Finally, we have the Digital Markets/Services Acts bearing fruit: a poem app on iPhone. Steve Jobs would be spinning in his grave.
On a more serious note: I still hope for actually helpful apps to be released in alternative app stores. So far it has been rather underwhelming.
AltStore for sure is riding the publicity wave there. To each his or her own.
I still am of the opinion that alternative app stores are right and important in order to make sure that I am able to use the device I have bought the way I want to. At the same time: I have not seen any motivation to install a different App Store so far.
What AltStore is doing here does not feel right: to promote a porn app as being approved by Apple (technically) will not help them in the long run, neither with Apple nor with authorities. And a porn app apparently without age control and what not: good luck with that…
This basically means the app is notarized using Apple tools, so the developer is who they say it is. Apart from that, alternative App Store users are on their own.
I really do not care much about alt stores… but John Gruber is right to point out that you can easily find “adult content” in Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr apps published on the regular App Store.
And any web browser, including Apple’s.
I don’t think it is the content availability for Apple as much as it is that they don’t want the headaches of policing it in store searches, ads, etc. it is much easier – and absolutely defensible – to just ban it as a matter of policy.
Regarding my quote:
What AltStore is doing here does not feel right: to promote a porn app as being approved by Apple (technically)
I was referring to:
All apps distributed with AltStore PAL must be submitted to Apple for “notarization.” Unlike macOS, iOS notarization involves a human-review process where Apple employees manually review apps before they are “approved” or “rejected” for distribution (in Apple’s own words). Unfortunately, Apple has rejected several apps from our store in the past for dubious reasons, so the phrase “Apple-approved” in our marketing is a reference to the fact that Hot Tub was approved, not rejected, by Apple for notarization. To be perfectly clear, Apple has not endorsed Hot Tub in any way. However, they did approve it.
Source:
Apparently, each iOS app still has to be manually approved by someone at Apple before it can be notarized, even when being distributed via alternative App Stores. Which does not mean that I think that AltStore’s marketing is a good idea in this matter…
I would imagine that Apple will come out with some sort of guidance in the near future about phrasing that’s allowable and phrasing that’s not. They’re not going to be happy about the idea of a porn app being “Apple-approved.”
So why did it take three years to fix parental controls? Last June (2024) Joanna Stern posted the following on threads:
Apple’s Screen Time parental controls are so broken, and it feels like an afterthought for the company. The latest example? Security researchers have been reporting a bug since 2021 that lets kids visit blocked sites.Only after I called did Apple say it would be fixed in the next software update.My 
@wsj column: wsj.com/tech…
I actually agree with you. Banning alternative ways of app distribution is wrong. I am just a bit disappointed in them so far. But that might be partly on Apple for only allowing EU based devs to use alternative stores (correct me if I am wrong). I think I mainly want to have some new toy first and not be straggling behind US/CA/UK users 
.
In addition, is a clipboard manager in the Alt Store. But I never found much use for those on any platform.
I think Apple getting dishonestly framed as having approved of a porn app is not completely unfair as there were cases where they used that process to be something of an approval mechanism.
EU devs can use the regular app store if they want. EU devs just can’t be forced to use the Apple app store.
Apple absolutely approved the porn app. There’s no question. But it’s basically the fallacy of four terms, as “approve” can means different things. “I approve this expense reimbursement” means “I acknowledge that the expense you submitted is in line with company policy.” “I approve of porn apps” means “I think porn apps are a positive thing.”
Apple “approved” the app in the first sense, not the second. But that’s not clear in the marketing for the alternative store.