I have no doubt the EU won’t have much mercy for American corporations going* forward.
My phone REALLY wants me to type gong. Gong gong gong gong gong.
bro be like
We don’t need no friends, allies or influence when we can be bullying, a child’s concept of tough, looking up to other dictators like Putin and Erdogan. Im sure all it will take is loud threats of widespread tariffs and a stable Genius who’s “great” at deals.
“Coincidentally” Apple might make sizable
bribesindependent donations to support the free and open re-election of The fuhrer
Maybe Nintendo, Sony and MS will be next?
I want a 3rd party store on all my consoles, why can’t I?
Not skilled enough hackerboy 😉🫶🏻
Mod your damn consoles!
While I don’t think people get consoles without homebrew being unlocked first it is still better for homebrew to be unlocked on day 1
It will also give the possibility of open development
😮how got my obviously joking answer so many down votes??
Of course it would be better if the console come open already
I personally just love the hacking part of following hacks.guide
I was so hyped when the EU pressured Apple into allowing external software on Apple devices.
Apple killed that hype making the change EU only, problem is I’m encapsulated in the walled garden with an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Air Tags, HomePods.
Thinking of getting a second phone Android based to partially-escape the garden but if I ditch my iPhone all hell will break loose network wise.
ditch the homepod and don’t replace it with any other spyware, and replace the rest as needed.
What is homepod? Like Amazon Alexa?
yeah, and if you want something that doesn’t spy on you your only real option is home assistant.
Home assistant is great and apart from voice recognition, its infinitely more powerful than any corporate home automation product. Voice is tough to locally and on low powered hardware, but its getting there.
they have something that claims to be able to do it, I haven’t personally verified it, but generic on device voice recognition has gotten pretty decent.
I was you up until 3 months ago. I went nuclear and focused on the more open source side of android and have been so much happier for it. Sold everything to afford the changes.
With android you can change the os if your into it, developer at least.
Yeah I was looking into Linux based mobile OS’s and I’ve come to the consensus that hardware selection is very limited.
I was very interested in GrapheneOS but unfortunately it’s for Pixel phones only.
dint notice that, i though OP12r could do it too.
Sorry but the only way out of that is to stop buying apple products
I get the design choice, it looks nice, but the hardware is rather trashy and both hardware and software are hostile to it’s users. That won’t ever change
Well, they did get them to switch to USB-C, so I’m not holding my breath, but I do hope that this will lead to more interoperability. I’m tired of Apple making Android/non-Apple users feel like second-class citizens.
I have to agree. Switching to USB-C is a big step, but I doubt Apple will become more interoperable unless they are forced to.
I still don’t think that one was actually the EU’s doing. Macs got USB C before most PCs, iPads had it for a long time before iPhones, and iPhones switched over 10 years after Apple announced lightning saying it would be their connector “for the next decade”
Apple got an special exemption the last time the EU standardised the port to Micro-USB.
The writing would have been on the wall for them. Especially as thunderbolt 3+ uses the USB-C connector, there was no guarantee the EU would give them exception again, and lightning is almost certainly not designed to handle the wattage needed to charge a Mac.
But otherwise, if not compelled, I doubt that Apple would have carried it over to the mobile devices. The timing is fortuitous, but likely because Apple has a little leeway before the EU forbade their devices/fined them for not following the law.
Yay! Please stick with this, EU! I hope this spreads globally. 🥂
Good stuff EU
Hopefully this actually leads to something lasting, but I don’t have high hopes considering how Europe is getting dragged atm
I mean the EU made them allow app stores but Apple made a complete mockery of them by requiring their rubber stamp and charging “only” 27% fee and the EU is just letting them get away with that so yeah, I have little faith.
There isn’t really any getting away with. If what Apple does is within the law then the EU can’t prevent it. I’m sure somebody is looking into preventing Apple from doing it, but propper legislation takes time.
There isn’t really any getting away with.
But they are. Right now.
propper legislation takes time
They should have thought of that when they created the legislation.
It’s a shame Epic lost this lawsuit in the US because “just switch to Android”
Most every major company tries to build a walled garden. Apple does so via apps and services, services like netflix do by making sure you can’t watch shows on any other service (arr!), or even something as simple as cordless tools that have proprietary batteries and chargers where it gets really expensive to have to buy different batteries.
