If we know anything about iOS as a platform, it’s that if you want to run apps on it, you need to download them from the App Store. (If you missed it, it turns out that decision continues to be controversial!) The iPhone and iPad were never platforms defined by a combination of Apple-approved apps and apps. third-party apps from random sources.
What if that was what iOS was to become? Certainly, as lawmakers and regulators hover around Apple and its practices, it’s possible someone will force Apple to allow apps on the platform without them going through the App Store.
It’s almost unimaginable. And yet…what if this calamity ends up being the best thing for the App Store and improving it – and the core iOS experience – for most users?
The only game in town
It’s good to be the monopoly, of course. But it also adds pressure. Every App Store decision is momentous because there is no alternative. If a developer spends a year building an iOS app and gets rejected, there’s nowhere to go. All that work may be worth nothing.
Think of all the negative coverage you’ve seen from Apple regarding the App Store – apps being rejected, developers upset and complaining. When every enforcement review decision is no longer a death sentence, the seriousness of the situation is reduced. What was once a story about Apple ruining someone’s business for wanton reasons is now just Apple refusing to be someone’s marketing partner. That makes for a much less juicy story, and that’s good for Apple.
If developers don’t have to bet everything on App Store acceptance, it also means they might be more willing to build bold and interesting apps that are currently too risky. Of course, being on the App Store would remain the goal for most developers (it’s hard to imagine that wouldn’t remain the most important real estate on iOS), but a lot more is possible if the bet all or nothing is gone.
Allowing sideloading could open up the iPhone and iPad to bolder, quirkier apps.
It might seem counterintuitive, but in a world where an App Store rejection is no longer fatal, Apple might also feel free to tweak its own rules even further. The company has spent more than a decade trying to balance its App Store preferences with the twin threats of bad publicity and making iOS look bad against the competition. The app review process has earned a reputation as a finicky and draconian system, but Apple has likely approved many apps that reviewers aren’t thrilled with, either because they don’t want trouble or because ‘they are afraid of being limited. the usefulness of iOS itself if not.
An App Store that is no longer exclusive might tighten its rules and become more opinionated. It might even be more willing to reject shady developers, blast scam apps, and deny certain types of apps altogether. Apple acts as if today’s App Store just runs the platform, but it doesn’t – it’s judge, jury and executioner. If you can just tell developers to release their apps on their own, it’s easier to be a curator.
Nice but not essential
If you want to see what the iOS App Store might look like in a non-exclusive future, consider the Mac App Store.
(I’ll wait for you to stop laughing.)
Unlike the Mac App Store, the iOS App Store has been at the center of the iOS experience since the day it was launched. I can’t imagine it won’t stay that way, even if it’s not the only game in town anymore.
But the Mac App Store… is it nice? It’s just not essential. The pressure is off. Don’t want to put your app in the Mac App Store? Apple is cool with that.
But it’s more than that: Apple pays close attention to apps that aren’t in the Mac App Store. Over the past few years, he’s approached developers who aren’t in the store, asked them why they weren’t there, and adjusted its policies and technology to let them in. Apple invented brand new App Rights (the system that allows apps to request permission for certain behaviors) to get more complex apps into the Mac App Store.
It’s a useful feedback loop. Apple monitors the Mac platform, sees what’s interesting, then (if it wants) adjust macOS and Mac App Store rules for getting these items in its store. Imagine this happening on iOS.
What if Apple decides it just doesn’t want this stuff, or can’t find a way to make it work in the Mac App Store model? It is very good. The Mac has many apps that Apple can’t or won’t put in the Mac App Store. The Mac is stronger by having these apps, even though they aren’t officially part of Apple’s worldview. A more powerful Mac is good for Apple.
Apple
Threat and Opportunity
Whenever the prospect of a world where iOS apps can be installed by means other than the App Store, the subject of security arises. Apple wrote a whole white paper about the threat of downloaded apps.
They are not wrong. Sideloading apps on iOS would make it a less secure platform. That’s why users would probably have to disable several security features and watch scary warning dialogs to make this possible. But over the past few years, Apple has baked new mechanisms into macOS to make it more secure, even if the software doesn’t just come from the Mac App Store. Macs can be set to run apps only from the Mac App Store or be less secure and run apps from other sources.
Even when a Mac app isn’t from the App Store, Apple can still exercise some control over it. Apps signed by a registered developer and passed through an Apple-operated “notarization” system are considered less secure than an App Store app, but more so than an unsigned app of uncertain provenance. There’s a powerful middle ground here, where Apple isn’t acting as a gatekeeper, but can force users to lower their security settings, warn them the first time such an app is launched, and neutralize the application and/or the developer if found to be harmful or malicious.
No, this model is not as secure as iOS today, but it’s not a bad compromise!
Apple seems determined to fight changes to its App Store model at all costs. Yet the day may come when the company realizes that it has to compromise – or perhaps compromises will be forced upon it. Apple arguably sees this as a grim possibility to be avoided.
But maybe there is a silver lining.
