Apple blocks Coinbase wallet release on IOS

[bbc.reporter]

It appears Apple executives are trying to find more creative methods to make more revenue for the company hehehe. This might be because Apples's production of their products in China will go down because of workers' protests in their sweatshops?

In any case, this might only be the beginning. The government might use this and regulations to force other technology companies to cause impairment on the infrastructure of the cryptospace. It begins with consumers and their wallets.



Apple blocks the Coinbase wallet on iOS. As per the details from a tweet thread by Coinbase, iOS users will be unable to send NFTs from their wallets on iOS devices anymore.

The main reason cited and mentioned by Coinbase is that “…the gas fees required to send NFTs need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system so that they can collect 30% of the gas fee.”

Additionally, Coinbase mentioned that, for anyone who understands how NFTs and blockchain work, Apple’s request is impossible. “Apple’s proprietary In-App Purchase system does not support crypto, so we couldn’t comply even if we tried,” cited Coinbase.

Read in full https://watcher.guru/news/apple-blocks-coinbase-wallet-release-on-ios

[mindrust]

Apple and Google duopoly needs to come to an end. These companies make me sick, especially Apple because their closed OS can block any app and you won’t be able to use them apps which apple don’t like. With android at least you can install non-playstore apps freely (that’s how I remember android, they didn’t block this, did they?) or you can choose to use a modded android os…

We definitely need a third player which supports a better app store. Maybe Elon can deliver this.

[hugeblack]

The title is a bit misleading, Coinbase wallet was not banned but the latest update, as far as I understand if they remove NFT feature they will not be banned.

Apple is now putting pressure on digital services, monitoring them, and imposing harsher conditions on them than governments. Perhaps they should reconsider, especially since many of the reasons for removing applications do not appear to be for the purpose of protecting the user from fraud or protecting his data.

[vv181]

With android at least you can install non-playstore apps freely (that’s how I remember android, they didn’t block this, did they?) or you can choose to use a modded android os…

We definitely need a third player which supports a better app store. Maybe Elon can deliver this.

At the very least, Android still offer as much freedom of what you can do to your phone. With F-Droid being the popular one, and on a popular device model, one can opt-out out install any Google apps to the device. As with the third player, I don't think the mobile market share needs another competitor, even if Elon would do it.

Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to install third party app store on iOS.

There are a few third-party app stores for iOS: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=iphone+third+party+app+store&ia=web.

As far as I can see, AltStore is the open-source one. Nevertheless, digging deeper into the app, seems there isn't many apps being supported.

[mk4]

The main reason cited and mentioned by Coinbase is that “…the gas fees required to send NFTs need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system so that they can collect 30% of the gas fee.”

That was such an ignorant reason coming from Apple's side that they should definitely fire whoever made that decision. You'd think a 2 trillion dollar company wouldn't make such an amateur misunderstanding lmao.

[NotATether]

Apple and Google duopoly needs to come to an end. These companies make me sick, especially Apple because their closed OS can block any app and you won’t be able to use them apps which apple don’t like. With android at least you can install non-playstore apps freely (that’s how I remember android, they didn’t block this, did they?) or you can choose to use a modded android os…

You might already know that Android is just a ripoff version of Linux, But did you know that iOS also runs Linux? [Alpine Linux to be specific].

I randomly discovered this while I was playing on iSH shell which gives you a terminal for iOS. There's a /proc folder (only Linux has that), and running "uname -a" on it also turns out Linux.

It is funny how all these companies have ancient desktop OSes which are dinosaurs by today's standards (MacOS runs on Mach kernel) but once they became unwilling to commit the manpower required to make radical upgrades to those systems, they decided to rip off Linux instead.

Actually what the hell, don't be surprised if Windows runs on the Linux kernel one day too.

We definitely need a third player which supports a better app store. Maybe Elon can deliver this.