Most every major company isn’t entrenched in people’s lives as deeply as apple is though. If I want to leave Netflix it’s as easy as switching subscriptions. If I want to leave Apple I need months of migration and multiple product replacements.
Or at least that’s what it looks like to someone who has avoided Apple their whole life, it was apparent to me as a teen that the walled garden was a trap. The iPhone and iPhone 3g where the only and last peices of apple hardware I’ve ever owned.
And also getting using to an entirely new UI and OS
Destroys their entire business model 😂
Their entire business model has been to focus on systems that lock people in and exclude people who are out. None of this is done for security or as a means for the best possible customer experience. It’s done for the sole purpose of forcing income they couldn’t achieve with innovation alone. I’ve heard so many tech reviewers and even my own personal friends who say they would love to switch if only to try something else. They say they’d switch today if their friends, family and coworkers wouldn’t get mad at them. Apples only real innovation over the past ten years has been built in social pressure.
This is why the only Apple product I’ve owned was a free iPad. It feels claustrophobic to be trapped in their ecosystem.
Not the biggest fan of this tbh. People who want open standards should just not buy iOS devices. It’s not that hard.
Oh no, not more freedom and rights, please no!
I’m not affected by this in the slightest, and I do not think people that buy iOS devices will care about their newfound freedom
Yeah, most Apple users won’t care or even know, and will just keep using whatever it is that Apple gives them. I don’t see how that’s an issue.
Meanwhile, people who are at least slightly more informed will benefit from the freedom. Things like this are needed because informed consumers too are getting shafted in about every product category. Voting with your wallet doesn’t work in a market dominated by uninformed consumers.
Voting with your wallet doesn’t work in a market dominated by uninformed consumers.
… then maybe the people should just get more informed.
I don’t see how we need to regulate something that doesn’t benefit anyone as everyone is uninformed anyways and probably doesn’t even care?
Companies that do anti-consumer practices shouldn’t think it’s the norm. The more we fuck Apple, the less other companies think that it’s OK to fuck consumers.
Companies that do anti-consumer practices shouldn’t think it’s the norm
Yes, and they would know if people would start voting with their wallets.
Voting with the wallet is mostly bullshit, it’s a myth corpos are telling people so we regulate them less. They have so much power to inject themselves into human’s lives, make themselves part of your existence. You can for example try to walletvote Microsoft out of your life whatever the fuck you want, while you were trying it, they bought a politician or twelve, and now they’re part of your government, your education system, your military, and your finance sector.
While democracy still exists, the only way to fight corpos is the governmental power or regulations.Voting with the wallet is mostly bullshit
Disagree completely. It’s the most effective tool we have to control corpos that does not rely on another entity.
they bought a politician or twelve … the only way to fight corpos is the governmental power or regulations
So, you yourself say they buy politicians, but in the same sentence, you want the people they are buying to fight their power with regulations?
Do you see where you went wrong here?
That’s the whole point, when you do useless shit like buying from one corpo instead of another, they only need to buy couple of politicians to succeed. The only way for you to combat it is to elect politicians they can’t buy and apply political pressure to the rest of them, so they can’t buy them all. If instead of that you play their game and try to outbuy a corpo that owns half of your country already, not only you will lose every time, you are actually what doing exactly they want you to do.
“No ethical consumption under capitalism” is about this, not anything else.
You say that until Google realises that there is no other viable alternative and so they can do the same thing since it’s not like there is another option.
I know you ca try and install other OSes, but that isn’t an option for many, as many manufacturers make acquiring root access impossible.
You answer is basically a big “go fuck yourself” to everyone who bought an iphone before they knew about the things Apple did to keep users looked in. Same goes for the acquiring root access on an android phone.
People are not born with knowledge.
You say that until Google realises that there is no other viable alternative and so they can do the same thing since it’s not like there is another option.
Not entirely. I’m fairly sure that, if google decides to lock down pixel devices, the graphene team would evaluate other devices that are more open. The reason they recommend pixels is because they are open, not because they are big google fans. Graphene DOES run on other devices aswell, it’s just not officially tested or supported. And there are other devices with unlockable bootloaders, most noteably older oneplus devices and fairphones.
