Oliver Haslam·

Tim Cook Says Side-Loading Apps Would Destroy iPhone Security

Apple CEO Tim Cook says that allowing the sideloading of apps onto an iPhone would “destroy” the security of the platform. Cook was talking during a virtual interview at the VivaTech conference, Europe’s biggest tech event.

The interview covered a range of topics including user privacy, something that Apple and Cook are very keen on. But when discussions turned to potential EU changes that could force Apple to allow apps to be sideloaded onto the iPhone, Cook went on the offensive.

Current Digital Services Act language that is being discussed would force sideloading on the ‌iPhone‌. This would be an alternate way of getting apps onto the ‌iPhone‌. As we look at that, that would destroy the security of the ‌iPhone‌ and a lot of the privacy initiatives that we’ve built into the App Store, where we have privacy nutrition labels and App Tracking Transparency that forces people to get permission to track across apps.

Apple’s stance is that it’s worked to make iOS as secure and privacy-focused as possible, so why ruin that by allowing people to install apps from beyond the App Store? Cook pointed to the malware issue on Android as a reason why such a move could be fatal to iPhone security.

Cook also spoke about AR and AI, two things that Apple has been heavily rumored to be working on or has already jumped feet-first into.

I get excited about AR because I see it as technology that can enhance life in a broad way. We’ve been working on AR first with our iPhones and iPads, and later we’ll see where that goes in terms of our products. The key thing is that it can enrich people’s lives.

I get excited about AI and the ability to remove some of the things that keep people down and do work and free up leisure time for people.

You can watch the full 30-minute interview on YouTube and we’ve embedded it below.

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