iOS: Install Apps you Want before Apple Bans them for Political Reasons

[Windroid]

Apple has banned the news app RT, and the social media app Gab, for political reasons. There's no guarantee that Apple's going to stop there. Sideloading isn't practical on iOS, so if the app's banned from the Apple app store: It can't be installed. However, you can install the app before Apple bans it: It will remain on your system until you reinstall iOS (that is, reset the iPhone/iPad/iPod). Apps which may be next on Apple's chopping block are:

#1: News apps which are not part of the mainstream American media, especially right-leaning ones.

#2: Apps from countries which are geopolitical enemies of the United States, especially Russia.

Be warned that, if the app is banned and you get a new iPhone, the banned app will not transfer to your new iPhone along with your other apps.

 

[nickdalzell]

One can also use the *.ipa file in iTunes, which used to be how one got their apps onto a device without an Apple ID tied to it, but not sure if that still works. It was one way I used to keep iOS 6 going into the future.

But keep in mind that Google plans to do something quite similar in Android 14, only in their case banning the ability to install/sideload any app that's 'too old'. Which means the days of me enjoying old apps from the Android 2.3 era on a modern device might be numbered, sadly.

 

[mikedt]

It's similar for iPhones and iPads in China. Apple removed all VPN apps from their iOS and Mac app stores in the PRC, as well as many other apps and games that didn't meet CCP approval. I do have an Apple account for the Macbook, but I've got it registered as UK.

I believe Apple pulled out of Russia completely, and stopped all sales and support for their devices there. Don't know if Google still operates there.

BTW flights to and from China, Japan and Korea to the UK and EU take nearjy two hours longer now, because they have to go a much longer way round

 

[mikedt]

One can also use the *.ipa file in iTunes, which used to be how one got their apps onto a device without an Apple ID tied to it, but not sure if that still works. It was one way I used to keep iOS 6 going into the future.

May still work if your iOS device is jailbroken.

 

[Windroid]

It's similar for iPhones and iPads in China. Apple removed all VPN apps from their iOS and Mac app stores in the PRC, as well as many other apps and games that didn't meet CCP approval.

That, I presume, is because the Chinese government forced Apple to ban VPN apps. Apple crossed a line by willingly censoring apps for political reasons, in a country like the United States of America.

At least, I hope Apple's doing this willingly. If the US government has sunk to the point of coercing companies into censoring news sources it disapproves of, we're in trouble!

 

[Windroid]

I believe Apple pulled out of Russia completely, and stopped all sales and support for their devices there. Don't know if Google still operates there.

If true, if they've dropped all support: This means Apple has scammed its customers! iPhones are pretty useless if the Apple app store and all doesn't work them. In effect: Apple sold people dumbphones while claiming that they were smartphones.

Hopefully Apple faces legal action for this. Because if Apple's allowed to get away with this scam, they'll just keep doing it.

 

[nickdalzell]

One of many reasons I prefer Android, that I can sideload whatever version of whatever app I want, and that means I can enjoy apps from 2010 on a modern device (until Android 14's stance against that borks it). With Apple, I was forced to use their flat design app of the day.

Apple set this precedent the day they got into a stupid fight with EPIC over Fornite.

What scares me is that many OEMs (including Google) see Apple as the barometer of perfection to compete with. When Apple went flat with iOS 7, Google did Android Lollipop. When Apple ditched the headphone jack, Samsung followed suit a year later (despite ads making fun of Apple over it). When Apple made iOS 15/16, Samsung's One UI started looking like a clone of it (even the little pop-up when you pair a new set of Buds with it, or when they connect and show the charge status up top, and the little red 'LED' when the camera is in use, among many others)

Apple is in such high regard at Google (many employees there use Apple Products) that the Nexus got killed in favor of a phone called the Pixel that looks exactly like an iPhone. Nobody on the Android side wanted an iPhone. That should have started a revolution that sadly didn't happen. So I easily expect Play Protect to be used in a similar fashion in time. "For the greater good" of course.

 

[mikedt]

If true, if they've dropped all support: This means Apple has scammed its customers! iPhones are pretty useless if the Apple app store and all doesn't work them. In effect: Apple sold people dumbphones while claiming that they were smartphones.

