Apple Expands Analytics Available to Developers as Part of App Store Changes

As a non-developer, can someone please explain the benefits of selling an app / service outside the iOS App Store with the new format? It doesn’t seem bad value to be Apple’s own store.

Look at how things work on the Mac. There are loads of very useful apps, for example Little Snitch, that would never get into the Mac App Store because they do things Apple doesn't let devs do. If Apple locked down MacOS the way iOS is, that app would just go away.

But since you can sideload (read: install) software on the Mac without Tim Cook's express blessing, the dev is able to make a living selling a genuinely useful tool to users.

It makes less sense the way Apple is rolling it out (no surprises there) because Apple doesn't want people to do it. They've disincentivised selling or installing software outside of their official App Store because they like getting their cut of every transaction on the platform, whether they deserve it or not.

Look at how things work on the Mac. There are loads of very useful apps, for example Little Snitch, that would never get into the Mac App Store because they do things Apple doesn't let devs do. If Apple locked down MacOS the way iOS is, that app would just go away.

But since you can sideload (read: install) software on the Mac without Tim Cook's express blessing, the dev is able to make a living selling a genuinely useful tool to users.

It makes less sense the way Apple is rolling it out (no surprises there) because Apple doesn't want people to do it. They've disincentivised selling or installing software outside of their official App Store because they like getting their cut of every transaction on the platform, whether they deserve it or not.

If you could have little snitch on iOS that would be the single biggest improvement to user security and privacy.

It’s all about the money and nothing to do with security.

I agree - but only for people like me.

Now I imagine my elderly parents. They get tricked easily by spam/scams. If they're allowed to download shady apps freely on iOS, they'd get scammed left and right and get their information stolen all the time.

They have Safari and Mail on their phones, so they're already fully capable of getting scammed.

If side loading is important enough, there is always Android.

This is such a cop-out response. If I wanted to use Android, I'd be using Android. I choose to use iOS, I just don't think iOS needs to be stuck as it is forever. There's room for it to change and improve.

As a non-developer, can someone please explain the benefits of selling an app / service outside the iOS App Store with the new format? It doesn’t seem bad value to be Apple’s own store.

If you could have little snitch on iOS that would be the single biggest improvement to user security and privacy.

It’s all about the money and nothing to do with security.

Thanks to Apple, I had to buy an Android phone just to be able to install and use useful network apps for my job. I bet they didn't think they'd be helping Samsung and Google when they took those features out of the iOS SDK!

Yes, look at the Mac. Most users don’t download and install third party software on macOS (or Windows).

Citation needed.

The iOS App Store has been an unqualified success for many small developers because it made it easy and convenient for users to locate, install, update, and pay for software. I suspect that once large developers leave the iOS App Store in the EU, smaller developers will be ghettoize in the App Store since most users won’t have a reason to access the App Store for already entrenched software from existing large developers.

I guess we’ll see just how much the landscape changes.

Multiple things can exist side by side and still be successful, it doesn't have to be a zero sum game.