An alternative app store called AltStore PAL recently launched in response to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and is now offering third-party iOS apps. The move comes several months after the company implemented an updated version of its open-source app marketplace in the EU. The DMA was enacted to foster competition, regulating Apple into opening up to rivals. Among AltStore PAL’s new offerings is iTorrent, which lets users download peer-to-peer files, and qBitControl, a remote client for iOS devices. Another app, PeopleDrop, automatically helps users connect to those nearby. Epic Games revealed it plans to offer “Fortnite” on AltStore PAL.

According to The Verge, there’s also a game emulator, UTM SE, that allows machines to mimic other operating systems like Linux, Windows and even macOS on iOS, in order to run old-school games and throwback software.

In contrast to the other apps in AltStore PAL’s initial release, UTM SE is also on offer in the official iOS App Store. “The other three were created specifically for the alternative,” TechCrunch reports.

To comply with the DMA, “Apple is introducing APIs and frameworks that allow developers to distribute apps independently of the App Store,” TechCrunch says, noting that the AltStore was particularly quick to leverage the opportunity, with AltStore developer Riley Testut sharing screenshots of the new online outlet.

In an interesting twist, AltStore eschews ads and paid downloads, but offers developers a Patreon integration developed specifically for the platform as a way to market apps directly to consumers.

The Verge notes that “Apple bans all torrent apps on its own iOS store, claiming that they’re ‘often used for the purpose of infringing third-party rights,’” explaining that “now that the EU’s Digital Markets Act has weakened the tech giant’s ability to police its walled garden, iOS users within the bloc can exercise a bit more freedom — and accept more risk — over the apps they choose to install.”

TechCrunch calls it a “unique business model for monetizing apps” that “is similar in some ways to Apple’s in-app subscriptions but comes without the traditional 15 percent  to 30 percent commission on sales that the tech giant currently takes.”

Related:
Epic Will Bring Fortnite to Third-Party iOS App Stores, The Verge, 7/25/24
Fortnite Returning to iPhones After Four-Year Long Legal Battle, Gizmodo, 7/26/24
You Can Now Torrent on iPhone Without Jailbreaking (if You’re in the EU), Pocket-lint, 7/25/24