5 ms·

I sense that a lot of iOS users are going to suddenly have their location set as being in the EU. Not sure if they can police this the way they would want.

Hamuko 3y ago
You're going to need to do a lot of changes to be identified as EU resident, such as your device's physical location (don't know if it's by GPS, Wi-Fi and/or cell tower data). https://9to5mac.com/2024/01/25/apple-check-iphone-eligible-sideloading/ https://9to5mac.com/2024/01/25/apple-check-iphone-eligible-s...
- toyg 3y ago
  Yeah, because Apple is totally privacy-focused, they don't track you at all, until you try to do something they don't like and suddenly you find that things are somewhat different...
joshstrange 3y ago
You vastly overestimate how much iOS users care about this kind of thing. HN is a bubble and not even all of HN is gung-ho on the changes. Also it’s not as simple as “set your location to the EU”. I’m not even sure if Apple provides the ability to convert an Apple ID to a different region. I vaguely remember reading an article about that resulting in loss of some/all purchases and other oddities. No regular iOS user cares about Firefox (or Chrome) enough to go through that. Not to mention mobile FF/Chrome (less so Chrome) will be not well supported if the website is made outside the EU (even inside the EU is questionable). Developers barely test on FF for desktop which is easily available, they won’t be able to test FF mobile unless they have a device configured to be “in” the EU and that’s just not going to happen widely. Lastly is FF’s iOS Safari wrapper is any indication of the quality that FF can provide then I don’t have high hopes for their native engine. Even on Android FF _just_ started opening up extensions after years of having a small whitelist unless you jumped through hoops. Based on that and the direction of FF as a whole on the desktop my expectations are incredibly low.
- swiftcoder 3y ago
  > Also it’s not as simple as “set your location to the EU”. I’m not even sure if Apple provides the ability to convert an Apple ID to a different region. I vaguely remember reading an article about that resulting in loss of some/all purchases and other oddities. You can convert (I went moved my Apple ID from US -> EU about 2 years ago). Purchases are transferred, but only where they actually exist in the target region, so you lose access to install any apps that aren't available in that region (although I believe they still run if already installed).
  - joshstrange 3y ago
    Thank you for the information. So yeah, any US-only (or rather non-EU) apps you will lose if you converted. Also I’m guessing you’re going to get hit with foreign currency conversion fees by your CC (obviously not a problem if you move and get a bank account in your new region). This is a US-centric view but plenty of stuff launches in the US first and so you won’t get access to those things until they make their way to the EU. Sounds like a lot of headache to get a browser (or alternative app/app stores).
    - swiftcoder 3y ago
      Yeah, and the not every app handles the transition very well. For example, Facebook prompted me to install their new Threads social network for months before they actually released in on the EU appstore - presumably because their internal tracking data still thinks of my account as US-based.
  - JimDabell 3y ago
    You also have to cancel all active subscriptions.

Hamuko 3y ago

You're going to need to do a lot of changes to be identified as EU resident, such as your device's physical location (don't know if it's by GPS, Wi-Fi and/or cell tower data). https://9to5mac.com/2024/01/25/apple-check-iphone-eligible-sideloading/ https://9to5mac.com/2024/01/25/apple-check-iphone-eligible-s...

toyg 3y ago
Yeah, because Apple is totally privacy-focused, they don't track you at all, until you try to do something they don't like and suddenly you find that things are somewhat different...

joshstrange 3y ago

You vastly overestimate how much iOS users care about this kind of thing. HN is a bubble and not even all of HN is gung-ho on the changes. Also it’s not as simple as “set your location to the EU”. I’m not even sure if Apple provides the ability to convert an Apple ID to a different region. I vaguely remember reading an article about that resulting in loss of some/all purchases and other oddities. No regular iOS user cares about Firefox (or Chrome) enough to go through that. Not to mention mobile FF/Chrome (less so Chrome) will be not well supported if the website is made outside the EU (even inside the EU is questionable). Developers barely test on FF for desktop which is easily available, they won’t be able to test FF mobile unless they have a device configured to be “in” the EU and that’s just not going to happen widely. Lastly is FF’s iOS Safari wrapper is any indication of the quality that FF can provide then I don’t have high hopes for their native engine. Even on Android FF _just_ started opening up extensions after years of having a small whitelist unless you jumped through hoops. Based on that and the direction of FF as a whole on the desktop my expectations are incredibly low.

swiftcoder 3y ago
> Also it’s not as simple as “set your location to the EU”. I’m not even sure if Apple provides the ability to convert an Apple ID to a different region. I vaguely remember reading an article about that resulting in loss of some/all purchases and other oddities. You can convert (I went moved my Apple ID from US -> EU about 2 years ago). Purchases are transferred, but only where they actually exist in the target region, so you lose access to install any apps that aren't available in that region (although I believe they still run if already installed).
- joshstrange 3y ago
  Thank you for the information. So yeah, any US-only (or rather non-EU) apps you will lose if you converted. Also I’m guessing you’re going to get hit with foreign currency conversion fees by your CC (obviously not a problem if you move and get a bank account in your new region). This is a US-centric view but plenty of stuff launches in the US first and so you won’t get access to those things until they make their way to the EU. Sounds like a lot of headache to get a browser (or alternative app/app stores).
  - swiftcoder 3y ago
    Yeah, and the not every app handles the transition very well. For example, Facebook prompted me to install their new Threads social network for months before they actually released in on the EU appstore - presumably because their internal tracking data still thinks of my account as US-based.
- JimDabell 3y ago
  You also have to cancel all active subscriptions.