After a long wait, Apple finally opened the doors for third-party app stores to comply with the new EU regulations. While the feature is only available in select European nations, it is still considered as a welcome move. However, the feature to sideload apps from outside the Apple App Store will remain exclusive to iPhones, and will not be available on iPads.
As iPadOS is derived from iOS itself, both operating systems share a lot of resources and have plenty of similarities. Most of the apps on iOS are compatible with iPadOS unless it is designed to be iPhone-only.
Despite this resemblance, users in the EU region will not be able to sideload apps on their iPads.
According to the EU rules and regulations, Apple’s iOS was seen as the restricting factor for users and app developers from having external sources for app distribution. However, the rules only mention the term iOS and not iPadOS. Although both operating systems are similar, they are completely different on paper as per the law. Hence, Apple is not legally required to extend app sideloading support on iPads.
One can argue that Apple is cleverly using this as a technical loophole. The company has never been in favour of having third-party app distribution methods and has always compelled developers to stick to the official App Store. Although iPhone users in the EU region can rejoice with the new changes, iPad users are still stuck with the App Store.
Apple has also not commented on the availability of third-party app stores outside the EU region. The app sideloading feature will start rolling out to users in the EU with the iOS 17.4 beta update starting March 2024, but global users will have to continue with the official App Store.
