LOS ANGELES—Apple reportedly updated the email language sent to app developers after a global controversy involving an iOS native pornography application.
AltStore PAL co-founder Riley Testut says the tech giant has updated the language in emails sent to app developers indicating when they’re approved for distribution through the closed iOS ecosystem. In a post on Bluesky last Friday, Testut compared the updates to language indicating the status of an iOS app.
Now, emails that receive “notarization” or clearance from Apple to distribute an iOS app state that the app is “ready for distribution” rather than “approved for distribution.”
AltStore was born as an iOS sideloading solution. Sideloading requires installing IPA files that are not found in the App Store. This is often done using Xcode, an integrated development environment for iOS and macOS app development, or Cydia, one of the most secure solutions for jailbreaking and installing prohibited software on iOS devices.
Apple still restricts sideloading to app development and testing unless the device is jailbroken. The restrictions are the case even when the sideloading is secure. Digital Markets Act regulations allowed Testut and his partner, Shane Gill, to develop AltStore into one of the leading third-party app stores in the space, hosting apps like Hot Tub.
