Alternative App Marketplaces

Another huge change in iOS 17.4 will be the ability to download apps and games from alternative app marketplaces. Unfortunately, this is also exclusively available for folks in the EU, but it’ll give you the option to sideload apps to your iPhone for the first time ever.

This basically means that you are no longer forced to use Apple’s App Store to install your apps. You can instead use a different app marketplace. The need to go install and use alternative marketplaces means this isn’t quite the full sideloading many had hoped for, which would have allowed users to download apps from any website, but it’s a start. Plus, the good news is it looks like that could be coming in iOS 17.5.

Of course, you should always be careful with what you download, but it’s nice to have this option now.