You answer is basically a big “go fuck yourself” to everyone who bought an iphone before they knew about the things Apple did to keep users looked in
No, my answer is a big “go fuck yourself” to everyone who voluntarily decides to stick with apple devices despite knowing of their practices. Let’s be honest for just one second: Barely any consumer is so tied into an operating system that it would prevent them from switching. What do most people do with their phones? Listen to music, have a messenger, maybe check emails, browsing - that’s it. And you can do that on any other phone. The amount of people that are apple power users that use applications that only exist in the apple ecosystem is abysmal and largely irrelevant in this discussion.
Same goes for the acquiring root access on an android phone. People are not born with knowledge.
True. Neither was I. But in 2025, we have the internet and you can read up on almost anything imagineable. If I wanted to learn about astrophysics, I could find plenty of videos or resources about it. If I want to learn about japanese history during the sengoku period, there are a lot of resources about that. And if I want to learn how to unlock the bootloader of a phone and install a custom rom, not surprisingly, there are resources for that.
This “People are not born with knowledge” argument is so stupid - nobody is born with it, the problem is just that most people are too lazy to learn about their possibilites to break free from oppressing corporate conglomerates. And THAT’S something I have an issue with.
Graphene works on the OnePlus, I’m not a developer so I haven’t tried anything in changing the Os. And pixels problem is with the obsession with Gemini AI and the exonys chip they are using that drains the battery
This is such a lazy argument, it doesn’t add any kind of value and it shows you don’t care about how other people are treated. Please stop doing this.
you don’t care about how other people are treated
True, I do not care about how apple users are treated. They have - voluntarily - decided to buy a device that is known to be anti-consumer.
If we talk about restricting stuff like rent, food prices etc, so essentials, I’m on board. But Apple? Nah. Nobody forces you to shell out that much money for a smartphone.
The problem is they have critical mass so developers are forced to target iPhone. Its a natural monopoly.
The US won’t care as well since they benefit.
I thought that “walled-garden” was for security and privacy in the case of Apple? I always relied on them for that.
You’re getting downvoted but how much would you like to bet that once the walled garden is down/third party apps can be installed; we’ll suddenly see “security related apps” installed by some EU law.
If I sound paranoid there’s already an app on Android that scans the content of your photo library (iPhones have this too but it’s only enabled during parental controls, Androids is stealth-enabled 24/7).
It’s called something android core, you can uninstall it, but it may comeback each update.
You still have the freedom to not use alternative app stores.
I don’t get the argument. It’s not like you are forced to buy iPhones, there a plenty of brands available. According to recent data iOS is 30% of the market while android is almost 70% (in Europe). I used android phones for most of my life. I tried to install alternative OS few time but my banking apps all refused to execute. There were always plenty of apps that were forbidden to remove (Facebook, Samsung applications,…). Then 4 years ago I bought an iPhone. No preinstalled shitty news app, Facebook, etc. Was even able to uninstall the default apps that I do not use. I feel to have much more freedom than before. Apple is not perfect by any means but it’s far from being a prison.
Nope, it was so they could take the 30% cut of every penny that is spent on one of their platforms, and also so that it would be extremely inconvenient to leave their ecosystem since doing so would mean leaving behind most of your data.
It’s both of those things. Just like Sony, Xbox, Nintendo, Steam, etc. They take 30% in exchange for exposure, security, and a reliable platform. It’s a trade off. Worth it to some, not to others.
Steam doesn’t belong in that list because you’re free to use whatever game store you want on a PC. No computers are limited to only using Steam.
Of those steam is the only one that doesn’t force you to buy software through them on their own hardware. Obviously they would like you to, but you are free to buy elsewhere.
Aren’t all Xbox games on windows now? Either through steam, the Microsoft store, or gamepass?
Are you able to buy a game on an xbox without paying a cut to microsoft? Because you can buy a game on steamdeck without giving valve a cut. Though I suspect the vast majority don’t because valve actually work for their cut given the tools they have made to help games run on the hardware even if the game wasn’t built for it.
You can certainly argue that more control makes iPhones safer, since its harder to get malicious software on the phone. But Apple is also abusing their control for their own gain.
You could also argue that locking you in a room would be safer than letting you walk freely out in the world. But I don’t we want that either.
I dunno, are meals provided in the locked room? The world is a pretty fucking awful place right now.
Honestly, fuck security. I want every app on my phone to phone home to other malicious app stores with all my personal data. I want them to install backdoor VPNs that tunnel all my data to a man in the middle. I want them to allow me to jailbreak my phone so I can install permanent rootkits, that way adversaries can reload their botnets even after I factory reset my phone.
