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With iOS 17.4 in the EU, iPhone users can install apps from outside of the App Store for the first time. While Apple says that apps from its App Store meet all of its standards for quality, privacy and security, legally the company is not allowed to curate the availability of apps in third-party app marketplaces.
Apple warns that apps from outside the App Store may include hate speech, extreme violence, encourage consumption of illegal drugs, pornography and more. The iOS Parental Controls system allows parents to choose whether family members can install apps from alternative app market places — here’s how …
Third-party app marketplaces are installable through the web. iOS includes basic protections to prevent users from accidentally installing alternative app marketplaces. (Critics would describe these ‘scare sheets’ as unfair disincentives for user adoption.)
When pressing on a link to install an app marketplace, a standard system sheet will confirm if you want to proceed. If you do not install an app marketplace at all, it is not possible to install apps sourced from outside of Apple’s App Store walled garden.
However, parents may be concerned that their children do not understand what this means and continue anyway. In those cases, you can use Screen Time restrictions to disable installation of third-party app marketplaces entirely. You can also use Screen Time on your own device to configure the same setting for yourself.
- In the Settings app on iOS 17.4 in the EU, navigate to Screen Time.
- Continue setting up Screen Time on your device, or select a child’s device through Family Sharing.
- In the screen time menu, navigate to ‘Content & Privacy Restrictions’ -> ‘App Installations & Purchases’.
- Change the setting for ‘App Marketplaces’ to ‘Don’t Allow’ to block third-party app installation from non App Store sources.
Parents may want to set an age rating instead, rather than blocking all third party stores outright. Age restrictions will apply to apps installed from third-party marketplaces.
You can control the allowed age rating of all installed apps on the device — from Apple’s App Store or elsewhere — through Screen Time. In the ‘Content & Privacy Restrictions’ menu, tap ‘Content Restrictions’ and set an age rating for ‘Apps’.
Similar restrictions are also available in MDM profiles for enterprises to control app distribution on their managed fleet of employee iPhones. Businesses can set the “allowMarketplaceAppInstallation” flag to false to prevent any third-party app marketplace from being installed on a device, which therefore blocks side-loading of non-App-Store apps.
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