iOS 26.2: App Marketplaces and Browser Choice in Japan
Tim Hardwick (Hacker News, Slashdot):
Apple on Tuesday released the first beta of iOS 26.2 to developers, and it appears that the software will allow users in Japan to install alternative app marketplaces on their devices when it is released to the public in December.
According to a post shared on X by @Tzzlala, iPhones running the beta in Japan are able to install alternative app stores like AltStore PAL and Epic Games, and download apps from them, though Fortnite in-app purchases are currently region-blocked by Epic.
I remain ambivalent about App Marketplaces. They’re certainly a step forward for the availability of apps, but they may end up forestalling better options. I would rather see full sideloading via the Web with notarization optional.
With iOS 26.2, Apple is adding a prompt that allows iPhone users in Japan to select a preferred search engine. As noted on Reddit, the option to choose a search engine comes up after installing iOS 26.2 for the first time.
iPhone users in Japan can select from Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo Japan, or Ecosia, the same options available globally in the Safari settings.
No Kagi and still no way to add true custom search engines.
Previously:
- Japanese Mobile Software Competition Act
- Firefox Benefits From Browser Choice Screens
- How Safari Search Engine Extensions Work
- iOS 18: Browser Choice and Default App Controls in EU
- Japan Passes Law to Allow App Marketplaces
- DMA Compliance: Web Distribution of iOS Apps in EU
- DMA Compliance: Alternative App Stores But No Sideloading
- Proposed Japanese Law for Alternate App Stores
3 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
Apple simply cannot ever allow even the concept of just installing whatever software you want on an iPhone. It's part of the core tenets of their religion. The iPhone especially is Apple's device that we are allowed to use as far as they see fit. They are incapable of any other concept.
"App Marketplaces" is just continuing this NewSpeak ThoughtCrime eradication program. Apple cannot conceive of a reality in which they do not in some way arbitrate all software on the platform. They've successfully brainwashed the world into thinking anything else is somehow sneaking software in through the "side" or the "back."
I agree with bart, and can't stand the term "sideloading". It's loading. Or installing. It's not some sneaky thing that requires a different term, especially one that reinforces the shitty control Apple exerts over their platform and therefore our lives. It's the same thing we do on every other computing device.
We need to push a phrase like "freely installed apps". Don't use their terms. When Apple talks "sideloading" correct the record "I don't want sideloading from the App Store either, I want freely installed apps from anywhere". Ruin their language game. The App Store is the sideload. Personal computers can run any app and Apple's always talking about how "personal" their iOS trash devices are. Well then it's high time we can "personally" install any app on them without their Nanny State approval (or dumb malicious compliance called the App Marketplace).
At this rate I think we're all going to end up using Steve Jobs's original "sweet solution" to break free.