That is not going anywhere without a complementary desktop OS. The truth is, even Google is on the desktop with ChromeOS. There's no way Elon Musk is going to find the manpower necessary to maintain such an OS, even if he ends up plagiarizing Linux like the rest of his competitors. Let alone maintaining two operating systems.

[JeromeTash]

Maybe it's about crypto companies and projects start putting more effort in publishing apps that are supported by open source operating systems like Linux. Decentralization comes at a price. You can't make a "dapp" and publish it on only Microsoft, google play and app store and then think things will go on well.

Elon Musk already had some complaints about apple cutting their advertising on Twitter probably due to the recent "free speech campaign" by him, you can clearly see that apple is a political tool.

[mk4]

Maybe it's about crypto companies and projects start putting more effort in publishing apps that are supported by open source operating systems like Linux. Decentralization comes at a price. You can't make a "dapp" and publish it on only Microsoft, google play and app store and then think things will go on well.

To be fair, Coinbase Wallet is available on Linux due to it being a Chrome browser extension. Also, most crypto "dapps" are web apps(not mobile apps) so they're pretty much available to every platform that can run a browser.

[bittraffic]

Maybe it's about crypto companies and projects start putting more effort in publishing apps that are supported by open source operating systems like Linux. Decentralization comes at a price. You can't make a "dapp" and publish it on only Microsoft, google play and app store and then think things will go on well.

Elon Musk already had some complaints about apple cutting their advertising on Twitter probably due to the recent "free speech campaign" by him, you can clearly see that apple is a political tool.

Twitter is also used by Elon to expose political parties so its a war. Twitter will be next that Apple will block and Cook might also want some cut to the altcoins that are to be integrated into accounts since Elon already mentioned he will add wallets on Twitter.

If Apple continues to do all these, they may also be blocking the rest of the wallets on iOS. Trust Wallet could be his real target.

[jrrsparkles]

Apple created a closed ecosystem for decade and let all the users to come in now they are controlling it, so users have no other choice to accept or stop using their device. As far as I concerned most Apple users are trusting their device when it comes to security so they will accept anything the company make them to do.

Atleast someone has to voice about this so users may realize what they are going through unless the rate of control will further progress with years and every update.

[joniboini]

Atleast someone has to voice about this so users may realize what they are going through unless the rate of control will further progress with years and every update.

I'm pretty sure there are tons of complaints about their policy on social media, but their users will keep buying or using their product since there is no alternative for them and they are too lazy to move to another ecosystem. Apple has no incentive to change either since people still buy their product, so it's kinda useless.

If Apple continues to do all these, they may also be blocking the rest of the wallets on iOS. Trust Wallet could be his real target.

How big is Trust Wallet market share on IOS? They are smaller than Coinbase on the app store, with fewer downloads and user ratings too. I doubt they want to kill such a 'small' wallet when they already went for the bigger one. Cash App is probably the next target if there is really some sinister idea behind this move.

I didn't know existence of AltStore which don't need jailbreak. Although requiring computer for initial setup would discourage many average user who're used with convenience.

If they are considering using an alternative app store, I think most of them would be prepared to do something more than just download and install an app. At least that's how I feel when I regularly mod my Android phone in the past. But doing this on IOS is definitely not easy, not many apps are supported by default and we need to find our own IPA files to sideload. CMIIW.

[bbc.reporter]

The title is a bit misleading, Coinbase wallet was not banned but the latest update, as far as I understand if they remove NFT feature they will not be banned.

Apple is now putting pressure on digital services, monitoring them, and imposing harsher conditions on them than governments. Perhaps they should reconsider, especially since many of the reasons for removing applications do not appear to be for the purpose of protecting the user from fraud or protecting his data.

The title never said that it has banned Coinbase wallet, it said that it has blocked a wallet release from Coinbase. The title is accurate on what real story is and has also kept the clickbait classification hehehehe.