Hopefully Apple faces legal action for this. Because if Apple's allowed to get away with this scam, they'll just keep doing it.

This is all you see from apple.ru now.
"The Apple Store is now closed.". If one is in the Russian Federation, good luck with any legal proceedings. Apple has suspended their sales and operations in Russia before, when the Rouble went into free-fall.

 

[Hadron]

Apple is in such high regard at Google (many employees there use Apple Products) that the Nexus got killed in favor of a phone called the Pixel that looks exactly like an iPhone. Nobody on the Android side wanted an iPhone. That should have started a revolution that sadly didn't happen. So I easily expect Play Protect to be used in a similar fashion in time. "For the greater good" of course.

Google have had a "kill switch" on apps from day 1. These days it's in Play Protect, but it's always been there. But since it's a commercial risk to use it, and these companies by legal constitution care only about the bottom line, you can be fairly sure that it will only be used where an app is provably malicious and it's a bigger commercial risk for them to leave it active than otherwise.

And the same is true for "political" things like Apple pulling out of Russia: they take a loss doing that (hardware sales and that lovely 30% on all app revenues), so they have done it because it's a bigger commercial liability for them to continue operating there. Just like if some social media site takes limited steps against dangerous falsehoods like anti-vax misinformation it's not "politics", it's "we are desperate not to face regulation that would make us responsible for what happens on our site and so we'll occasionally make a show of acting in order to delay that day".

It's all about the money. Nothing else.

 

[nickdalzell]

Play Protect has been known to falsely claim a lot of legitimate apps as 'bad' so I've always disabled it. I don't need a nanny watching me as if I were some child. I know how tech works. Besides, if I let it have its way, it'd be self-uninstalling all my classic Android 2.3 apps. I don't personally agree with Google having some right to take what is on MY device that I OWN and uninstall it without my say-so. That's theft.

If all Google cared about was money they'd have kept Reader and Inbox going because many who opposed their shutdown offered to pay Google to keep them working. They refused. Also, they don't care about money from music sales either since they ditched the ability to buy music from the Play Store, and ever since Google Play Movies and TV folded into Google TV, they make it even harder if not impossible to buy TV shows and some movies as well, preferring the ad-based or subscription model.

Seriously, when did companies stop giving a damn what the customer actually wanted and for that matter, when did satisfying the customer become a non-issue for them? I mean they go out of their way these days to piss everyone off. Also, customers are part of the problem too, as they just sit and take it. Why aren't we fighting against this type of thing?

If Google ever thought of replacing the Nexus with the iPhone Pixel back in...say, 2011, there'd be a war. What happened to all the Android people?!

 

[Windroid]

This is all you see from apple.ru now.
"The Apple Store is now closed.". If one is in the Russian Federation, good luck with any legal proceedings. Apple has suspended their sales and operations in Russia before, when the Rouble went into free-fall.

Apple still has intellectual property, which can be seized if need be. There's been talk of nationalizing Apple within Russia. So, if Apple is indeed semi-bricking iPhones in Russia: I think the Russian division of Apple can be compelled to un-brick them, even without the corporation of Apple at large.

 

[mikedt]

Apple still has intellectual property, which can be seized if need be. There's been talk of nationalizing Apple within Russia. So, if Apple is indeed semi-bricking iPhones in Russia: I think the Russian division of Apple can be compelled to un-brick them, even without the corporation of Apple at large.

AFAICT Apple is NOT doing anything like that. They've ceased sales of new Apple devices in Russia, i.e. they closed all the Apple Stores there. For existing Russian users of iPhones, iPads, Macs, etc. should go on working just fine. There's plenty of countries in the world where Apple has no official presence, but people have been able to obtain and use Apple devices, e.g. Mongolia.

Also there's US sanctions that prohibit the supplying of American technology and other business to Russia, which no doubt Apple is compying with:

US urges companies to comply with Russia-related sanctions

The U.S. government on Thursday called on companies to ensure they comply with Russia-related sanctions imposed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, warning that a failure to do so could lead to potential prosecution or enforcement actions.

www.reuters.com