Apple is ready to issue the new iOS 17.2 update for iPhone users in the coming weeks and the details for the new version suggest big changes are in the offing. One thing that we can say about few of these changes is that Apple could be seriously worried about what it plans to offer to iPhone users with the new version.
According to reports and details given by 9to5Mac, Apple could be about to relent to the pressure of the European Union and allow other app stores to run on iPhones via sideloading of apps.
If anyone has followed the tussle between Apple and the EU regulators, the former is being pushed to comply with the new Digital Markets Act (DMA) which orders a slew of changes to provide fair competition to all tech companies.
Apple has been strictly against the prospect of letting iPhone users sideload apps but the new code lines of the iOS 17.2 beta version, as observed in the report, suggest these policies are going to change, which is going to be a big security nightmare for the company. It is interesting that only the hints of the code suggest that iOS will get support for sideloading apps, so it is likely that Apple could be planning for the major change in the foreseeable future, possibly with the iOS 17.2.1 or later iterations.
Apple has stayed away from opening iOS to other app stores but one of the conditions of the DMA from EU is that users be allowed to install apps from any app store, including those that are not compatible with the device. The company will have a lot of work to do behind the scenes to ensure that sideloading of apps doesn’t affect the performance of an iPhone for the worst.
We all know that Android has always supported sideloading of apps but the success of the feature is limited, especially when it has been hard to track the nature of these third-party apps installed on the phones.
The severity of the problem has even forced Google to mandate a security check for all the sideloaded apps which is right to some extent but then privacy advocates would claim the company is trying to control these actions as well. Apple was also finally forced into adopting USB C for iPhones by the EU and it remains to be seen how sideloading of apps on an iPhone comes through.
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