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+++ title = 'iOS Opening Up' date = 2024-02-24T11:02:05+01:00 lastmod = 2024-02-24T11:02:05+01:00 draft = false author = 'Janis Hutz' tags = [ 'macOS', 'Development' ] categories = [ 'Rants', 'News' ] series = [] series_weight = 1 featuredImage = "/images/app_store_download.jpg" +++
A couple of weeks ago, Apple announced that they are going to open up iOS. As somebody who develops apps for iOS this proposition seemed really nice at first glance, but when you dive into what they actually did, things are significantly worse than what they already have.
This post was delayed due to the fact that I had barely any time to do a full write-up on this topic until now.
The changes
Third party app stores will now be admitted to the iOS App Store, and they can bring their own payment methods, if they wish to do so. BUT here comes the caveat: The app stores have to pay a so-called "Core Technology Fee", which amounts to USD 0.5 for the first install of each user per year. This fee also applies to all apps in third party app stores, but only if they hit more than 1'000'000 downloads. This change makes these changes significantly more expensive than just distributing through the app store. All app developers who choose to stick with the App Store will remain with an unchanged agreement and will continue to pay 30% of their revenue to Apple, or, if you are in the small business program, 15%. Therefore, I will be sticking with distribution of my apps through the App Store.
Other browser engines & PWAs
The DMA (Digital Markets Act) also requires Apple to allow third party rendering engines on iOS. As far as I am aware, these apps can be distributed through the normal iOS App Store, but as these engines are only allowed in the EU, it's hard to say if Mozilla will be putting in the work to port Gecko to iOS or not.
Additionally, with the latest betas, Apple seems to have partially destroyed PWAs. Apple has turned from a company that doesn't care about their consumers as long as they pay to an evil mega corporation that actively tries to harm their users.
Whilst I do understand the rationale behind locking down a device and not allowing customization to as high of a degree as Android does, there should be a toggle that allows you to do basically whatever you want with your device, which you paid for. What is even worse, taking away features from users to make their life worse and degrade the overall experience of apps which were written with technologies other than the ones that Apple endorses. This is a clear statement from Apple that they don't care about their customers at all. This was clear for quite some time now, but I didn't expect them to go this far with their anti-consumer behaviour.
I did not expect Apple to give up on that revenue without a fight, but they seemed to do so, until they revealed their plans, which are just... insane. The new regulations are actually much worse than the 30% cut on the App Store, so most developers are probably going to choose not to go this route.
My actions as a result of this
I was already planning to switch to a degoogled Android phone for quite some time, but this change has significantly increased my urge to move to Android, especially since Apple breaks the few PWAs I was using even more, having them open in the default browser. I am planning to switch to a Fairphone 5 with CalyxOS, as soon as an official build for it is released. I would not be willing to go to Android to have Google take my data, as I really hate Google. The plan for the future will be to switch to PostmarketOS, as soon as it gets ready for prime time, maybe even earlier. I will be writing a blog post here, once I switched to Android and will keep you posted on my thoughts, as someone, who has so far only daily driven iOS, as when you are a student you can't afford to go out to buy a new phone, if you don't want to continue using your current one, as I also have to get a new Notebook soon, and I recently upgraded my PC with a 5950X (which required a motherboard change because my motherboard, even though MSI claimed that the 5950X would work with it, didn't work with the 5950X) and a 7800XT to do some serious ML and be ready to compile bigger and bigger software which I am developing. But I might move purchasing the new Laptop back a couple of months, as I can just remote into my PC at home to do actual work.