4 ms·

> "Are you really sure?", "Apple takes no responsibility not warranty" Sounds good to me. As a techie who maintains several phones for several family members a

> "Are you really sure?", "Apple takes no responsibility not warranty" Sounds good to me. As a techie who maintains several phones for several family members at a variety of tech-literate levels, I certainly hope this experience sucks and is difficult to figure out.

dingleberry420 4y ago
Don't worry, it won't be legal for Apple to void the warranty for this.
- sircastor 4y ago
  The concern is not a voided warranty. The concern is tech-illiterate users being able to install some random app they found on the web. They find a special version of Facebook and install it, and now their phone is compromised.
  - FredPret 4y ago
    We techies vastly overestimate the technical nous of people who don’t care about it. For example, my dad, who has had decades of internet usage, tried to buy a USB drive that promised to speed up his computer for only $99. These folks need an app store.
    - theshrike79 4y ago
      People also buy "mileage improvers" for their cars that are just a set of blinking lights that attach to to the OBD bus.
  - itsoktocry 4y ago
    >They find a special version of Facebook and install it, and now their phone is compromised. The Android ecosystem is a bit of a cesspool, but surely even it isn't having major issues with swaths of people having their phone compromised, right? My parents aren't going to sideload an apk. I have faith that there's a way to do this right.
    - fvdessen 4y ago
      I saw a friend go through all the motions of sideloading an apk of a fake DHL app he got through a 'track your delivery' fishing email. He did the whole thing while complaining about 'How stupid DHL is', and 'How orwellian it is' for DHL to ask for screen record permission ...
  - raxxorraxor 4y ago
    The solution to that is teaching tech illiterate people not to do that. At some point you have to accept the reality that not every advanced system can be made safe. The approach to not have advanced systems is not sustainable. You end up with Candy Crush OS that negatively affects everyone. In my opinion people get scammed by that too. In reality Apple could just implement a dummy mode. I bet a lot of people would decide against that an be completely fine.
FredPret 4y ago
I love the walled garden. You want a self-managed server, buy one. I want a foolproof thin client for myself and all the older people in my life
- pessimizer 4y ago
  Well, get them to install AppleSafe™, which will give them the curated Apple experience by locking out all sideloading, and requires them to call Apple and go through menus in order to remove it.
  - dickersnoodle 4y ago
    This works for me. I trust Apple a lot more than I trust some third party rando and I enjoyed watching Facebook whine about losing data tracking revenues and whiplash into Meta on their way to more people discovering that the world can live without them.
- arvinsim 4y ago
  Are you saying that old people who have difficulty figuring a phone will suddenly become a techie that can find an obscure setting? Complete FUD. Stop fearmongering.
  - FredPret 4y ago
    Read again and reinterpret. Old people will get sent a link to the “new official tax app” and be screwed six ways to Sunday.
    - kaba0 4y ago
      And it can happen today as well via a website. That’s why some countries mandate two-factor authentication for example, which is a proper solution, not this “let’s sell overpriced tamagotchis” security theater.
  - sircastor 4y ago
    No, they don't just "Find an obscure setting". A website tells them exactly where to look, exactly what to do, and they have motive to do it because they want whatever this app is promising. These kinds of scams are all over the place. Open up your browser's developer console while on Facebook and you'll see FB's desperate attempt to get you to not start typing in commands. When Epic got up in arms about Google's fees, they published a sideload-able version of FortNite, and some users ended up installing a fake virus-laden version (https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/10/fortnite-on-android-phones-risk-malware-infections https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/10/fortnite-on-an...). How many Linux users run arbitrary shell commands they find online while trying to fix or install something? What about some curl command somewhere that downloads and executes whole scripts? And Linux users tend to be very technically oriented. This is not FUD. We're there. This is happening today.
SheinhardtWigCo 4y ago
It won't matter much, the external app stores can make it worth their while. They'll give away valuable apps (e.g. Epic Store) and charge 20% less.

dingleberry420 4y ago

Don't worry, it won't be legal for Apple to void the warranty for this.

sircastor 4y ago
The concern is not a voided warranty. The concern is tech-illiterate users being able to install some random app they found on the web. They find a special version of Facebook and install it, and now their phone is compromised.
- FredPret 4y ago
  We techies vastly overestimate the technical nous of people who don’t care about it. For example, my dad, who has had decades of internet usage, tried to buy a USB drive that promised to speed up his computer for only $99. These folks need an app store.
  - theshrike79 4y ago
    People also buy "mileage improvers" for their cars that are just a set of blinking lights that attach to to the OBD bus.
- itsoktocry 4y ago
  >They find a special version of Facebook and install it, and now their phone is compromised. The Android ecosystem is a bit of a cesspool, but surely even it isn't having major issues with swaths of people having their phone compromised, right? My parents aren't going to sideload an apk. I have faith that there's a way to do this right.
  - fvdessen 4y ago
    I saw a friend go through all the motions of sideloading an apk of a fake DHL app he got through a 'track your delivery' fishing email. He did the whole thing while complaining about 'How stupid DHL is', and 'How orwellian it is' for DHL to ask for screen record permission ...
- raxxorraxor 4y ago
  The solution to that is teaching tech illiterate people not to do that. At some point you have to accept the reality that not every advanced system can be made safe. The approach to not have advanced systems is not sustainable. You end up with Candy Crush OS that negatively affects everyone. In my opinion people get scammed by that too. In reality Apple could just implement a dummy mode. I bet a lot of people would decide against that an be completely fine.

FredPret 4y ago

I love the walled garden. You want a self-managed server, buy one. I want a foolproof thin client for myself and all the older people in my life

pessimizer 4y ago
Well, get them to install AppleSafe™, which will give them the curated Apple experience by locking out all sideloading, and requires them to call Apple and go through menus in order to remove it.
- dickersnoodle 4y ago
  This works for me. I trust Apple a lot more than I trust some third party rando and I enjoyed watching Facebook whine about losing data tracking revenues and whiplash into Meta on their way to more people discovering that the world can live without them.
arvinsim 4y ago
Are you saying that old people who have difficulty figuring a phone will suddenly become a techie that can find an obscure setting? Complete FUD. Stop fearmongering.
- FredPret 4y ago
  Read again and reinterpret. Old people will get sent a link to the “new official tax app” and be screwed six ways to Sunday.
  - kaba0 4y ago
    And it can happen today as well via a website. That’s why some countries mandate two-factor authentication for example, which is a proper solution, not this “let’s sell overpriced tamagotchis” security theater.
- sircastor 4y ago
  No, they don't just "Find an obscure setting". A website tells them exactly where to look, exactly what to do, and they have motive to do it because they want whatever this app is promising. These kinds of scams are all over the place. Open up your browser's developer console while on Facebook and you'll see FB's desperate attempt to get you to not start typing in commands. When Epic got up in arms about Google's fees, they published a sideload-able version of FortNite, and some users ended up installing a fake virus-laden version (https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/10/fortnite-on-android-phones-risk-malware-infections https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/10/fortnite-on-an...). How many Linux users run arbitrary shell commands they find online while trying to fix or install something? What about some curl command somewhere that downloads and executes whole scripts? And Linux users tend to be very technically oriented. This is not FUD. We're there. This is happening today.

SheinhardtWigCo 4y ago

It won't matter much, the external app stores can make it worth their while. They'll give away valuable apps (e.g. Epic Store) and charge 20% less.