Evolving AltStore PAL
In April of last year, we launched AltStore PAL in the European Union as one of the first official alternative app marketplaces on iOS thanks to the Digital Markets Act. We launched with just 2 apps — my Nintendo emulator Delta and clipboard manager Clip — yet Apple immediately changed their App Store rules to allow emulators worldwide for the first time ever.
[…]
By far our number one request, we’re planning to launch AltStore PAL in more countries later this year in response to various regulatory changes around the world. Specifically, we plan to launch in Japan, Brazil, and Australia before the end of the year, with the UK to follow in 2026.
[…]
Using ActivityPub, we plan to federate apps, app updates, and news alerts from AltStore to the open social web. Each AltStore source will receive its own ActivityPub account, which can then be followed by any other open social web account. You’ll be able to like, boost, and reply to everything, and most importantly all these interactions will appear natively in AltStore.
[…]
Pace Capital is investing $6 million USD in AltStore in exchange for 15% equity. We will use this money to hire a few employees and build out a team, giving us the necessary bandwidth to finalize Fediverse integration and expand AltStore worldwide, while also releasing betas and app updates on a more regular basis.
[…]
Alternative app marketplaces are needed more than ever now, with new reasons for them popping up every week. If there’s one constant though, it’s that Apple simply cannot be trusted to be the sole distributor of apps on the iOS platform.
Even with app marketplaces, though, Apple still controls distribution through code signing and notarization. There is no equivalent of the Mac’s Gatekeeper override.
Previously:
- Lessons From San Bernardino and ICEBlock
- ICEBlock Removed From the App Store
- Google to Require Developer Verification for Android Sideloading
- Slow TestFlight Beta App Review
- AltStore PAL 2.2
- EU iOS Envy
- Sequoia Removes Gatekeeper Contextual Menu Override
- Delta’s 10-Year Journey to the Top of the App Store
- iOS Notarization’s Human Review
3 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
We've of course talked about this many times, but the phrase "cannot be trusted to be the sole distributor of apps on the iOS platform" is an interesting way to say it. I mean they did create the platform. Nobody has to "trust" them to do it, they de facto do it.
I suppose the true market answer would be to use an alternative if their terms are unacceptable, but of course the only practical alternative is an equal giant with effectively the same rules. Which makes it a cartel since they work together to prevent any competition to themselves, since they can't wipe each other out.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think we have even a theoretical solution to the cartel problem. How do you actually interfere with an entirely created construct like software distribution? It's not even something like oil or drugs where there's even a theoretical possibility of natural market correction by competing via sourcing and distribution or even acquisition. You can't just make another phone platform with all the apps. We're stuck with this system forever until the entire way we use technology fundamentally changes.
I agree something has to change but I don't think anyone knows how to actually do it. Europe is trying with the DMA but it's too vague and has the usual problem that the regulators don't understand the technology well enough to truly make specific, reasonable, effective policies.
My 2c: sell the phones as pocket computers (which they are), completely unrestricted regarding what the owner can install and run on them. Monetize your IP by selling the OS, like in the good old days. Accept that the user's data/privacy/security is not your concern, leave some crumbs on the table for third party developers.
And, probably the most important point: accept that some amount of money is enough and you don't need or want infinite growth!
@Tudorminator... I'll take this in reverse of your comment.
> And, probably the most important point: accept that some amount of money is enough and you don't need or want infinite growth!
Whether I agree with you (and to some degree I do), let's be realistic. Apple is a public business and their entire reason they are successful is based (anymore) on profit. If you were lucky enough to purchase stock in MSFT back in the 80s or AAPL in the early 2000s you are not only better off for it, you are the stuff of legends. So realistically, you'd be upset if they did that. It's called capitalism. Things go in cycles... and if AAPL misses on this AI bubble (and I think they are) it will mean something akin like Blackberry (sorry, don't know what their stock market symbol was/is back in 2006.
Realistically, you are best off picking who will win in the AI market - which I've been watching and will not try to pick who will win out - but it's clear that almost daily literally billions of dollars are changing hands.
> Monetize your IP by selling the OS, like in the good old days.
Are you talking about the days of paying for (what is now) macOS releases by users? Or back when (what is now) licensing macOS to OEMs? In the case of the former, that ship sailed long ago. In the case of the latter, that is generally accepted as a failed attempt to stave off backruptcy.
I do agree with you about (1) your thought on third party developers and (2) phones are really pocket computers.
