Apple is done ‘approving’ porn apps for third-party stores

David Imel / Android Authority TL;DR Apple has a “Notarization” process it employs to check apps on third-party stores for privacy and security issues. So far, apps passing Notarization have been told by Apple that they’re “approved for distribution.” Apple recently changed its language there, distancing itself from “approved” verbiage. For years, Apple exercised near-total control over which apps were allowed on its smartphones. While Android users were free to sideload apps even outside of Google’s official Play Store distribution channel, iPhone users lacked their own easy alternative, instead forced to jailbreak or explore developer-focused tools. But all that changed when the EU required Apple to open support for alternate app stores. Without Apple’s ability to veto apps on these third-party stores, the inevitable happened earlier this month, and we got our first iPhone porn app. But now a subtle change to an internal Apple process means that this one might have been the first ... Read full article.