Looking at what else you can do with the devices you unofficially own can always be tempting, but due to an upcoming EU law, there are reports that Apple is working on a way to allow the installation of alternative app stores.
According to Mark Gurman's report to Bloomberg (opens in a new tab), this means that other stores like Steam, Amazon, Microsoft, and others could be allowed to offer individual stores and install apps through them, like the App Store. That means developers could take 100% of the revenue and have more control over what the app can access, like more graphics power and more control over what your Apple device offers.
Sin embargo, desarrolladores como Riley Testut (se abre en una new pestaña) y Shane Gill (se abre en una new pestaña) han estado desarrollando una alternative pendante años, llamada Alt Store (se abre en una new pestaña). It offers apps to 'sideload', which means downloading apps to your Apple device without using the App Store that wouldn't be authorized by Apple, such as emulators and virtualization software to easily run Windows XP on an iPad for example.
The best thing Apple can do, if that's the path it takes, is to take inspiration from the Alt Store and show that this path is not the end of security on your Apple device, but an opportunity for everyone.
The alternative is a tempting prospect for developers.
Playing GameCube on my iPad Pro is great. Thank you very much @DolphinforiOS 😍 pic.twitter.com/WMn8eC4Fuq May 4, 2020
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When the Alt Store first launched around 2020, I was curious and wanted to see how well some games I have on Sony's PlayStation console would run on my 2018 iPad 12.9-inch from an emulator app offered on the Alt Store, and they did work. No problem. . I had paired my 8BitDo controller with the device and after connecting the tablet to my TV it was like I was playing these games through the original Sony console.
Nearly three years later, Apple could enable this one way or another by the time iOS 17 arrives next year. Admittedly, this is mostly due to upcoming European laws that could force Apple to do this anyway, but it's still nice to see the company supposedly working on this.
On a Mac, for example, there's no problem installing apps that aren't part of the App Store, mostly due to the fact that it's a device and exploit system that has been around since the original Macintosh in 1984. It would have been a great Critical if you couldn't allow apps to be installed outside of the App Store on an Apple Silicon Mac because users could do so for years.
Security and privacy have been Apple's values with iOS for years, and with good reason. But as the Alt Store has shown, it could unlock stifled innovation along with higher pay for developers if they could use coding libraries that were previously exclusive to Apple teams.
Testut also made a great argument on Twitter (opens in a new tab) why this is good news for developers, and I agree. It's a commitment to give developers a different opportunity from what the App Store has been like since it debuted in 2008, and while I don't expect emulators to be allowed regardless of whether these changes come in 2023, it's an exciting future for Apple devices. . like an everything.