2023-11-11 00:51:17
Even though the Apple If she doesn’t want to — and she really doesn’t want to, following all, she’s fighting in court so that this doesn’t happen — she has to prepare herself to offer the famous sideloading in order to continue operating in the European Union. The rule, if confirmed, will come into force in March 2024, when Apple will have to open the doors of the iPhone and iPad so that users can buy/download apps from application stores other than the App Store.
With this in mind, o 9to5Mac it found clues in the codes of the iOS 17.2 (which is in the second test version) that Apple is really moving to get everything ready.
According to the website, the future version of the system has a new framework public titled Managed App Distribution (Managed Application Distribution). Initially, they considered this to be related to MDM (mobile device management) solutions, through which it is possible to currently install corporate applications (without having to upload them to the App Store). However, they think there is more seed in this angu.
Upon further analysis, they saw that the framework has an extension declared in the system, which means that other applications can create these same extensions. Digging further, they saw that third-party apps will be allowed to install other apps — thus allowing developers to create their own app stores.
Furthermore, the framework has basic controls for downloading, installing and even updating applications from external sources. It can also check whether an app is compatible with a specific device or version of iOS, replicating the behavior of the App Store.
Want more? They also found references to a region lock, which suggests that Apple might restrict this new feature to specific countries/locations, which will certainly happen in the case of sideloadingas the rule will apply (at least initially) only in European Union countries — Apple will not give up App Store revenue so easily in other countries.
The fact is that, regardless of Apple’s wishes, it has to be prepared for the worst case scenario. As March 2024 is right around the corner, it makes sense for it to start implementing and exploring these future new features in the system.
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