Setapp Mobile seemed like one of the many alternative app markets with promise that launched in the wake of the EU’s Digital Markets Act. While the law may have forced Apple to allow third-party app stores on its devices, it couldn’t make users actually embrace them.

With the exception of Riley Testut, not a single iPhone user was clamouring to be able to install a third party app store on their phone. What they wanted then - and still want now - is the ability to install software in the same way they can on their computers (be that Mac or Windows).

Apple knowingly made the process as awkward and convoluted as possible and it’s worked out exactly as they wanted it to.

I have an iPad mini which I don’t really use for much these days, not since I tentatively walked away from Apple products into the world of Linux, and FOSS, and have subsequently discovered that, while my MacBook works pretty well with most of the things I have running on my Linux machine, my iPad does not. In fact, at this stage I can get more cross-platform utility from a ten year old Galaxay Tab running LineageOS. If I could install software from any location without having to fuck about with a third part app store (though I can’t even do that because I’m in the UK, not EU), then I’d have half a chance of finding other, more useful software.

We are excited to focus efforts on various projects that will launch later this year. This includes Eney, a first-of-its-kind AI assistant native to macOS

They just can’t help themselves