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bitsgalore / bitsgalore.github.io

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Towards a preservation workflow for mobile apps #75

Open bitsgalore opened 3 years ago

bitsgalore commented 3 years ago

https://www.bitsgalore.org/2021/02/24/towards-a-preservation-workflow-for-mobile-apps

gewappnet commented 3 years ago

For iOS it is even worse: Every download from the app store automatically encrypts the file with the AppleID of the user. This specific app file will only work on an Apple device with this user ID. The app store also recognizes the device that requested the download and will deliver a reduced app file specific for this device. It is not possible to download a universal app file that works on every device it could work.

So for iOS there are only two ways, that are both difficult:

  1. Apple delivers a specific archival version of the app file without DRM and complete for all iOS devices. But this would not be installable on a normal iOS device. You would need an emulator or a jailbreak iOS device - but Apple would never approve the usage on a jailbreak device.
  2. The app developer delivers a source code package ready to be used in the official macOS simulator for iOS developer. That would restrict the access to a very specific usage, but would work within the current constraints.

For 1. a possible emulator could be the new Macs with M1 processor. These Macs are able to run iOS apps, but the app distribution is the same: The app needs to be downloaded directly from the app store and will be customized in the process with DRM and specific for the device.

bitsgalore commented 3 years ago

@gewappnet Ouch, that's nasty, thanks for this addition, I had no idea it was this bad! This also makes me question whether it's even worthwhile to dedicate any time or effort to iOS emulation, because, if I understand this correctly, you're pretty much stuck with the device (emulated or otherwise) that was used to download the app. Once that's not usable anymore it's game over, with no chance to set up another (emulated) device.