Apple has always marked a series of red lines in its ecosystem and in its app store, the App Store. In fact, the objective of the jailbreak has commonly been to try to bypass these controls to perform actions contrary to what Apple allowed as standard on its devices. However, the jailbreak has been declining over time and is now the European Union Digital Markets Law and Apple's own advance, forced at times, which move the red lines away from their usual positions. Alternative app stores in the European Union have made the first torrent clients arrive on iOS and iPadOS, something that until a few months ago It was a clear restriction for Apple on its devices.
The Digital Markets Law allows the arrival of torrents to iOS
Apple's policies regarding the App Store have always been a point of dispute for many developers and large companies like Epic Games. One of the clearest restrictions regarding the App Store was the Prohibition of torrent clients within the Big Apple app store. This restriction was argued for three reasons: the copyright infringement of much of the content downloaded through torrents (totally beyond Apple's control), security and the user experience that could be violated after the installation of malicious software in a torrent download and, finally, by the App Store's own policies whose customers would not comply.
However, the entry into force of the European Union Digital Markets Law has put Apple on the tightrope on several occasions by launching major updates to its ecosystems. Among these changes is the admission and support of third-party app stores that allow you to install apps outside the App Store.
This has made It is more difficult for Apple to have control of third-party app stores. This has meant that there are bypasses to the restrictive policies of the App Store. A clear example is the emergence of torrent clients to alternative app stores such as AltStore according to reports The Verge this weekend. Some of those clients are known as iTorrent o qBitControl.
We will see what the movements are on Apple's part in the coming weeks, but with the Digital Markets Law in full operation and with iOS 17.4 and subsequent updates on the table, Apple's control is quite limited.