Why wouldn’t companies like Coinbase just release an iOS App on their web site? Why would they even need to go through the App Store? What are the benefits of the App Store for established companies with large existing customer base? If Coinbase or Amazon, for that matter, publish an iOS app on their website, I would not hesitate to just install and use it, without an App Store.
Most people want to update their iOS versions past iOS 14 (jailbreakable depending on device) or iOS 15-15.1.1 where one can install TrollStore. Which is still a whole thing people won’t want to do.
Otherwise the user would have to take the ipa, get an app like altstore on a compatible computer. Sync it. Then be stuck with the limitations of sideloading like needing to refresh the authorization every 7 days.
Either way. Most people won’t do this. We saw what happened when Fortnite was off the Play Store. It wasn’t that effective.
Wow, I don’t deal with iOS and did not realize this. How is this even legal? I thought the whole purpose of MSFT antitrust lawsuit was to avoid situations like this with future operating systems. How about just HTML5 mobile website?
HTML5 based apps are effectively a non-starter because many features, such as background notifications, apple pay, and others, aren't available.
Apple doesn't let you install Chromium/Blink, or any other browser engine, which implements things like WebUSB and background notifications, so you're stuck with the Safari browser engine.
Coinbase might have thought about it, but anyone who looks at building a PWA for iOS for any amount of time very quickly realizes that Apple has crippled it to the point of being a bad idea.
