XPost: comp.sys.mac.system, alt.comp.os.windows-10, comp.mobile.android   
   From: marion@facts.com   
      
   On Mon, 7 Apr 2025 18:57:32 +0200, Arno Welzel wrote :   
      
      
   > "Free software" is usually open source and you can use the source code   
   > for your own versions with any modifications you want to apply to it.   
      
   Hi Arno,   
      
   I use iOS and Windows and Android concurrently, all day, every day.   
   Most people do not (and I used to use Linux all day, every day too).   
      
   So I know what's UNIQUE about iOS when it comes to Apple IPA locks.   
      
   You're apparently responding to Alan Baker, who, besides being an Apple   
   troll (i.e., one who brazenly denies everything he hates about Apple   
   products), has never in his life ever used Windows, Linux or Android.   
      
   Hence, he thinks "re-use" is about "free & open source", where even if an   
   app is free & open source, if Apple distributes it, they have control.   
      
   Apple can even revoke your use of that "free & open source" app, if they   
   want to, since Apple controls every action you perform with that app.   
      
   Hence, the point about "re-use" I'm making has nothing to do with the type   
   of software since *every* IPA on an iOS device is locked to 1 AppleID   
   (note there are family-plans too, but that's essentially the same thing).   
      
   Most people have no idea how restrictive the Apple subterranean cave   
   ecosystem is; they're unaware that you can not re-use that IPA on another   
   device which has a *different* Apple ID, even if it's free & open source.   
      
   No other common consumer operating system restricts free app re-use.   
   Only Apple.   
      
   And that's bad.   
      
   Read on only if you're technically inclined to know what's going on.   
      
   When an IPA is installed on an iOS device, it's signed with a provisioning   
   profile that is tied to a specific Apple Developer account and a set of   
   authorized devices. For apps downloaded from the App Store, this process is   
   managed by Apple and linked to your Apple ID.   
      
   All apps, even those which might be considered "free & open source" suffer   
   this process, since every single app ever downloaded from Apple's App Store   
   restricts their usage to the Apple ID that originally downloaded them.   
      
   While you can "sideload" apps on iOS (using Developer Certificates), that   
   process is not typically performed by the common user but it too is   
   restricted, but usually to a number of installations & not to an Apple ID.   
      
   The Mac also ties a "free & open source" Apple App Store app to your Apple   
   ID, but the Mac allows re-use on another Mac of a different Apple ID; but   
   not really since updates can't happen on apps which are copied from one Mac   
   to another. However, to its credit, the Mac can download an app from the   
   developer's web site, and that app is not tied to the Apple ID by Apple.   
      
   So in that respect, the Mac is more like every other operating system.   
      
   The question now arises as to *why* Apple adds your unique Apple ID to   
   every app installed from the Apple App Store, even those which you'd   
   otherwise consider to be "free & open source". Note that Apple can track   
   not only your usage of that app, but meta data inherent in that usage.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)