> This isn’t the era of the open internet, and that doesn’t change with an open App Store either I wasn’t throwing out a hypothetical when offering 3rd party c

> This isn’t the era of the open internet, and that doesn’t change with an open App Store either I wasn’t throwing out a hypothetical when offering 3rd party clients as a solution to installing Google or FB’s stores. This is already what’s happened on Android. Rather than download official apps from Google Play one can install a community app store (F-Droid) and grab enhanced 3rd party clients there. API control is rarely an issue aside from the fact that these unofficial clients tend to use said APIs in ways that violate the provider’s terms of service. As such the client apps violate the Google Play Store’s rules and must be sideloaded. This rule is also why 3rd party clients must be sideloaded on iOS.