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Comment by shawnz | Hacker News Reader

By what rationale can you say that blocking sideloading is good for the user but not blocking screenshots?

One benefit of blocking sideloading is that it prevents people who have brief access to your phone (border agents, police, etc.) from installing spyware apps on the phone. On iOS those people can extract your data as local backup, but they won't be able to install any unapproved apps that run in the background and that monitor you. On Android it's trivial to install spyware apps via sideloading and regular users most likely aren't able to detect or uninstall them.

Right, and so on platforms where sideloading is allowed doesn't it make sense to restrict the ways in which apps might be able to see the screen contents of other apps, for the benefit of the user?

It's the same justification in both cases: ensuring the user's data stays private. I would prefer no screenshots over no sideloading if those are the only options.

Sure, but iOS users such as myself prefer no side loading, primarily because I see no reason to side load any applications.

Have you considered that even though you don't need it now, you could at any time in the future have some kind of disagreement with Apple about what kind of apps should be allowed on iOS (consider the Fortnite issue for example) and by that point, vendor lock-in would make it impractical to change platforms?

Sure it’s possible, although it appears to be unlikely. But in the worst case I can go without a phone. Fortnite was a great example of how the platform > any single app. I sided with Apple completely.

Because it deleverages Apple’s ability to negotiate for users against developers as a collective bargaining agent. You can jailbreak your iPhone or get an Android one if you want.

And blocking screenshots gives Google the ability to negotiate for users against developers who might otherwise not value the privacy of the user's screen contents... so what's the difference? You can get an iPhone if you want unrestricted screen access by apps.

> You can jailbreak your iPhone

And defeat all the security of the platform? No thanks. Plus, that relies on exploits being available (which I would hope for my own sake that they are not).

That’s not the same thing at all lol.

And iPhone doesn’t give apps unrestricted screen access.

You don't see it as the same because you have different expectations/needs. I don't see Apple's control of the app store as being a value-add for me, so to me that is user-hostile. Meanwhile I do think it's important that apps can't arbitrarily look at my screen contents.

> I don't see Apple's control of the app store as being a value-add for me, so to me that is user-hostile.

Sure, I think the exact opposite is the case. Fortunately so far Apple has been on my side here. When that changes, I'll have to reevaluate the utility of the iPhone.

> Meanwhile I do think it's important that apps can't arbitrarily look at my screen contents

Hmm. Do you have any resources I could read to understand how iOS apps are able to arbitrarily read my screen contents? Thanks.

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