iOS 17.5 “Fixes” client_id But Breaks App Marketplaces
Mysk:
iPhone users in the EU: DO NOT delete your alternative marketplace apps
iOS 17.5 breaks alternative marketplace app re-installation. MarketplaceKit now generates a different client_id every time it is called. Now there’s no way for alternative marketplace developers to identify users who have already purchased the marketplace app.
Apple addressed a security issue we reported about the way MarketplaceKit handles client_id. The issue is fixed. But now developers are left with no option to identify installs and roughly estimate the Core Technology Fee (CTF) they owe Apple.
A couple months in, Apple has already broken a basic feature required by competing app stores. 😕
It’s probably only needed because of the Core Technology Fee, which Apple decided to impose.
It really seems like Apple is never gonna play nice and will always do whatever they can to sully the user experience with third-party stores. Competing stores will forever have to keep dealing with Apple making third-party stores a less-than-Apple-store experience.
Mysk:
Just installed @Setapp, a very promising alternative marketplace in the EU. BUT it’s unclear if such stores are going to survive a surge of undetected installs due to the lack of device identifiers.
Marketplaces might end up owing Apple loads of unexpected Core Technology Fee.
Previously:
- iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5
- Tracking Through MarketplaceKit
- AltStore PAL
- Hearing for Apple Violating Epic’s Injunction
- App Marketplaces Will Stop Working If You Travel Outside the EU
- App Marketplaces: AltStore and Epic Games Store
- DMA Compliance: Alternative App Stores But No Sideloading
I don’t understand why the EU is allowing the CTF. It’s “core” to most of the problems with the entire issue. And it’s entirely an invention of Apple’s imagination.