I'm getting tired of all of Google's BS, so I've been looking into an iPhone.
But not being able to sideload apps is a big deterrent. Not having real Firefox is another one.
If Apple could open up iOS to be more flexible and user-configurable, they could probably draw a lot of Android users like myself that appreciate the great hardware and are tired of Google's business decisions.
But iOS is still dumbed down and locked down so badly.
Apple being Apple, will charge some absurd fee to "sign" images to sideload on your iPhone. I wouldn't hold my breath. Get GrapheneOS on a Pixel in the meantime.
You can already side load 3 apps for free on the iPhone but they need to be re-signed every 7 days. There are apps like SideStore that manage re-signing apps for you at the cost of one app slot.
@dingleberry so, your solution is to buy a Pixel, acknowledge that Google has no clue how to make a secure device, unlock your bootloader (unless you take the OTA) and proceed to cripple it even further by removing all of the proprietary features that make the pixel, a pixel. 🤦🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤣
I'm about to receive my first iPhone, since the 4, on Monday, because of all the same reasons. I used to love Android platforms, because they allowed me to do whatever the fuck I wanted. Now I can't even unlock my bootloader, at all. Even if I could, each of the vendors came up with a solution to permanently softbrick your phone in some way.
The only custom app I really want at the moment is modded Youtube, and having Altserver running isn't really an issue. That said, if I didn't need to do that at all, that would be fantastic
I second that suggestion, just install GrapheneOS. I switched from my iPhone to GOS over 6 months ago and haven't looked back. It syncs with nextcloud for everything and it's seamless!
I recently switched to iPhone from pixel and am very happy. However, I understand the need to sideload apps, haven’t watched YouTube at all on the iPhone because of the annoying ads.
I’m hoping that iOS allows installing apps from other sources soon, would also love to use the real FF.
I mean, I’ve been using uYou on iOS since I got the iPhone two years ago. It’s a bit of a pain to set up initially, but assuming you have a PC or laptop that is switched on often enough and on the same WiFi network, running iTunes and AltStore, it will auto refresh in the background.
It has sponsorblock and all that good stuff too. Normal YouTube is literally unwatchable.
@RGB3x3 this is what people don’t seem to understand. You want the iPhone to operate like an Android device, but it’s because it doesn’t, is why the iPhone is so appealing to everyone.