Good friends with a good memory should remember that a few months ago, Xiaolei talked about Apple's third-party app store several times.
Voila. In order to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act, Apple has taken many measures.
Among the measures that have attracted the attention of many users, none is more significant than Apple explicitly allowing sideloading on iPhones in the European region.
In our lifetime, we can finally see iPhones bypassing the App Store and downloading apps from third-party app stores.
Image Source: Apple
However, Xiao Lei has another "but" to say.
Despite making significant concessions, Apple has also imposed several restrictions in the name of protecting user data security and privacy.
For example, Apple ID and location must be within the EU to use the sideloading feature, and devices will detect the user's geographical location.
If the detection shows that the user's location is not within the EU and exceeds a certain time limit, sideloading will also be disabled.
Fortunately, after some setbacks, iOS 17.4 has finally opened up sideloading in its official version, allowing third-party app stores to go live!
It's just surprising that Apple's long-awaited first third-party app store did not receive a flood of positive reviews.
Image Source: pulsestacks
Apple's first third-party app store goes live
Shortly after the official release of iOS 17.4 with side-loading capabilities, developer Riley Testut wasted no time in making an announcement.
He officially unveiled Apple's first third-party app store, targeting the markets of EU member countries, and generously invited local iPhone users to give it a try.
Introducing Apple's first third-party app store, named "AltStore PAL," which, to be honest, doesn't roll off the tongue as smoothly as the App Store.
Unlike the App Store's approach, AltStore PAL encourages independent developers to launch their own developed applications.
Image Source: AltStore PAL Official Website
When AltStore PAL first launched, the app store offered the game emulator app Delta and the clipboard manager app Clip.
Being a newly launched third-party app store, having two well-known apps like these was a good start.
As mentioned earlier, AltStore PAL focuses on openness, so the app store currently does not have a directory. App developers need to promote their apps themselves, attract users to their own websites, and then install the apps through AltStore.
In a way, AltStore PAL is reminiscent of those software download websites from the early days, allowing users to download apps from different channels by adding multiple download sources.
Moreover, the usage requirements are not stringent. iPhone users within the EU can start using AltStore PAL by upgrading their phones to iOS 17.4 or later.
Image Source: Internet
Attention! Developers use AltStore PAL to distribute apps, and this process itself is free. However, if your app is strong enough and exceeds 1 million installations in the first year, you'll have to pay Apple.
Every time an app is downloaded, a core technology fee of 0.5 euros needs to be paid to Apple, considering that AltStore PAL has already built the platform, it's only fair that this money shouldn't come from them, right?
So, according to AltStore PAL's rules, a yearly fee of 1.5 euros is charged to users of the store, a fee that Xiaolei thinks is quite acceptable.
Image Source: AltStore PAL Official Website
Whether from the official website, the AltStore PAL interface, or the thoughtful messages at the bottom of the official website, Xiaolei can feel the high expectations developers have for AltStore PAL.
However, the subsequent progress of AltStore PAL has not been smooth. After experiencing it firsthand, a large number of developers have given negative reviews of AltStore PAL.
App Store Criticized by Many Developers
Developers are not complaining that AltStore PAL requires them to attract users on their own, nor that the app store charges a 1.5 euro annual fee.
Xiaolei looked at everyone's criticisms and summed it up in one sentence: Due to the existence of too many complex technical issues, the user experience of AltStore PAL is really not great.
These unsatisfactory user experiences are not only due to AltStore PAL's own problems but also, of course, to issues from Apple.
Let's take a look at AltStore PAL's side:
Image source: @mysk_coNow let's take a look at Apple's side:
The APP market package solution can only be installed through the Safari browser, other mainstream browsers simply won't work, they can't even be recognized correctly;
During the APP installation process, "Safari" and "Settings" pop up some confusing prompts that are hard to understand, if you can't figure them out, the installation process becomes quite chaotic.
Image Source: Internet
Due to space limitations, other bugs experienced by developers will not be listed here.
Overall, as Apple's first app store, AltStore PAL has had a somewhat rocky start.
The road for third-party app stores is still long
From the current user experience of AltStore PAL, it is clear that both app store developers and Apple were not adequately prepared.
I hope that the early experience of AltStore PAL's release can serve as a reference for other Apple app store developers in terms of technology.
It's best to address technical issues before release rather than waiting for a large number of developers and users to complain before making changes.
At the same time, I also hope that Apple will soon relax its restrictions. Since they have already complied with relevant regulations to allow sideloading on iPhones, there's no need to be half-hearted about it.
To catch up with the breadth and flexibility of Android's third-party app stores, Apple's third-party stores still have a long way to go.
Cover Image Source: AltStore PAL
