Apple blocks apps in European alternatives to the App Store — how does it work?

When Apple was forced to allow alternative iOS app stores in the EU, the company introduced the notarization (approval) model familiar to macOS developers. This means that if Apple revokes the notarization of a particular app, its distribution and use is automatically blocked — even if it is installed outside the App Store. This is what seems to have happened to the iTorrent torrent client.

According to the resource TorrentFreak, several users turned to the iTorrent project’s GitHub page with complaints that they could not download the application from the AltStore PAL. At first, the iTorrent developer thought that the problem was related to AltStore PAL, but it quickly became clear that the cause was different:

Since then, according to the developer, communication with Apple support has remained extremely limited. The AltStore PAL team also joined the case, but their appeals also did not bring concrete results. Currently, it is only known that the issue was passed to a “higher level” within the company, but the case has not progressed further.

TorrentFreak journalists tried to get a comment from Apple itself, but calls and emails went unanswered.

It is worth noting that Apple has already withdrawn the notarization of applications available in the AltStore PAL. Last year, a similar situation occurred with the developer of Mini vMac, an emulator of classic Mac Plus, Mac II, and Mac 128K computers.

Back then, Apple explained the refusal by using the word Mac in the name and design, as well as by the fact that the application allowed running the macOS operating system on non-Apple hardware. This is expressly prohibited by the company’s software license agreement.

In the case of iTorrent, the situation is less transparent. It is not yet known whether Apple has applied a similar policy of banning torrents that it has long followed in its App Store, or whether the company has identified potential security issues. In this case, Apple formally has the right to revoke the notarization.

Interestingly, iTorrent was one of the first apps to be available through the AltStore PAL after launching support for third-party stores. It remained available for about a year before Apple blocked its distribution.

In the community, this move by Apple is mostly perceived as an abuse of the notarization mechanism. After all, the very idea of third-party stores is to allow developers to distribute their apps regardless of App Store restrictions and rules.

Source: 9to5mac