In recent months, before the announcement and release of the first beta of iOS 17, Bloomberg had reported rumors about the possibility, starting from this new “major release”, to see Apple adapt to the pressing requests wanted in Europe by the “Digital Markets Act”.
The DMA, we recall, is that set of “obligations and restrictions” aimed at “promoting fair and open competition in the EU digital market, including prohibiting companies from favoring their own services or limiting consumer choice”. Without too many words, like all “big tech”, Apple will have to allow users, among other things, “sideloading”, i.e. install third-party apps even without necessarily having to use its App Store.
Prominent Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said at the time that Andreas Wendker, a software engineer reporting directly to Craig Federighi, and Jeff Robbin, a senior Apple service executive reporting directly to Eddy Cue, were managing the “sideloading” project which would in any case have been limited exclusively to the countries of the European Union. Evidence to this effect had also been found in the iOS 16 code.
Before the Kenyan opening of WWDC 2023 there was a question of whether and when Apple would talk about sideloading as a new feature of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. However, Apple didn’t say a word about it during the event. Subsequently, the first betas were also released but there is no trace of sideloading. Obviously, it is not certain that (sooner or later) it will arrive.
Being a possibility limited only to some countries, in fact, it is possible that Apple is already conducting internal tests that provide for activation based on geographical location, which is obviously difficult to manage during the beta phase which is mostly focused on refining the features that will be implemented for everyone.
However, Apple has been talking about sideloading on iOS and iPadOS these days. He did so during the live recording of John Gruber’s “The Talk Show” featuring John Ternus, Mike Rockwell, Greg Joswiak and, last but not least, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, who supervises the development of the iOS, iPadOS, macOS operating systems and coordinates the teams responsible for the main levels of software development.
Who better than him could have given some answer to the question? And in fact John Gruber asked the direct question but Federighi, in classic Apple style, managed to free himself with absolute mastery:
“We want to make sure that whatever we do is the right thing for our customers. Apple is working with the EU to discuss security compliance. We have nothing more to talk about today”
In short, Federico did not explicitly say that iOS 17 and iPadOS will have sideloading, but it implies that Apple will eventually offer this possibility, as required by the European Union. Knowing Apple, it’s easy to imagine that this option will remain “secret” until the last moment, until there are other possibilities.
Apple has always been very opposed to sideloading on the iPhone and iPad (which is possible on the Mac), emphasizing the significant risks to the security of personal data since apps downloaded from unofficial sources could contain malware or other threats.
Obviously, it should be emphasized that the App Store is a great source of revenue for the Cupertino company as developers pay up to 30% commission for each transaction.
To adapt to the new rules imposed by Europe. moreover, Apple would be willing to adopt a “standard” connector, the USB-C, on all its next range of iPhones.
