When Apple was compelled to allow alternative iOS app stores in the EU, it adopted the notarization model familiar to Mac developers. This means that if Apple revokes the notarization of a certain app, its distribution and use get blocked, even though it was installed from outside the App Store. That’s exactly what seems to have happened to iTorrent. Here are the details.
As reported today by TorrentFreak, multiple users took to iTorrent’s GitHub page to report that they were unable to download the app from AltStore PAL. Initially, the app’s developer believed this was an AltStore PAL issue, but he quickly learned that that wasn’t the case:
”Apple removed Alternative Distribution functionality from iTorrent’s Developer Portal without any warning, I have no option to add AltStore to distributions list at that moment. I contacted Apple Support for explanation, temporarily iTorrent removed from AltStore until issue with Apple will be solved.”
Since then, the developer claims that communication with Apple Support has been lackluster, despite the AltStore PAL team also reaching out to Apple. Currently, the case appears to have been escalated internally, but that’s as far as Apple’s response has gone.
TorrentFreak also tried contacting Apple, but their calls and emails have gone unanswered.
Apple has revoked AltStore app notarizations in the past
This isn’t the first time Apple has revoked the notarization of an app in AltStore PAL. Last year, it got into a dispute with the developer of Mini vMac, a Mac Plus, Mac II, or Mac 128K emulator.
At the time, Apple said the rejection was due to the app’s use of the Mac name and imagery, as well as the fact that it promoted running Apple’s Mac operating system on non-Apple hardware, something explicitly prohibited by Apple’s software license.
This time around, there is no information on whether Apple applied to same “no-torrents” rule it applies to its own App Store, or if it encountered a security issue, in which case the company reserves the right to revoke the notarization.
Interestingly, iTorrent was one of the original apps to debut with AltStore PAL’s third-party app support last year, which means it had been available for about a year before being pulled.
Be it as it may, the majority of the reaction sees this as an overreach and misuse of the notarization process, since the point of third-party app stores is for developers to distribute their apps unencumbered by Apple’s own App Store policies.
Whether Apple will disclose if it found a security issue that would warrant a notarization revocation, or if it was a late policy call, remains to be seen.
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