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For those of you alive in the early days of the iPhone, you may remember a tool called "Cydia".

This tool was in fact the first "App Store" for iPhone.

Cydia was written by Jay Freeman (Saurik) in 2008 and was for jailbroken iPhones.

It allowed users to install apps, tweaks, and modifications not available on Apple's App Store, all from developers without Apple's approval.

Jailbreaking your iPhone meant that you had essentially full control over it, including being able to run a root shell on it, no restrictions whatsoever; it was just like a UNIX machine in your hand.

Knowing this (and I've said it before) anyone interested in having an iPhone and Android ecosystem where users are transformed into owners of their devices, requires a new class of App Store not owned by Google or Apple, and that is very popular.

There are App Stores for Android other than Google, but they're not as popular as the Google Play Store, and that's not surprising at all, because no normal person is interested in it leaving the fenced area.

That being said, it should be possible with the proper marketing to create an ecosystem that can compete with the "Two Party State" of Google and Apple.

This would solve many of the problems caused by large companies run by people unconcerned by Ethics and user's rights and lives. In this new ecosystem, for example, it would not be possible to have a bitcoin wallet banned, or removed.

If all of this is true (and it is) then the question becomes why has no one picked up on the threat of App Store removal of Bitcoin Wallets, and why have they not acted to either create a new default App Store ecosystem or boosted an existing Alternative App Store ecosystem with a large cash injection?

There are plenty to choose from:

- Amazon Appstore

- APKMirror

- APKPure

- Aptoide

- F-Droid

- Huawei AppGallery

- Samsung Galaxy Store

- GetJar

- Uptodown

- SlideME

- Aurora Store

- AppBrain

- Mobogenie

- QooApp

- 9Apps

- Xiaomi GetApps

- Tencent MyApp

- Itch.io

- ACMarket

- TapTap

Obviously Huawei, Xiaomi, all China based stores sand Amazon can be excluded as alternatives, but what they demonstrate by existing is that alternative App Stores that potentially serve billions of people are possible to create, so why bother whining to Google when you can just build your own and solve the problem forever?

And you're even more without excuse if you already have access to billions of people through existing business and user relationships to jump start a new ecosystem.

Upon launch of this ecosystem, it would mean that every developer of Bitcoin Wallets for Android would be delisted from Google only to re-appear on the new "Liberty App Store Library" where they are published with the features the developers desire and used on terms acceptable to both user and developer.

How hard can it be?

One thing is for sure; simply complaining about Google trying to kill Bitcoin Wallets is not going to change anything.

And obviously every Android app developer would flock to this new ecosystem to publish their apps so that more people would download them. It would grow almost by itself.

As for the Apple App Store, well...I guess if they go through with banning Bitcoin Apps, if you want to use Bitcoin your own way, you have to get a 'Droid.

Sigh..."The price of freedom!"

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Discussion

Mel 4mo ago

I had no idea and I’m definitely old enough

Beautyon 4mo ago

Imagine someone telling you that you should “break” your iPhone so you can run some “weird” software. You would instantly refuse, because you just paid $1,000 for a shiny new iPhone.

That was the exact proposition on offer. No normal person Jailbrake’d their iPhone it was for hackers, risk takers and tweeters not users who just wanted the best phone ever.

Den Yellek 4mo ago

I remember going through the jailbreak process so nervous that I was going to brick my device. But it would all be worth it for the themes and customisation.

Beautyon 4mo ago

By doing this, you have first hand experience that “your” iPhone can actually become your iPhone.

Most people who use an iPhone have no idea about any of this, and will never understand it. They have to be accessed by a route that doesn’t require understanding.

This can be done, believe it or not. It’s how Public Key Cryptography reached billions of people without a single descriptive word being written about it; it simply works in the background keeping everyone safe.

This has to happen in bitcoin. Believing otherwise is foolishness, futile and time wasting.

running bitcoin 4mo ago

I've been on GrapheneOS for years now and love it. But my kids are stuck on apple cuz all their friends use it. Is it practical these days to jailbreak iphones?