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You can get a developer account, build and sign your own executables, and run whatever you want on your iPhone. I don’t think those flashed ROMs give you appre

by zaroth 7y ago

You can get a developer account, build and sign your own executables, and run whatever you want on your iPhone. I don’t think those flashed ROMs give you appreciably more “control” over your iPhone than stock iOS provides, because actual control requires usable control surfaces. More likely, you are replacing the control surfaces provided by an accountable entity (Apple) who has prioritized your security and privacy and provides a constant stream of updates to maintain that, with what exactly? The entire iOS feature set is designed to protect your personal data, from outside attackers who would seek to compromise it, to insider threats like apps trying to siphon off more than you might expect, to end-users inadvertently giving away their own (or your) data without a care in the world. The security that a modern iPhone provides to its owner is truly a remarkable and commendable experience overall. I am extremely happy we as consumers have the choice to purchase exactly such a device.

readams 7y ago
The iOS feature set is intended to protect Apple's business model and revenue streams by forcing you to do things in Apple's jail. Getting a developer account is obviously an absurd and impractical approach to distribute software and proposing this is frankly ridiculous. It's not free, requires you own a Mac, and is way beyond the technical abilities of most users.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  > requires you own a Mac I mostly agree with you, but you don't necessarily need a Mac in order to use your developer account for sideloading—you can also use Cydia Impactor which is available for Windows/Linux.
chmod775 7y ago
"You shouldn't be concerned about freedom because you're not gonna use it/need it anyways." That's what your comment boils down to. You really want to go down that road of an argument? On a website that has hacker culture in its very name?
- nooom 7y ago
  Hacker News doesn't really have anything to do with the hacker culture, except yes, having the word "hacker" in its name
Wowfunhappy 7y ago
> You can get a developer account, build and sign your own executables, and run whatever you want on your iPhone. Sure, for an extra $100 every single year. Apple charging money for a feature does not protect users.
- jchb 7y ago
  > Apple charging money for a feature does not protect users. The $99 is not likely to make them money. It is a token fee to protect the app store from the simplest spam and scam apps.
  - npongratz 7y ago
    Sure, it's a mere token for Apple, but it is a significant, recurring financial and logistical hurdle for me when I simply want the ability to use my pocket computing/surveillance device -- which I've already paid for -- in ways I deem fit.
    - zaroth 7y ago
      This is a pretty significant shifting of the goalposts. The argument was users should have the ability to run whatever code they want on their iPhones. That is actually possible today. It costs a $100/year, which considering the costs of the phones is pretty reasonable. Part of the reason it has to cost something non-trivial is because otherwise it would encourage massive piracy, which would devalue the entire App Store (in fact exactly what we see on Android). If the argument is users should be able to run whatever code they want, but they also must have free access to the development tools and resources like Xcode and Dev Center (which cost how many tens or hundreds of millions to develop?) then you’ve totally lost me. I understand and appreciate the principle that it should generally be possible to develop and run the programs of your choosing on smartphone-type hardware. In no way should a company be forced to spends millions of dollars to facilitate that at scale if that’s not their business model, particularly when it would primarily be used to directly attack their ecosystem.
      - 7y ago
kgwxd 7y ago
You can run anything you want, but you can't not run anything you want.

by zaroth 7y ago

readams 7y ago

The iOS feature set is intended to protect Apple's business model and revenue streams by forcing you to do things in Apple's jail. Getting a developer account is obviously an absurd and impractical approach to distribute software and proposing this is frankly ridiculous. It's not free, requires you own a Mac, and is way beyond the technical abilities of most users.

Wowfunhappy 7y ago
> requires you own a Mac I mostly agree with you, but you don't necessarily need a Mac in order to use your developer account for sideloading—you can also use Cydia Impactor which is available for Windows/Linux.

chmod775 7y ago

"You shouldn't be concerned about freedom because you're not gonna use it/need it anyways." That's what your comment boils down to. You really want to go down that road of an argument? On a website that has hacker culture in its very name?

nooom 7y ago
Hacker News doesn't really have anything to do with the hacker culture, except yes, having the word "hacker" in its name

Wowfunhappy 7y ago

> You can get a developer account, build and sign your own executables, and run whatever you want on your iPhone. Sure, for an extra $100 every single year. Apple charging money for a feature does not protect users.

jchb 7y ago
> Apple charging money for a feature does not protect users. The $99 is not likely to make them money. It is a token fee to protect the app store from the simplest spam and scam apps.
- npongratz 7y ago
  Sure, it's a mere token for Apple, but it is a significant, recurring financial and logistical hurdle for me when I simply want the ability to use my pocket computing/surveillance device -- which I've already paid for -- in ways I deem fit.
  - zaroth 7y ago
    This is a pretty significant shifting of the goalposts. The argument was users should have the ability to run whatever code they want on their iPhones. That is actually possible today. It costs a $100/year, which considering the costs of the phones is pretty reasonable. Part of the reason it has to cost something non-trivial is because otherwise it would encourage massive piracy, which would devalue the entire App Store (in fact exactly what we see on Android). If the argument is users should be able to run whatever code they want, but they also must have free access to the development tools and resources like Xcode and Dev Center (which cost how many tens or hundreds of millions to develop?) then you’ve totally lost me. I understand and appreciate the principle that it should generally be possible to develop and run the programs of your choosing on smartphone-type hardware. In no way should a company be forced to spends millions of dollars to facilitate that at scale if that’s not their business model, particularly when it would primarily be used to directly attack their ecosystem.
    - 7y ago

kgwxd 7y ago

You can run anything you want, but you can't not run anything you want.