iOS 26.2 to Allow Third-Party App Stores in Japan Ahead of Regulatory Deadline

Japan's new competition rules are forcing Apple to open the iPhone to third-party app stores, and iOS 26.2 will quietly flip that switch ahead of the December deadline. MacRumors reports: According to a post shared on X by @Tzzlala, iPhones running the beta in Japan are able to install alternative app stores like AltStore PAL and Epic Games, and download apps from them, though Fortnite in-app purchases are currently region-blocked by Epic. [...] The guidelines are set to come into effect by December 18, 2025, while Apple is expected to release iOS 26.2 in December, sometime between December 9 and December 16. Epic Games has already announced plans to bring Fortnite and its game store platform to iOS in Japan by late 2025.

This is a terrible idea

[saloomy]

Just wait until banks no longer have to go through the App Store approval process to audit their apps. You are going to have them tracking every move you make and what you say into the microphone, to determine your credit score. Apple was the damn in the meme about the lake and the town, between the shit surveillance state and the people. Mark my words. It didnt happen on Android because Apple was the alternative, that had to have feature parity. This is going to be gone now, because again: Government wante

Re:

[registrations_suck]

Will never happen.

will they have the core tech fee?

[Joe_Dragon]

will they have the core tech fee?

This will end badly

[HnT]

Mark my words, this will end badly.
No, I do not want to support a monopoly, but we have to realize that Apple definitely kept a lot of average people from shooting themselves in the foot, and in broad strokes their approach to the AppStore, code reviews and certified apps was not such a bad idea. Not great for devs who want to fiddle with the device, but great for the vast majority of clueless users.

Opening up the software deploy will end badly and we will see even more scams and botnet zombies.

Re:

[Smonster]

Is that why most computers, including Macs, are infected with malware and surveillance software....oh right. They aren't.

Sure there are plenty of people who install whatever from whoever. And there are people who will try to trick other people into installing sketchy things. However, there is nothing preventing people from just sticking to the App Store or major companies if they are afraid of or unable to discern the difference. If fact I think it is safe to assume the most basic and novice users will l

Re: This will end badly

[HnT]

What you are describing is essentially the equivalent of: MFA-protected accounts will never be h4x0r3d!!!1111 It is un-possible!!11
See how quickly they adjusted to that.

If there is money in it, they will literally talk you thru it on the phone. We have seen plenty of hack/scam providing techsupport, often better and more efficient than your real techsupport.

Even just having this possibility as a configuration in the first place absolutely IS an issue and DOES open floodgates.

There are way less Macs than the

Re:

[Smonster]

It is exceedingly simple to install non apple vetted software on a Mac. They throw out a bunch of scary sounding warnings, but that is about it. As far as the rest of it there are people who give out their banking information and social security numbers to strangers who text or call them over the phone. If not the scammers wouldn’t be flooding people’s phones with the bs. You are right that people like that will be more susceptible to such things. However, the any I see it, it’s kind of li

Re:

[SeaFox]

Apple definitely kept a lot of average people from shooting themselves in the foot

Google has allowed Android phone owners to install any app that they want for years now, without even having to install some special "app store" to get them. I haven't heard of any large-scale problem with Android phone owners being ruined by side-loaded apps. The most common vectors have been malicious apps they got from the Google Play Store, and phishing of the user themselves for financial info, not pilfered with some spy app. The same as people on the Apple iPhone side.

Funny

[registrations_suck]

It will be funny in virtually nobody uses the third party stores.

What's the govt going to do then? Require people to use them?

Enable it for everyone

[bubblyceiling]

Come on Apple. It's time to enable it for everyone. Most people aren't gonna use it but for geeks itâ(TM)ll be pretty cool

Epic Games Store got sued for being the same...

[bsdetector101]

Poetic !