Tim Cook: App Sideloading for iPhones Is Bad for Digital Privacy
Data-hungry apps, third-party cookies, and hackers often come to mind when you think about the biggest dangers to user privacy. But according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, there’s another threat that deserves the public’s attention: app sideloading.
On Tuesday, Cook used his keynote speech at the IAPP’s global privacy summit to criticize legislative efforts to require Apple to adopt app sideloading for iPhones.
“Proponents of these regulations argue that no harm would be done simply by giving people a choice. But taking away a more secure option will leave users with less choice, not more,” Cook said in his remarks.
According to Cook, app sideloading risks undermining all the efforts the company has spent to protect users of the iOS App Store, which is currently the only way iPhone can download third-party apps.
“Here in Washington and elsewhere, policymakers are taking steps in the name of competition that would force Apple to let apps onto iPhone that circumvent the App Store through a process called sideloading,” Cook said. “That means data-hungry companies would be able to avoid our privacy rules and once again track our users against their will.
“It would also potentially give bad actors a way around the comprehensive security protections we put into place, putting them in direct contact with our users,” he added.
To demonstrate his point, Cook pointed to how Android malware can circulate because the operating system permits sideloading. This enables Android users to install apps from third-party app stores and other sources, instead of only through the Google Play Store.
“Early in the pandemic, for example, there were reports of people downloading what appear to be legitimate COVID-tracing apps only to have their
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