In the EU, Apple has been forced to allow third-party iOS app stores, and several months after the rule came into effect, one of them, AltStore PAL, released the first apps.
Other than weakening the grip Apple has on what its users are allowed to use on their phones, the AltStore’s move is notable for including only one app that is already in the giant’s store.
Even more notably, Apple users in the EU can now install torrenting apps – the type of software that is banned from the official store, because Apple has chosen to associate this otherwise legal protocol and clients with “often” being used to infringe on copyright.
But now, AltStore has iTorrent, a torrent client, and qBitControl, a qBittorrent remote client in its initial offer.
In a series of posts on social media, those behind the third-party store said that it contains apps Apple users can’t find anywhere else (with the caveat, however, that this may be the case “unless Apple changes their rules again…”)
The posts said that what they call initial recommended sources have been inspected to comply with safety standards, and instruct users on how to update the store and get the new apps.
Explaining iTorrent, AltStore developers said that it allows iPhones to have the same functionality that’s been available on computers for decades, namely, the use of peer-to-peer networks.
qBitControl, on the other hand, allows users to remotely control qBittorrent installed on their computers.
The one app that is in already the Apple Store (although it was first banned there, but then allowed just this month, and its developers say thanks to AltStore) is UTM SE.
It is a virtual machine that emulates other operating systems (such as Linux and Windows) on macOS on iOS. AltStore suggests it is particularly popular for playing retro games that were previously unavailable on Apple’s OS’s.
Finally, there’s PeopleDrop, a social discovery app with a focus on dating, which AltStore likens to the functionality of 3DS StreetPass, but this time needing only one device, with PeopleDrop running in the background and automatically discovering other users in close proximity.
