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Comment by speedylight | Hacker News Reader

I don’t understand this issue too well to feel one or another. I just want all of my purchases and subscriptions to remain tied to my Apple ID and cancelable from my place.

It makes life so much easier and saves money because it’s very hard to forget about subscriptions I no longer use when they’re all listed in one place. Also if I want to refund a purchase for whatever reason I can deal directly with Apple instead of the developer.

All things considered Apples tight grip on the App Store works for me.

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isn't that more of a personal finance problem than a tech platform problem?

you can find all your subscriptions there in one place until you start a new subscription on the web (maybe because it's cheaper), or you have one on a console. now suddenly you have multiple places to look again

there's no reason subscription management couldn't be managed at a higher level, outside of any tech platform. if 99% of banks weren't so technologically incapable it would seem obvious that it would be there, with the rest of your transactions. review/cancel/challenge/refund everything in one place, subscription or not.

It is a problem of personal finance. One of the best things to do when fixing personal finances is to get organized. Having many subscriptions in the same place is a big step towards that.

The fact that not all subscriptions can be found there doesn’t take away from the ones that are. Perfect should not be the enemy of the good.

And that doesn’t even begin to touch the security aspect of it. Apple isn’t perfect but I trust them a heck of a lot more than the median no-name app developer out there.

My hope is that if third party stores and sideloading come to iOS, Apple greatly incentivizes devs somehow to leverage a new unified subscription control panel API to help keep subs all in one list even if you don’t subscribe through the app store.

> I just want all of my purchases and subscriptions to remain tied to my Apple ID and cancelable from my place.

That's what you get in a world with sideloading. The apps you've bought will remain on the App Store for as long as the developer extends agreements with Apple. If you don't sideload, your App Store purchases will be consolidated and organized however Apple chooses for you. You lose nothing.

The worst-case scenario for you is that your favorite developer stops using the App Store; but that's also a possibility regardless of sideloading. If a compelling alternative makes Apple's offerings seem weak, then it's up to Apple to respond.

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