With the arrival of iOS 17.4 on the iPhone, the system was adjusted to the new European laws and therefore to the possibility of alternative application stores arriving to the App Store. There is already confirmation for some such as the Epic Games Store or Setapp. In recent days there has also been progress details of the operation of the AltStorewhich in a somewhat twisted way has already been present on iOS for years.
If you don’t know it, AltStore is an app store where we mainly find emulators for iPhone. Now, with the permissibility that Apple offers in Europe, they are preparing to launch their store and we can even see what the download process will be like or what payments for applications will be like.
A new life for the AltStore with a new payment method
Not all known applications in the AltStore will be there when it officially arrives as an alternative store in the European Union
As we said in the introduction, the presence of the AltStore on iPhones will not be new, given that it has been possible to have it for years. All through an installer that must be downloaded to a computer and signing the installation on the iPhone with a developer certificate. A process that, although it is not very complicated, is not very intuitive and in a way involves breaking the rules imposed by Apple.
The idea of Riley Testut, AltStore developer, is to further simplify the process thanks to the new Digital Markets Law, officially introducing your store so that its installation is as simple as downloading it from the App Store. From there you can download applications such as emulators that, of course, must meet Apple’s requirements in terms of ensuring proper functioning and that of course do not compromise the user’s data and the stability of their device.
Now it has been learned that it will also take advantage of another of the virtues of European laws regarding payments. Instead of adding ads or paid applications through Apple’s payment platform, PayPal or any other, the creator of the AltStore has revealed that Developers who want to add their apps will be able to use Patreon to market them. If you’re not familiar with it, Patreon is a crowdfunding platform where you can make small donations to artists, content creators, and more.
Just two starter apps and the first look at how it will work
Riley Testut has not revealed the full roadmap for the launch of the AltStore as an alternative store for the European Union. However, it is assumed that it will still take a few months to launch it, given that adjusting its operation to the API that Apple provides for this is somewhat complex. In fact, Setapp will start its beta in April-May, but it will not officially launch its store until the summer. Epic Games, for its part, is already talking about the end of the year, so imagining something imminent with the AltStore is creating false hopes.
What Testut does confirm is that at first it will only incorporate two applications. One of them will be ‘Delta’, one of the most popular Game Boy Advance emulators. The other application will be ‘Clip’which works as a clipboard in the background that adds more functions than the native one, allowing you to copy all types of elements and store them in a history, being able to leave some saved permanently and always acting in the background.
Also, as you see in the previous video, it has been revealed what the download process will be like for visual effects. It’s not that it changes too much with respect to what we already saw in the AltStore in recent years, although there is some news. Mainly we observe a very intuitive interface such as the App Store, with an installation button that, as soon as you press it, displays a window in which certain information is given about the application to be downloaded, including possible in-app purchases. .
Therefore, all we have to do is wait for more information to emerge about this and the rest of the stores that will come to the App Store. All at the same time that the European Commission is investigating Apple for not being entirely sure that they are complying with the new law with these changes and at the same time that the United States is also advancing an antitrust investigation with which a priori they hope to be equal in many terms to what is demanded now in Europe.
Via | TechCrunch