Is It Safe to Use a Third-Party App Store for IPhone?
It’s been almost four months since Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) forced Apple to start allowing third-party app stores on European iPhones. While the DMA hasn’t exactly helped make these alternative app stores available everywhere, they are a step toward a more open ecosystem. But what exactly do these alternative app stores offer? What led to the advent of DMA and why don’t we see more alternative app stores? Here’s what you need to know.
How did we get here
This all started when the European Union decided to investigate Apple, Meta and a host of other big tech companies (including Google) for monitoring various aspects of their app stores and data usage. For Apple, much of this came down to the controversy that companies like Epic Games helped fuel after Fortnite was removed from the App Store in 2020. For others, it came down to more specific issues. But let’s focus on Apple for now.
The European Union wanted to find out whether Apple was blocking certain parts of its services – such as access to user devices through the App Store and even iMessage – for legal reasons. One of the most important reasons Apple kept citing was “user security and privacy”, but ultimately this was not enough for the EU.
While the EU did not rule in favor of forcing Apple to install iMessage on other devices, it did say that Apple needs to step back and allow companies to distribute apps through third-party app stores and even online , albeit with some caveats . This led to some big changes in Apple’s approach, but only in the EU. We’ve seen features that require DMA come to iOS in the EU back in iOS 17.4, including the ability to sideload apps directly into iOS .
Ultimately, this means that developers don’t have to rely on the strict process of submitting their apps to the official Apple App Store for them to be available on iPhone – at least for EU users. Anyone outside the EU will still have to download apps through the official App Store, and there’s no guarantee that this will change anytime soon.
This is potentially good news for indie developers, as Apple takes a percentage of all purchases made from in-app purchases when the app is downloaded from the App Store. In theory, being able to host their app on a third-party store or even through side-loading gives them the ability to bypass this cut and keep more profits. This was a major part of Epic Games’ argument during the whole Apple vs. Epic fiasco a few years ago, although Epic wasn’t happy with Apple’s method of implementing third-party app stores, which still comes with hidden fees.
Are these third-party app stores worth checking out?
That’s the crux of the situation. While we continue to see new alternative app stores , including a new one that just launched this month, many of them don’t have many apps yet. And as I’ve mentioned several times, they’re not available to anyone outside the EU, so the user base is already significantly reduced compared to the total number of iPhone users in the world.
Additionally, most of the alternative app stores released so far are not exceptionally diverse in terms of what they have to offer. One of the recently released stores, Aptoide , offers a freemium-type structure. But it only offers games, and at the time of writing there are less than 10 basic games on its service. Other popular options, such as Altstore , offer many more apps, including the ability to release apps through unique “origin” URLs. But this “anyone can release anything” openness also makes it something of a breeding ground for possible attackers trying to find a way in.
There’s also the fact that Apple is quite proactive in supporting developers who want to run a third-party app store, and many of them pass that cost on to their customers through monthly subscription fees. This is the basis of MacPaw’s Setapp Mobile , which is still in beta (and is slightly different from the existing Setapp service ). This is one of the most anticipated options, but not everyone will want to pay a monthly subscription if they can just download apps for free from Apple’s official app store.
Of course, other app stores are expected to be launched in the future. We know that Epic Games is working on a new Epic Games Store app that will be used to release games and other apps, including Fortnite . But we don’t have details about how it will work or when it will be available.
Ultimately, it is still very early for us to determine the usefulness of these app stores. They still have a lot of room for growth, and while it may not seem like much worth it now, this could change exponentially in the future as more third-party stores become available and existing stores find their preferred methods.
Are Alternative App Stores Safe?
Another thing to keep in mind is the security standards associated with these app stores. Anyone who tries to install an alternative app store will find that Apple has made installing these third-party marketplaces exceptionally tedious, as your device often requires you to go through several confirmation pages before it actually installs. This ensures you know what you’re getting into—third-party apps bypass all of the “safety” guidelines Apple has in the App Store—but it also means the experience is extremely unpleasant.
This is a deliberate move by Apple that some may perceive as a scare tactic to discourage users from using third-party app stores. This could also be seen as Apple doing its due diligence to warn the general public, who may not be as tech-savvy, about the dangers of externally downloaded or third-party apps.
And there is a legitimate danger here. We’re already seeing plenty of corrupted and malware-infested apps that pass the App Store’s strict requirements , and there’s no guarantee how safe any of these third-party stores are, so it’s extremely important to research each one before installing it.
This doesn’t necessarily make alternative app stores unsafe, but as with everything else, you need to be careful about what you download and what access you give those apps. Also, pay attention to the permissions that apps require (even those downloaded from the official App Store), and if the app store doesn’t offer any information on this, try doing your own research to see how trustworthy the app is before I downloaded it blindly.