Why would I do that when I have macOS, Windows 10, and Linux all living in harmony on my iMac? MonoOSism is for the weak. 
No worries at all, thatās the MacRumors articleās fault! 
1 Like
I think the point I was making about a āmessā has been amply demonstrated within this thread 
I was also thinking of how some apps were available, then werenāt. Sideloading possible, then not. Full screen was wonky. I donāt think anyone can argue the roll out of āiOS apps on Macā has gone as planned.
Personally, I think iOS apps running was a bit of a side-thought that people in Apple took their eyes off of a bit, assuming it would all pan out smoothly. Thatās understandable from my perspective and doesnāt bother me one iota (maybe because my M1 hasnāt arrived yet), as there was so much other stuff going on. Itāll all smoothen out soon enough, how Apple wants it.
Now that I have gotten used to some of my iOS apps that have no mac equivalent running on my m1, my iMac 2020 feels a bit deficient at times. 
Using GV Connect to text my android toting friends is really convenient on the m1. I also deleted my Mac version of Notability and installed the iPad version since it is far superior.
You own the device, you do not own the operating system. It is merely licensed to you, as I understand it. I think most software is the same. Even if you buy it on a CD.
Personally, I prefer ādictatorialā to āwild westā. Itās a feature that helps a lot with security. Do they overstep sometimes? Sure, but not so much that I would call it a dictatorship.
Also, āthis could be the first stepā¦ā isā¦ the first step to confirmation bias. Chickens. Hatched. Etc.
Again, personally, the only app I loaded on my M1 MacBook Pro was Overcast. I actually went looking for other apps I would want and failed to find a single other one.
1 Like
why not both? cater to the tech-illiterate but include a freedom mode switch for others to install whatever they want on the iDevices, just like we can on the mac.
in the next big sur update, we shall see if apple flips a kill switch for apps that are already installed, willfully destroying userās dataā¦ I donāt believe they will, but I have been wrong before.
One personās door to freedom is another personās door to mischief. I said I preferred it because of its security implications, not just for itself.
So youāre complaining about Apple doing something before they have done it that you donāt think they will do. Iām out.
3 Likes
donāt toggle the switch then. itās being done every day and it doesnāt affect you in any way.
lolā¦ sorry for making you uncomfortable with speculationā¦ 
3 Likes
Wait, what?! 
They reversed a server update, perhaps because it caused a different problem. Itāll be interesting to see if itās actually (effectively) a policy change, or whether they intended to re-update at some point.
Part of me is worried that Apple will implement restrictions yet again. They cannot come to a decision!
Side-loading iOS apps on M1 Macs is not the same issue as side-loading apps on the iPhone.
Apple has always been strongly against side-loading apps on iOS.
Apple āsoldā customers on the idea of using iOS apps on M1 Macs. Side-loading was not the way they had in mind, but I donāt see Apple having a lot of motivation to break this functionality, which would anger and frustrate a lot more customers than it would make developers happy (and developers, if they really want to, can prevent it from working).
Running iOS apps on M1 Macs has largely been a flop. It works, but itās mostly a novelty, and āa better option than nothingā when it works. I wouldnāt want to rely on it for anything.
5 Likes
I reason for this is very clear, apple will have had legal papers sent to them from a load of app developers who are very worried about side loading iOS apps onto the mac.
You might ask why this is an issue, well the reason is unlike iOS macOS does not stop you the user from doing things to the app. For example on iOS the app has a dedicated encrypted part of the hardcover that only the app can read/write files to, so if your a video playback app you can let users download videos and save them to that part of the drive without needing to worry about adding complex DRM etc as you can be sure the user can just go in and copy them outā¦ but on macOS the user absolutely can go in and copy them out.
Or if your a game that lets users trade in game items, on iOS there OS has a load of protections that means your not going to bother adding anti-cheat code to your game but if you take that same binary and run it on macOS there are so many cheat tools out there that will make it trivial to cheat in the game and get those in game items that you then sell for $ money to people.
It all comes done to apps written for iOS might make some assumptions about the level the device is locked down, the developer could have written mitigationās but there is not point doing this on iOS and if your taking the existing iOS app and just running it on the mac then all those assumptions are wrong.
Iām talking about sideloading apps through the App Store, not from the internet.
Thatās not āsideloadingā though.
I was looking at the definition on Wikipedia.
Iām confused. Why would you copy an app from one device to another via USB or manual file transfer when itās available through the App Store?
If youāre talking about M1 macs being able to run apps you download from the iOS app store onto an iOS device, then back that device up, then pull those app files out of the backup, then copy them to the Mac, and then run those binaries - I donāt know that Apple ever intended to allow that. That absolutely is sideloading, because those apps arenāt from the app store for the platform youāre installing them on.
Their stated intent was always to (a) allow iOS apps to run on M1, and (b) to allow app devs to opt out of their apps running on M1. And any app the dev is okay with running on M1 is available in the Mac App Store. Workarounds for that policy are unsupported almost by definition, and if they break / get fixed it could be because of Appleās policy, or just because Apple isnāt even taking it into account when they do their updates that may or may not break that functionality.
The article you link above about sideloading regarding Kara Swisher and Tim Cook isnāt about the Mac though. Itās about sideloading apps onto an iPhone. And Appleās position on that has been the same since the first iPhone that allowed apps.
Well, yes. Thatās what I have been trying to say.
It seems you think Apple canāt make up their mind whether they want to allow this behavior. I would suggest that, from a software development standpoint, they have made up their mind - the answer is ānoā.
A few things are known.
- Apple announced that iOS apps can run natively on M1 hardware.
- Apple offered iOS devs the ability to opt-out of their app being available on M1.
- No dev has ever, as far as Iām aware, stated that they wanted their (otherwise compliant) app to run on the M1, but Apple was preventing them from making it available.
- Apple has never, as far as Iām aware, stated that sideloading is a supported behavior.
Those first two things, by themselves, could easily be argued to create a legal obligation for Apple to NOT allow sideloading of the type you describe. The third is the only situation in which there would be a real policy concern, if it happened - but so far I havenāt heard of it being an issue.
The last thing though is just a matter of whether there exists a workaround to bypass the expressed wishes of Apple / developers. This early in the launch of the M product line, itās entirely possible that the initial ability to sideload was effectively a bug, not a feature. It wouldnāt be the first time an early software initiative had some bugs. 
Given that, it would make sense if Apple intentionally shut down that workaround. It would also make sense if the availability of the workaround were a side effect of other code being written to handle other things.
Either way, I find it hard to argue that theyāre having a hard time making up their mind.
3 Likes