Gregory's Server🥳 AltStore PAL, the first alternative app marketplace on iPhone, is available now in the EU for a nominal <€2/yr subscription price (to cover the Core Technology Fee), which includes access to @rileytestut’s Delta (which plays NES, SNES, GB/C/A, DS, N64 and Genesis games). It’s not fully open to third party devs yet, but there's a whole lot more to come in the future. Distributing your apps will be as easy as hosting a JSON file and pointing it at your notarized IPAs
Steve Troughton-Smith
32 comments
aceJacek
@stroughtonsmith I screwed up obviously, I clicked back at the first screen. Now I see no way to download store or manage subscription without new payment. 😣
Winter (engineering sample)
@acejacek @stroughtonsmith https://fosstodon.org/@altstore/112287694922854581 > Once you input your email, Stripe will automatically detect your subscription and redirect you to the download page — you do NOT need to re-purchase.
Andrew Grant
@stroughtonsmith It's a bit crap IMO. It's needlessly petty that users have to figure they have to go to settings to approval an install, but then need to retry the install to actually install the app (which requires another set of approvals).
Bror Brurberg
@stroughtonsmith I had looked forward to this, but I just realized I live in the European Economic Area, and not the EU 🙈 We usually get the same benefits as the EU, just not this one 😢
ellzumem
@stroughtonsmith This will never be a thing on macOS as long as Homebrew is alive and in use on at least one (1) Mac. 
Christian Selig
@stroughtonsmith @rileytestut How do I install this in Canada I think Europeans like us
Buck
@stroughtonsmith @rileytestut I hope there is a plan for some kind of release outside of the EU 😕 
Buck
@ahnafm @stroughtonsmith @rileytestut Thx - Is there still not an iPad version after all these years?
Ahnaf Mahmud
@stroughtonsmith @rileytestut For those outside the EU, Delta is on the App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/delta-game-emulator/id1048524688
Steve Troughton-Smith
@acetuk @rileytestut I don't know if you've heard, but the UK isn't in the EU 😅
Andrew
@stroughtonsmith @rileytestut Annoyingly Apple are even clever enough to stop my VPN allowing me to be suddenly in Germany to install it. They think of everything!
Andrew
@Marco @stroughtonsmith @rileytestut Yes. I’m sure that’s what it is. I just thought I would try it to see though.
Arkadiusz Matecki
@stroughtonsmith @rileytestut Didn’t expect to purchase app store today, but here we are 🙂 
anVlad11
@stroughtonsmith @rileytestut My device does nothing when i click "Download". I tried to check what's going on with Safari remote debugger, but it looks like nothing happens after the page tries to redirect user to marketplace-kit:// uri in downloadAltStore() function. In Chrome, i always get "Something went wrong" error. Is there anything else i can do to debug that? iPhone 11 Pro Max, iOS 17.4.1, App Store Region: Germany. 
Григорий Клюшников
I'm curious how easy it would be to bypass the "in the EU" part. Surely someone is working on this? |
I went through the purchase & install process for AltStore in the EU, and it's not really any more onerous than downloading a Mac app or installing a provisioning profile. One trip to Settings to ‘Allow’, and you can tap through the install dialogs in a second.
The install confirmation sheet, which provides metadata and screenshots about the app and its publisher, is kinda a nice thing to have? Honestly wouldn't surprise me if this system came back to macOS, too (if developers don't revolt)