Hacker News Reader

Comment by superkuh | Hacker News Reader

Cut the gordian knot. Discord should just release the iOS application themselves and bypass the Apple walled garden.

It is time to end corporate feudalism and the first step is installing applications the way they were meant to be installed instead of through one specific corporate gateway.

View on HN

How do you suggest they do that? Any enterprise certificate they use to sign the .ipa would be revoked within hours, probably minutes. Telling users to sign it themselves (and re-sign it every 7 days) just isn't feasible.

The only alternative would be not to have an iOS app, but that would also be a significant blow to their business. I can't, in good conscience, blame them for complying here.

Glad I have android

They should maintain 2 branches for iOS. The full featured branch that users who have rooted their iPhone can download and install and a Apple-Safe gimped version for the iOS app store.

> Discord should just release the iOS application themselves

Who knew when we got PC software on floppies, without IBM's permission, it was the good old days?

After decades it seems apple and google closed the barn door.

On non-jailbroken iOS devices the only way to install apps is through the App Store or through some convoluted methods which involve having a developer account (which you must pay yearly for), and I believe the % of jailbroken iOS devices is much much lower than the % of people willing to install Android APKs outside of Google Play, anyway. Sure, they _could_ do that for few people who have jailbroken iPhones, but doing that is pretty much like giving up on their iOS app altogether.

AltStore lets you sign apps with a non-developer iCloud account.

That expire after seven days, just like if you signed them with XCode. And you can only install two or three apps at once, and the wireless linking rarely works.

Apple just needs to have a version of "fastboot oem unlock" (or, for that matter, "csrutil --disable") where I can sideload applications with a big warning on the lock screen/splash screen that says the device is not secure. Besides, as long as the code is running inside the sandbox, who cares?

Alright, then I think we agree. And using AltStore is not a luser-sustainable method of delivery, so the point is moot.

And how would people install this app? Jailbreaking? AltStore with a Mac and developer account? The bar is pretty high for most of Discord’s users.

I was under the impression that distributing apps on iOS was not possible outside of the Apple App Store.

Have things changed?

You can't side load apps on iOS like you can on Android.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com