I personally wouldn't go anywhere near sideloading applications that haven't been through Apple's verification processes, or advise anyone in my family to do so.
I also think that it is very hard to argue _against_ allowing sideloading.
These two opinions can co-exist.
Make it optional, make sure the user knows what they are doing, and has acknowledged multiple times that they understand the risks, and that they acknowledge support for any problems at all with the phone will be compromised as a result.
Realistically, 99% of iPhone users don't need to sideload, nor understand what it means, and would be worse off doing it on their phones.
Yeah yeah Apple the big corp walled garden big evil boo. Yes they make mistakes, yes they make a ton of money. But, their stuff works better than anything else on the market for the vast majority of people, and their decisions are almost always thoroughly thought through in favor of the customer experience, accessibility, security and safety.
This is exactly what Android is doing. You get enough warnings before loading an APK file, maybe Apple could make it look even scarier to ensure people don't accidentally do it but ultimately it should be up to the iPhone owner's decision.
I also think that it is very hard to argue _against_ allowing sideloading.
These two opinions can co-exist.
Make it optional, make sure the user knows what they are doing, and has acknowledged multiple times that they understand the risks, and that they acknowledge support for any problems at all with the phone will be compromised as a result.
Realistically, 99% of iPhone users don't need to sideload, nor understand what it means, and would be worse off doing it on their phones.
Yeah yeah Apple the big corp walled garden big evil boo. Yes they make mistakes, yes they make a ton of money. But, their stuff works better than anything else on the market for the vast majority of people, and their decisions are almost always thoroughly thought through in favor of the customer experience, accessibility, security and safety.