Last week, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that Apple may be using the upcoming iOS 17 mobile operating system for its iPhones as the first step to enabling sideloading. This is simply so that the company complies with European Union regulation. If you were excited about this development, then perhaps it’s time to temper those expectations once again, as Gurman claims that this could be something that’s specific to the EU market.
In a podcast with MacRumors, Gurman predicts that Apple intends to keep the subject of sideloading on the down-low. In addition to it potentially being restricted to Europe, it will also likely not be mentioned during WWDC 2023. Which is as understandable as it is unfortunate, but should it pan out as Gurman expects, then there goes the dream of sideloading without jailbreaking for whoever who was expecting to be able to do so.
This is naturally following regulatory changes in the country. The change was announced via a message posted on its developer site, which also mentions the company’s disagreement to the ruling. Naturally, the post also mentions the inconvenience that app developers affected will have to face, as well as the risks associated with adding third-party payments.
Should this turn out to be true, it should still not be a real surprise, disappointing as it may be. After all, Apple has had a history of banging on about the security risks of sideloading. It’s only natural that the company wants to limit the amount of “damage” as much as possible.
(Source: MacRumors [1], [2])
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