Sidestore, LLC

Yesterday, I pinged one of the developers for SideStore in preparation for some changes I want to make to my trusted source. I've been offering PojavLauncher on that repository for unjailbroken users, and I was planning to push more to it - now that I had no paid developer agreement with Apple.

I spoke with this developer in direct messages, and was offered a spot on the SideStore organization developer account. After some... careful delibration with my emotions and myself, I decided that it would be best for the people I develop for and for my current mental health to take the offer.

Why?

The main reason I shuttered my own was because I couldn't justify the $99 purchase every year anymore.. A lot of the benefits fell off after a while, and there was still plenty of restrictions on what I could and couldn't do.

When I was first given the offer, I accepted it reluctantly and almost attempted to shirk it off and stay away. I'm trying to support Stella in her arguments against the App Store and Play Store (she has said many times that she can buy a Play Console account, and is choosing not to support it), and at the other end... dealing with my experiences as an iOS developer, and understanding how hard it is to get your software out there.

I still like developing for Apple platforms. I've always liked developing in general, but there's just an emotional attachment to Apple's OSes in particular... and I'm pretty sure it has to do with how the reason I'm here at all is because of that iPhone SE I was given, and how my mental health has been because of this.

Apple development is the one thing I can definitively say I'm good at. Maybe I'm not as good at it as other people I know, but I'm good enough for myself and that's what matters. I've been working hard these past four to five years of working on iOS (and then macOS) devices, and building software that does things the way the users want it to. It makes me feel good to provide a channel for all types of thoughts on app design and functionality on a platform that has historically not cared about the user's opinions on those.

A little defiance

This doesn't mean I'm going to completely give up on what I believe is right, or give up supporting Stella's mission. I have a plan for carrying out Malachite that both gets it noticed, and brings more attention to the sideloading community and all they've worked for (even when they also have to bend to Apple's rules.)

• Malachite will have release builds shipped to the App Store. Just straight up by-the-books Malachite.
• Malachite will have beta builds shipped to TestFlight, at least for the time being.

These two mirror what the setup was like before, when I had my own developer account. A s atribute to the sideloading community (of which I am from), the people I've worked with, and the people helping me, I'm adding two more:

• Malachite will have release builds shipped to my AltStore and SideStore repository - and these builds might contain extra features before the App Store releases, or exclusive to sideloaders.
• Malachite will have beta builds shipped to my AltStore and SideStore repository, with a few to choose from:
  • Standard beta builds will be a mirrored copy of the TestFlight (and eventually, possibly, the only way to get these builds.)
  • Extra beta builds will be beta copies of AltStore and SideStore releases.
  • Internal beta builds will open up my bleeding-edge commits as precompiled builds to all who dare!

Thoughts

It's easy to admit that sideloading has intentionally been made difficult, because Apple wants you to pay the $99/year to publish on their platform and do everything their way... and I'm still not sure if I'm doing the right thing to myself by accepting this offer. But on the other hand, I didn't do the right thing to myself by just pulling the plug and effectively ending what I was working on, since I can't think of much reason that users would sideload a camera app like Malachite.

I want to reach out to many while supporting what I believe in. I like the idea of this organization account being for those like me who have this passion, but want to avoid supporting a company that doesn't provide much in return. I've always intended to make Malachite a free app with no in-app purchases (and if there were, they would link elsewhere for donation purposes only), and that's not supporting Apple... right? Especially when I'm also going to make the sideloaded versions more powerful before the App Store versions, and prioritizing those versions.

I want to show that I support the sideloading community and Stella's mission by spreading awareness of a much discussed but poorly understood topic, and help show the drawbacks of signing, resigning, tethering... but also the part where it pays off by giving access to such a wide variety of software that Apple doesn't want around. I'm also looking into SideStore's codebase... maybe I'll contribute more than words in the future.

I need to contact Apple Developer support later to get my inactive developer account's App Store Connect information for Malachite transferred over to the SideStore one, which I'll do at a more reasonable hour of the day. As for right now... I'll finish setting up the M1 Pro and probably get cracking at Malachite and my AltStore and SideStore repository.

A lot of unknowns,
- Eva