Just make a new phone OS lol, problem solved.

If the demand for installing your own software is so great, a company would make it.

Not directly, but they control the most popular portal to the open Internet with chromium to shape ad delivery, and (depending on how dramatic you want to be) the shape of reality presented to their users based on their AI models. Not directly profitable, but damn that's a scary level of power.

Could the restriction not be the device owner choosing to use it? If some rando vibe coded an app and the os told me all the things it can access, I'd probably want to trust the developer before installing it. Why do I need to beg Apple's permission to use software better than their first party offering?

Because you made the choice to trust Apple when you bought an iPhone. And while you may make a deep study of who is providing your alternative AI app (is that even possible with openAI or Copilot or Gemini?), the average use will pick something shiny and lose their savings when it transfers their bank balance outside the country.

> the average use will pick something shiny and lose their savings when it transfers their bank balance outside the country.

Couldn't you make a more believable straw man, please? The "Nigerian prince wants to send you billions" is really tired. Try something more emotional! Hackers will steal your kid's photos and post them on pedophile forums or something. This will resonate better with uninitiated and allow to easier lobby monopolistic practices. Good luck!

Just because I bought an Apple product doesn't mean I made the choice to trust them globally across everything I do on my device, when did this become a binary that the hardware vendor must also be the only trusted software and service vendor? I like my MacBook because I trusted Apple to build great hardware, a pretty okay os, and services I don't give a shit about. I won't buy an iPhone because Apple has removed the ability to distinguish between those things on that platform.

Surely there's something better we can do than say "the average user is a dumbfuck better consolidate all control with Apple".

Depends on the cost of Godzilla insurance, which currently is quite low. Lock in now!

Yet another great benefit of open access to prediction markets! /s

In fact, Apple would construe themselves as a MITM, pretty explicitly.

Two things can be true, you can choose to install software from a curated store, policed by an entity you trust to do that. I can install whatever trash I want from the internet and risk my own security doing so. These two things aren't in conflict and could be enabled with a change in policy from Apple.

Worried about grandma installing shady apps? Enable parental controls on her phone.

I don't know if there's an iOS equivalent, but Buzzkill on Android is really great for this. I set up filters to hide all the stupid Amazon ad notifications.

If you're on Android, I'll always recommend Buzzkill to add very granular rules for notification filtering. I set up all kinds of filters just for the Amazon app.

On iOS I assume you're sol, that notification system is unhinged to my eyes.

Am I understanding correctly that iOS notifications have to go over apns unless on the same local network as the HA server? I do appreciate that android makes this possible for ha and signal (and others) in all cases, it should be up to the user to choose centralizing the connection vs. slightly worse battery life.

As far as I understand it, yes, you have to be connected locally.

The question is, will it work over Tailscale/WireGuard? I'd assume so, but I've honestly never tested local pushes as I simply haven't needed them :)

Yeah I'm disappointed this isn't pointed out in the opening paragraph. It's fair to critique Google for convincing devs that fcm is the only option, and obviously iOS is designed for Apple to do whatever they want, regardless of the owner's wishes, but Android does have other, viable, options. iOS and Android aren't equally bad here.