U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Another Antitrust Bill That Would Allow Sideloading on iPhone

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today approved the bipartisan Open App Markets Act, an antitrust bill that would allow for alternative app stores and alternative in-app payment systems on the iPhone. The bill will now head to the Senate floor for a vote.

iOS App Store General Feature JoeBlue
Apple had urged the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to reject the bill, arguing that sideloading would pose privacy and security risks for customers.

"Sideloading would enable bad actors to evade Apple's privacy and security protections by distributing apps without critical privacy and security checks. These provisions would allow malware, scams and data-exploitation to proliferate," said Apple's government affairs head Tim Powderly in a letter sent to the Committee earlier this week.

Last month, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, another antitrust bill that would allow sideloading and which Apple spoke out against, citing the same privacy and security risks.

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Top Rated Comments

Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
17 months ago
Just give users an option to download from the App Store-only or anywhere, like on a Mac. Put up about five warning screens (maybe seven for good luck). Done!
Score: 58 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antiprotest Avatar
17 months ago
If this goes through the next committee will be about how Apple fails to protect users from malware due to the side loading.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
17 months ago
This is just sad. Third-party app stores sound like a great way to get the malware. Say goodbye to privacy and security. :(

Our privacy will be on the line and we will be exposed to the malware. I really hope Apple will find a way to stop this. The government should really stay out of this.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cdarlington1 Avatar
17 months ago
They do allow sideloading on the mac. They don't want it on the iPhone or iPad. It's their decision. Hopefully this goes nowhere.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mrat93 Avatar
17 months ago

They do allow sideloading on the mac. They don't want it on the iPhone or iPad. It's their decision. Hopefully this goes nowhere.
when did it become “sideloading” on the Mac? when the Mac App Store came out, was everything else “sideloading”?
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dguisinger Avatar
17 months ago

This is going to force Apple to stop investing heavily into the App Store. They should tell these congressmen the unvarnished truth. If they decrease profitability of their platform they will stop investing in it or start charging all developers for access whether their app is free or not based on the number of Apple API calls per month. Many of the small developers will close and the Epics and Microsofts of the world will be able to charge what they want because they won’t have to compete with the little guys anymore. It’ll be like the old days for them. Just what they want.
They are investing heavily into the App store now? What innovations has it had in the last 10 years? Better yet, have they improved their working relationships with developers who got a run around on why they were getting rejected? Last I heard, developers are still getting rejected for things as stupid as someone at Apple typed in the wrong username/password for the test account the developer gave them, and instead of trying again, they reject the app update. Or how about all the fake scam apps that look like the originals they are trying to dupe people into subscribing for? We know they exist, there are stories about them almost every week. Innovation wise, the App Store in my opinion has been a failure. They just milk the gullible for all they are worth before these laws get implemented.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)