Apple bites back at App Store threat
Apple says allowing non authorised apps on iPhones would destroy the security and privacy it offers to customers.
Apple says allowing non authorised apps on iPhones would destroy the security and privacy it offers to customers and open the door to hackers and scammers.
The company has released a stinging 16-page document attacking suggestions that it should let developers bypass the Apple App Store so that users can directly install apps using a process known as “sideloading”.
The Cupertino-based company has faced pressure to open up its ecosystem to developers who have complained about the 25 per cent cut that Apple takes when apps are sold through the App Store.
Fortnite maker Epic Games last year legally challenged Apple’s ability to force it to transact financially through the App Store. Apple banned the Fortnite nite after Epic Games set up a payments’ system that bypassed Apple.
Late last year Apple reduced its cut to 15 per cent for software developers who accrue less than $US1m in net sales annually on its platform.
The company sees another move to force it to allow sideloading of apps as a different issue. It is facing a separate legal battle launched by Cydia, an unauthorised app store that operated in the early days of iPhone, when the official App Store was a fledgling operation.
Cydia didn’t offer sideloading. Users in the early days had to go through the delicate process of “jailbreaking” their iPhone to add Cydia apps. They risked “bricking” their phone, rendering them inoperable, if the jailbreaking failed.
Some Cydia apps were attractive propositions and stretched the early iPhone models’ capabilities to the limit. But they could hog an iPhone’s memory, making the phone sluggish. The jailbreaking meant iPhones were an increased security risk.
There is the argument that many Apple users prefer a carefully managed phone ecosystem which offers better security and privacy, and is less a magnet for scammers and hackers than with Android phones.
Apple’s action, however, is in response to a proposed European Union law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) law which would force it to permit sideloading. It is not opposed to some aspects of the DMA but is strongly pushing for regulators to drop this particular idea.
In its 16-page document, Apple says it has removed nearly one million problematic new apps and a similar number of updates were rejected or removed.
It says its ecosystem will be destroyed if sideloading is allowed and quotes co-founder Steve Jobs in 2007. “We’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once: provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task,” Jobs said.
Apple says nearly two million apps are available for users to download on the App Store, with thousands added every week. It says it reviews every app and each app update to evaluate whether they meet its high standards.
Apple dismisses the idea there is no harm in letting users make a choice whether to sideload an app or not, arguing that this is no choice. Some games and apps that people want might only become available through sideloading. Some users may succumb to the temptation to install them, and open the door to their iPhone being compromised and a loss of privacy.
“Allowing sideloading would open the door to a world where users may not have a choice but to accept these risks, because some apps may no longer be available on the App Store, and scammers could trick users into thinking they are safely downloading apps from the App Store when that is not the case.
“Apps designed for children must follow strict guidelines around data collection and security designed to keep children safe, and must be tightly integrated with iOS parental control features.
“Studies show that third-party app stores for Android devices, where apps are not subject to review, are much riskier and more likely to contain malware as opposed to official app stores.”
Apple says its large user base of more than a billion daily iPhone users “would make an appealing and lucrative target for cybercriminals and scammers, and allowing sideloading would spur a flood of new investment into attacks on iPhone, well beyond the scale of attacks on other platforms like Mac.”
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