Alternative app stores and “sideloading” should also reach the iPad
The European Union recently designated iPadOS as guardian, so retailers are also keeping alternative apps on Apple tablets
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act forced Apple to make a number of crucial changes, such as alternative app stores or “sideloading” but All these changes are referenced to the iPhone.. The European Union only mentioned iOS in its regulations, so the iPad was excluded from all these measures.
However, this will change with the EU calling iPadOS a “gatekeeper”. All rules for iOS should also apply to iPad. This seems to be due to a mistake by AB, who at the time was only focusing on iOS, perhaps believing that the iPad would also be included.
The European Commission today appointed Apple as protector under the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) in relation to its tablet operating system iPadOS. Apple now has six months to ensure full compliance of iPadOS with DMA obligations.
Alternative app stores will come to iPad within 6 months
Apple as of now 6 months to implement all European regulations on iPad. That is, they store alternative app stores such as AltStore or Aptoide, as well as the possibility of downloading applications directly from a website, known as “sideloading”.
Alternative app stores will also come to iPad
On September 5, 2023, the Commission appointed Apple as the custodian of the iOS operating system, the Safari browser and the App Store, and opened a preliminary investigation into iPadOS. The commission’s investigation found that: iPadOS protective features For the following reasons:
- Apple’s enterprise user numbers exceeded the quantitative threshold eleven times, while end user numbers were close to the threshold and are expected to increase in the near future.
- End users are locked into iPadOS. Apple is leveraging its vast ecosystem to deter end users from switching to other operating systems for tablets.
- Enterprise users are latched onto iPadOS due to its large and commercially attractive user base and importance to certain use cases such as gaming applications.
This seemed pretty obvious, If DMA needs to be applied to iPhone, the same needs to be applied to iPad. The iPad has greater penetration in terms of market share than the iPhone itself, and iPadOS is just as closed as iOS. So we should have all these changes implemented in iPadOS by the end of the year because Apple is expected to meet the deadline just like with the iPhone.
Source: i Padizate

I’m Ben Stock, a highly experienced and passionate journalist with a career in the news industry spanning more than 10 years. I specialize in writing content for websites, including researching and interviewing sources to produce engaging articles. My current role is as an author at Gadget Onus, where I mainly cover the mobile section.