It's not about selling your store activity. The apps on these stores do not comply with basic guideline like having a privacy policy, not forcing users to give access to all permissions, etc.

So basically just like the internet and PCs - no guarantees given ? I don't have a problem with this and I don't really see the value add for the 30% cut.

You may be smart and wise and know how to avoid dodgy apps, but can you trust everyone you want to have a private chat online with to not unwittingly install a screen recorder? And differently from PCs, can you trust everyone you chat with in real life to not unwittingly install an app that turns on the microphone and/or camera?

Don’t get me wrong — I want there to be 3rd party app stores, even if only because of the sexual Puritanism that Apple displays. That don’t mean there aren’t valid reasons to be extremely skepticism about any attempts to do so.

I think it's reasonable for Apple to make it difficult for shady third-parties to get you to install their malware-ridden app store, but I don't agree that the only way to keep users safe is to disallow any third-party app installs entirely.

Apple just currently has little incentive to do the former, because a) it's more difficult, b) they have a financial benefit to keeping everyone in their own app store.

Given that, it's naive to think that Apple's main motivation here is to protect users. Sure, that's a part of it (maybe even a big part!), but they could protect their users in other ways, but those other ways would likely hurt their bottom line.

And I think that is why people cry anti-trust all the time when it comes to this: in a perfect world where no one was motivated by profit (and consumer lock-in), we can imagine that Apple would find a way to open up the platform a bit more.

> I don't agree that the only way to keep users safe is to disallow any third-party app installs entirely.

I’m not saying that, I’m saying “be careful”.

I think you are underestimating the Indian govt's determination to force anything on citizens in the name of patriotism.

If this store is actually true, a law will definitely be passed to make sure this app is preinstalled with root access for updates.

This has nothing to do with Apple, specifically, though. This is an argument for citizens to get more involved in their government process, and to avoid being suckered by government fear-mongering that results in citizen's accepting ridiculous intrusions into their lives.

Apple deciding to allow or not allow third-party app stores is irrelevant in the face of a government that has decided to pass a law that requires a particular app to be on all phones. If that law is passed, that app will end up on phones, regardless. The only alternative is that Apple would give up a market consisting the second-most populous country in the world, which isn't likely.

This thread is talking about apps with poor/no privacy policies on alternative stores.

But I want to install them. Forcing them to go trhough Apple forces them to follow certain guideline. I like the fact that there is no alternative for those who do not want to follow those guidelines.

One of the biggest reasons why people fucking loved the iPhone to begin with was that Apple made the decision to not let AT&T or anyone else bundle any bloatware with it.

The problem is transparency — nobody has perfect information about what apps do. People on HN will be better informed than most, but do you think your mom or dad will know not to install certain apps that might be widely known (except to them) to be predatory? What about malicious apps that, say, steal credit card information?

Yeah, they know not to install random crap, they're not dummies.