On the real, i appreciate Apple for what they’ve done so far. If this happens, ill have to move back to GrapheneOS. Which is fine, but its just so much more time that I have to spend on making the phone work versus working on the phone.
We should force the entire EU to mandate GrapheneOS on all phones. Well see how much they enjoy the experience.
As a new user of GrapheneOS, I have yet to see the difference with regular Android except that it’s way more secure.
Graphene doesn’t support any of my banking or MFA apps, at least last time I tried it.
As a tinkerer, stuff like Linux and Graphene are right up my alley. But as a dude with a job and family I just don’t have the time anymore. Apple is far from perfect but their security/privacy efforts are the lesser of the evils for almost no extra time/thinking required from me so they’re the ideal option for now. Really hope all these laws don’t muck that up.
Should you stay with using the Apple app store. It absolutely nothing bad about this decision it gives people the option to use an alternate app store if they want but it doesn’t force anyone to.
The amount of bad faith arguments in this thread are disturbing for supposedly informed tech savvy people.
There is a ton of fanboyism around Apple, same as there was for Musk some years ago.
I love BRAND is just another form of tribalism and one that Apple cultivated for themselves for decades.
(Curiously, going down the thread I saw fewer Apple fanboys that one would find in, say, Reddit)
Can you provide a single real life example of an apple “fanboy” that you have encountered?
The obvious Apple fanboy is the kind of person who sings praises to every single new version of every Apple product even when it barelly differs from the last one, never criticizes their products and goes to a queue outside an Apple store the evening of the day before a new release of an Apple product to be one of the first to buy it next morning when the store opens.
I’ve personally came across a couple of people just like that over the years.
(Granted, they were more common a decade or so ago)
Every single person here doggedly defending Apple’s choice whose argument boils down to “it’s fine it’s as I like it” (whilst ignoring that everybody else has their own likes and dislikes) to justify Apple only having a closed-down environment without an open environment as another option, is probably a fanboy.
“I love it the way it is” isn’t logical, it’s emotional, and there really isn’t a natural human tendency (in most people) to want to have their choices taken away, so something else is at play when somebody defends nobody having any options with Apple other than Apple, with the argument that “I like it like that”, since logically, having the option of an open system won’t take away the option of the closed system for those who like it.
That said, an alternative explanation for such behaviour is that they’re just self-centred people who are extremely used to a specific environment and couldn’t imagine why anybody would want it to be different, a posture which is often associated with fanboyism of the brand which makes that environment, but not always.
Also another explanation is paid sockpuppet.
Honestly, both here and on Reddit I see more of that blind faith for Google and Microsoft. It’s so weird that the open-source community has a slice of people insisting their giant company is somehow virtuous because it’s slightly less fashionable. Even weirder when they write paragraph’s psychoanalyzing imaginary people.
That’s the lie they tell you, yeah.
I honestly don’t get it. It’s their product. Why are entire countries getting involved in how they make their own devices?
It is in the public interest to regulate companies. This is the best tool we have to promote a healthy market with fair competition, and to ensure companies make safe products that aligns with the public interest.
Perhaps instead of watering down one company, maybe all the others should be inspired to make better quality products that can compete with them.
Because- and this is only my opinion, allowing governments to control how a company manages their IP is a slippery slope to go down.
But what if a company is too powerful and has an unfair advantage in the market?
For example: Say a company is able to make excellent ear buds – the best in the market. Apple obviously doesn’t want to loose out on AirPods profit, so they then decide to deliberately make it a poor user experience to use other ear buds on Macs and Iphones. Now it is impossible for better ear buds to compete with AirPods because Apple abuses an unfair market advantage. Furthermore, this heavily decentivices other companies from even entering the market.
I see your point about the dangers of allowing governments to overregulate companies, but it is also dangerous to let companies freely do whatever they want. Share holders will happily screw over consumers and society for a tiny increase in profit.
In my opinion, right now there exists too many unhealthy markets – especially in technology – and I would like to see more regulations akin to what EU is doing. US is dropping the ball hard on this one.
I get what you’re saying, and while I don’t have a better solution to offer- I just know that the solution they’re offering now is a bad idea. It’s opening the doors to govt/nation controlled IP.
And that is bad for everyone.
