[gutnor]

I'm scared of that though. Although on one end I would like to buy my kindle books straight from the app and play xcloud games, I'm thinking of the dodgier companies.

Right now I have little to worry about when I leave my kid playing a game, all the payment need to go through Apple or at least the offending app will not stay up for too long.

I want Apple to be forced to come up with a fairer solution (eg: same api, but different payment provider) rather than being strong-armed into getting rid of the current protection from dodgy apps abusing dark ux pattern.

[Wowfunhappy]

All Apple has to do to fix this is allow sideloading. They don't need to change the App Store's rules—they can make them more stringent, actually—and you can set up your child's phone to block non-App-Store installations. Heck, Epic would probably cave and accept the cost to keep Fortnite in the App Store; they tried to go around Google Play, and it seemingly didn't work out.

[dogma1138]

The main reason I use an iPhone is that it doesn’t allow side loading out side of development applications and has a curated closed store.

I want an ecosystem that works and I can rely on including knowing that little to no one can side load a malicious application onto the device.

I’m also very well aware of the fact that while Apple scalps developers it’s also the reason why my devices get security updates for 6 years while Google can’t provide updates after 2.

[gutnor]

The problem with that is that it is all or nothing. The milder approach I had in mind was that apps require you to register an account outside the app (like amazon) but the purchase is initiated inside the app and outside Apple api.

At the beginning that will be easy to simply not register and not use games that require registration. But well, micro-transaction started that way and nowadays all the major player do it that way.

Platform like XCloud that bundle various games from various studio will be used, and that basically mean you have a single app in your iPhone that can download a variety of content, all outside the control of Apple.

I'm not an idiot, I will whitelist and use the tool available in said platform, but that's one more thing to care about. One problem for which Apple just worked for me and won't anymore.

[alexeldeib]

From the original article, this also sidesteps google play.

[cortesoft]

If your kids tried to pay through an alternative payment system, they would have to enter their credit card info.

[Hokusai]

> I'm thinking of the dodgier companies. Right now I have little to worry about when I leave my kid playing a game, all the payment need to go through Apple or at least the offending app will not stay up for too long.

Nothing stops dodgier companies to ask your kid a credit card number.

If you trust an app and it charges you in a dodgy way, you can claim that charge with your credit company.

On-line transactions work in computers, it is not different in a phone. Phones are just computers nowadays.

A tech company that is your bank, your ID, your messaging system, your location system,... is 1984 level of scary.

[closeparen]

The App Store review process stops it.

To dispute charges that were indeed made by a member of your household, you usually have to file a police report against them.

The method of paying for things online by shared secret numbers is insane. Phones permit much more reasonable payments architectures, since they can sign transactions with their TPMs instead of spraying your credit card number everywhere. We should see phones replace credit card entry even for transactions started on desktops.

[MiguelHudnandez]

Amazon has already stepped over the line a little bit with their Audible app. Months ago they made it possible to redeem your credits in-app instead of prompting you to use a web browser to do that.

[ffggvv]

no offense but your child rearing worries shouldn’t force some rule on every consenting adult. maybe watch them or control what they do or apple can build a child mode.

but it’s not an excuse to limit our freedoms

[owenwil]

Wha? There are ways around this. Apple could just build sanctioned support for specific payment gateways (e.g Stripe/Adyen) and subject them to rules as a part of the app review process in the same way they are now. It doesn't need to be binary; it's just that they want to paint the picture as if it'll be a wild west of payments if they have to change that, even though they have the power to build safer alternatives.

[buzzy_hacker]

That’d be an improvement over a monopoly, but still an oligopoly.

[danmur]

Payments for whatever (eg Amazon) can still go through the web browser can't they? What stops kids doing that?

[m463]

I would like to play games I compiled (without asking permission)

[tekkk]

Those who would give up freedom over safety something something..

Should every Apple user have to be tied down to Apple Store because kids and grannies can be dummies when downloading apps? Surely it should be easy to put parental controls and block all the dodgy apps and so forth. So things can stay the same for those who wish to remain in the App Store while having the ability to exercise your personal freedom to decide which apps you want to install on a device you own and paid good money for.