the same thing and treating them as if they are is somewhat naive.

I think the point is that even that threat hasn't rendered MacBooks to be widely deemed insecure or untrustworthy. So, if the threat of similar insecurities were to show up on phones (which is debatable since AFAIK both iOS and Android have substantially different security models compared to traditional desktop OS apps), why would phones suffer a different fate than laptops or desktops?

Android offers that (for the moment).

I do want random apps on my phone. Even if I didn't, it's my phone, I call the shots.

It works for the mac. Apple isnt varning us that macs are unsafe and dangerous.