Apple has released today the second beta of iOS 17.5, which enables the distribution of iPhone apps via the web in the EU. This is one of the concessions Apple is making in the EU after the Digital Markets Act required the company to allow alternative app stores in the region.
“Web Distribution lets authorized developers distribute their iOS apps to users in the European Union (EU) directly from a website owned by the developer. Apple will provide developers access to APIs that facilitate the distribution of their apps from the web, integrate with system functionality, and back up and restore users’ apps, once they meet certain requirements designed to help protect users and platform integrity,” Apple explained in a post on its developer website today.
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
As usual with Apple, Web Distribution comes with a lot of asterisks for developers. I already detailed the various requirements in a previous post for the iOS 17.5 beta 1, but here’s a reminder:
For iPhone users in the EU, iOS 17.5 also won’t make it exactly easy to download apps directly from a website: Users will first need to approve a developer to install apps in their iPhone’s Settings app. After doing that, iOS 17.5 will display a system sheet with information about the app (reviewed by Apple) before the installation begins. While that won’t be as straightforward as downloading an app from the App Store, there’s an argument to be made that non-technical users should probably not be able to download any iPhone apps from the web too easily.