Apple may keep this iOS 17 feature ‘secret’ till rollout

The European Union has accused Apple of anti-competitive practices due to its App Store and iOS not allowing users to install apps from sources other than Apple. Although Apple was reportedly working on allowing sideloading with iOS 17, it did not happen. Apple’s Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, has said that the company might comply with the EU’s decision on sideloading.

According to Bloomberg, Apple was preparing to allow sideloading for the first time on iOS, which would enable anyone to install apps from any source on the system.

Andreas Wendker, a software engineer reporting directly to Federighi, and Jeff Robbin, a top service manager at Apple reporting directly to Eddy Cue, were said to be working on the side loading project.