Apple warns Australia against joining EU in mandating iPhone app sideloading

https://www.neowin.net/news/apple-warns-australia-against-joining-eu-in-mandating-iphone-app-sideloading/

by bundie • 1 year ago

59 49 1 year ago

neowin.net

blitzar2• 1 year ago

Or else what?

westmeal2• 1 year ago

Tim apple will be very upset or something

svoit• 1 year ago

Are you another CBB listener in the wild by chance?

wat100003• 1 year ago

Or else the policy will “bring increased privacy and security risks to users, opening the door for malware, fraud and scams; illicit and harmful content; and other threats.”

AstralStorm• 1 year ago

Yeah sure, most users do not sideload. It's mostly used to add extra stores too by power users, especially on Android, rather than loading random apps.

meepmorp• 1 year ago

I think the word "warn" is a bit of editorializing (by the Guardian, originally). They're just making the same argument in Australia that they did before the EU.

bamboozled• 1 year ago

The guardian loves hyperbole , I pay for it but they love publishing rot more often than I’d like to admit.

anotherhue• 1 year ago

Clearly they have never met an Australian.

mystraline• 1 year ago

Better yet, repeal DMCA 1201 and ALL associated other country equivalent 'anti-circumvention' laws.

AND ALSO force monopolies, like Apple, to open like the EU did.

bitpush2• 1 year ago

Apple warns Australia

Who the heck does Apple think they are?

Also, why doesnt Apple "warn" China for the well documented privacy/security implications in that country?

wyldberry• 1 year ago

Because China makes their stuff and they've invested billions in skilling up Chinese labor.

lazyeye2• 1 year ago

Actually just "billions" is an understatement...

https://youtu.be/NAj9zB4vaZc

wat100003• 1 year ago

They are “warning” in the sense of describing what they claim will be negative outcomes from this. It’s not a threat. As for China, what would they say? “Your policy of surveillance and censorship puts users’ privacy and freedom at risk”? They know, that’s the whole point.

mmmlinux• 1 year ago

They could say "We're going to stop subsidizing the entire Chinese tech industry"

OsrsNeedsf2P• 1 year ago

They aren't warning Australia as a threat, they are making a very valid argument:

Apple claims that allowing sideloading and alternative app stores effectively opens the door for malware, fraud, scams, and other harmful content.

You don't want random apps on your phone. The App Store vets apps thoroughly to ensure there's no malware. It would be virtually impossible to do the same for arbitrary apps getting side loaded.

kjkjadksj• 1 year ago

I want random apps on my phone. The computer has all these same risks yet the sky doesn’t fall.

unfitted2545• 1 year ago

If that's a concern, then download apps from the App Store. Just don't make it practically impossible to do anything else.

exe34• 1 year ago

You don't want random apps on your phone

No. Just the ones that I want are fine, thank you.

rpdillon• 1 year ago

A walled app store is neither necessary nor sufficient to prevent malware and scams. This is just Apple trotting out their usual arguments to try and stem the tide of countries that are mandating side-loading.

LocalH• 1 year ago

The App Store vets apps thoroughly to ensure there's no malware.

nice joke

at best, that sentence needs to say "less malware"

regularjack• 1 year ago

I do want random apps on my phone. Even if I didn't, it's my phone, I call the shots.

victorbjorklund• 1 year ago

It works for the mac. Apple isnt varning us that macs are unsafe and dangerous.

ksec2• 1 year ago

While this isn't exactly warning Australia as a threat as many comments have suggested. It wasn't long ago Apple actually warn that they might pull iPhone out those countries.

Their PR system aren't as good as it was and plenty of traces left on the internet.

ChrisArchitect• 1 year ago

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/06/australia...

pjmlp2• 1 year ago

Company CEOs have to learn that companies obey the laws of the countries they operate on, not the other way around.

ksec2• 1 year ago

There was roughly 10 years of Apple thinking they are the law. Very unfortunate Apple didn't learn from its mistakes.

out_of_protocol2• 1 year ago

It also doesn't help that Apple has more free money than great many of the world countries

Pesthuf• 1 year ago

The entire EU is in flames ever since they allowed "sideloading". Every device is compromised, people are eating their children to survive.

This is what Apple and macrumors users actually believe.

lazyeye2• 1 year ago

Apple would prefer that users are limited to only their scams.

solarkraft• 1 year ago

I’m concerned because I was close to suggesting that anything Apple is against must be good. But I like their stance on privacy. Them going so hard on making a point about being anti-consumer may harm future privacy efforts.

rcarmo• 1 year ago

Until I can run the code I wrote onto the hardware I bought without restrictions or timeouts, it’s not sideloading. _That_ is what regulators should have forced Apple to do.

Apple warns Australia against joining EU in mandating iPhone app sideloading

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