What will happen if Apple actually allows RuStore on iPhone. What will it look like

Currently, the State Duma of the Russian Federation is reading the second law, which prohibits platform owners from restricting the installation of RuStore on the device.

According to the law, when selling and using gadgets, there should be no restriction on access to additional applications and a “single application store.” This obviously means RuStore. There should also be no restrictions on installing applications from external sources.

Recently, State Duma deputy Anton Gorelkin said that Apple is interested in developing RuStore on its gadgets:

Separately, I would like to say that there can be no talk of any ban on the sale of iPhones in Russia. I have not verified that compliance would impose standard penalties for discrimination against app developers and their users, but any bans would be considered excessive. Moreover, according to my information, Apple itself is interested in the appearance of RuStore on its gadgets.

— Anton Gorelkin

Probability Is this a development from a technical and legal point of view? And what might this ultimately look like for Russian Apple users? We will try to answer these two questions based on information.

The rest of the article discusses the simplest and least labor-intensive scenarios for everyone, including Apple.

Under any conditions, Apple allowed external stores in Europe

Third party store AltStore Pal for iOS.

At the moment, the conditions for creating an application store for iPhone in the European Union are as follows:

An app store can be created by any App Store app developer in good standing for two or more consecutive years with an existing app that is installed more than 1 million times annually on iPhones in the European Union.

Initially, to create an Apple store, it was necessary for the developer to have 1 million euros in his account.[, но теперь это требование снято.]

– Apple has eased the conditions for creating an entrance to app stores after complaints from iPhones.ru developers

Apps that are hosted in these “alternative” stores cannot be simultaneously available on the App Store in the same region, in the same region where they are available, and in the store. That is, developers who decide to distribute programs and games in this way do not have the right to publish the same application in the App Store. Users Apple account in this region, you should download such an application and update it exclusively from an “alternative” store.

We will not consider the remaining conditions and features of the process within the framework of the article, since they do not matter in the ninth round.

If we try the above on a potential display of the RuStore store for Russian iPhone users, then We do not see any technical limitations. RuStore is managed by the company VKand VK has at least one application with “a good reputation for two or more years in a row,” not to mention the 1 million installations bar. Everyone knows him.

What a RuStore “preinstallation” might look like on an iPhone

This window, when initially setting up iPhone, iPad, and Mac, supports all Apple devices with tools. Apple accounts from April 2021.

To begin with, Apple must allow the function of installing retail outlets for Russian stores. Apple Accounts. You can make such a change and link it to all devices in the country by unilaterally changing the settings on the company’s side servers and the terms of use of Apple services. Whether the company will take this step, taking into account the global situation, is a question regarding our competence, but for the sake of ideas, we will now answer it and move on.

If the path of least resistance is found, then the simplest method of “pre-installing” RuStore would be to use an already existing mechanism in iOS. All iPhone, iPad and Mac owners in Russia have been personally familiar with it since April 1, 2021:

Having fulfilled the calculation norm for 2021 with the mandatory pre-installation of Russian software on smartphones, Apple added a mandatory window with a list of Russian applications during the initial setup of all its operating systems. It is shown to all users without exception with accessories Apple accounts (formerly Apple ID).

Option to install the RuStore store in the network of Russian applications allowing Apple to meet the demands of both past and future electricity simultaneously. Whether the installation of RuStore will be mandatory in this case, or whether it will be left as an option requiring the motivated consent of the user is an open and secondary question.

An example of installing an external store window in iOS.

A little more labor-intensive, but underneath what is happening is seen as separate initial setup windowalmost identical to what is now shown to users in the European Union. In this case, the iPhone separately offers to install RuStore, and then separately offers to install Russian applications from the App Store.

The most likely option, taking into account Apple’s position, is that RuStore will be truly pre-installed on the iPhone, that is, it will be included in iOS out of the box. Obviously, a global company will never install it on all iPhones. Against all this there are at least two markets for sales of company equipment: the USA and Europe.

Pre-installing RuStore exclusively on iPhones sold in Russia is now also problematic. Firstly, the sale of Apple equipment in Russia has officially “stopped”, and their gadgets are imported through parallel imports (other countries) or in a “gray” way. It is not clear how the company separates the iPhone production stage, where it is necessary to “upload” the version of iOS with RuStore, from iPhones, where it does not.

Secondly, there is no practice of pre-installing on the iPhone “from the factory” those applications and even more stores that were not developed by Apple itself. Unlike Android smartphone manufacturers, Apple purposefully rejects this approach and does not profess it in any country, including China, for which Cupertino has always made significant concessions. It would be strange if the company suddenly took such a step exclusively for the Russian market.

As a result we have two real translations RuStore “presets” for Russian iPhone users and one of the areas of science fiction.

An important note is that with RuStore, Russian users have the opportunity to install applications from other stores – that is, it is possible to install these applications from sources from external App Stores.

Is it worth waiting for the RuStore app on iPhone?

Just wait? Not sure. But would you like this moment to be right? It is possible, and even necessary. And not only because of RuStore specifically.

After all, if RuStore appears on Russian iPhone users, we will have the opportunity to install applications from any stores and sources in general. Yes, keeping two store applications instead of one in order to update different applications is not very convenient. But no one in the European Union is complaining about this yet. And neither should we: an Android holder in Russia does the same thing with the same RuStore and clearly does not interfere.

Events in recent years, as well as the effects of continued pressure from authorities in other countries on Apple, have demonstrated to even the most dedicated fans the use of the iPhone and the ability to install applications from resource sources. Just look at the rise of emulators this year or the return of Epic Games to iOS. From the user’s perspective, independent and free choice of software sources is always a plus, not a minus.

Despite Apple’s long-term and unequivocal rejection of this idea, there is not a single confirmation of its negative payment in the company’s financial flows. Third-party stores are already operating in Europe; the American company did not collapse because of this. And those who installed these stores did not launch from the App Store. So there are all the prerequisites for a positive development of the situation.

We’ll keep an eye on it, keep you posted and hope for the best. Regardless of what happens in the future, the ability to conveniently install applications from any external source, including RuStore, is very good for all of us.