In any case the title is not the argument. Similar to @mindrust has said, the community needs more players that can deliver the necessary infrastructure for the cryptospace or Apple and Google's duopoly will have the power over what is released or what gets blocked. The government can also use regulations over Apple or Google to force what is released or what gets blocked.

[sunsilk]

Where they are getting these percentage of fees? They're just pushing away more revenue instead of attracting more of being supportive to the type of payment that the other users prefer.

Well then, that's been decided and they're not crypto friendly and probably it's coming from that they own the OS/iOS. But it won't be surprising soon if they'll change this decision.

[mk4]

Where they are getting these percentage of fees? They're just pushing away more revenue instead of attracting more of being supportive to the type of payment that the other users prefer.

Well then, that's been decided and they're not crypto friendly and probably it's coming from that they own the OS/iOS. But it won't be surprising soon if they'll change this decision.

They're technically not pushing away any revenue because there's zero revenue to take in the first place. Coinbase Wallet is Coinbase's non-custodial wallet, totally separate from the Coinbase exchange app. As far as I know Coinbase doesn't make any money from the wallet besides indirectly gaining from branding.

[DaveF]

Apple has blocked a lot of apps over the years because they didn't get a cut of the fees. Some apps actually work differently on IOS vs Android because of how they define a purchase. Even now you can't buy an ebook on the Kindle app on Android after being able to for years.

Since there was no way to generate apples cut of the sale easily and Coinbase probably did not want to put development into a free product it's easier just to not deal with it.

But, since it's about NFTs purchases which obviously don't involve BTC it's just less people getting scammed buying into a scam.

-Dave

[vv181]

But did you know that iOS also runs Linux? [Alpine Linux to be specific].

I randomly discovered this while I was playing on iSH shell which gives you a terminal for iOS. There's a /proc folder (only Linux has that), and running "uname -a" on it also turns out Linux.

As on their GitHub page, iSh is running over "usermode x86 emulation and syscall translation". So, I don't think it actually does run Linux.

Regarding it showing as Alpine Linux, it is due to the app using that distro filesystem.

The iSH App supports the ability to use filesystems other than the barebones Alpine Linux distribution it ships with

[bbc.reporter]

Apple has blocked a lot of apps over the years because they didn't get a cut of the fees. Some apps actually work differently on IOS vs Android because of how they define a purchase. Even now you can't buy an ebook on the Kindle app on Android after being able to for years.

Since there was no way to generate apples cut of the sale easily and Coinbase probably did not want to put development into a free product it's easier just to not deal with it.

But, since it's about NFTs purchases which obviously don't involve BTC it's just less people getting scammed buying into a scam.

-Dave

Agreed that we can argue that it can be a positive. However, it will not be enough to defend the reality of the duopoly of Apple and Google and how this can be used for the impairment of the infrastructure of the cryptospace and how government can force them to do this. We would be telling a different story if they began to block all bitcoin wallet software updates because of some strange reason. I am quite certain much of us would be calling Apple a scam hehehehe.

[DaveF]

Agreed that we can argue that it can be a positive. However, it will not be enough to defend the reality of the duopoly of Apple and Google and how this can be used for the impairment of the infrastructure of the cryptospace and how government can force them to do this. We would be telling a different story if they began to block all bitcoin wallet software updates because of some strange reason. I am quite certain much of us would be calling Apple a scam hehehehe.

At least with Android there are other app stores that can be used, the install from unknown sources APK option and other options without too much work.

Apple does not care about crypto except for how it can make them money. Since if you buy anything thought the apps on Apple the get a cut (been like this since it started nothing has changed) they have to be consistent. If they allow app "CB" to allow certain purchases without paying them, app developer "X" can then fight them saying they should not pay either for some reason, and then another developer does not want to pay and then another developer does not want to pay and so on. Easier to just not allow the 1st app.

That's just good business.

-Dave

[PX-Z]

We definitely need a third player which supports a better app store. Maybe Elon can deliver this.

There are a lot of alternatives for digital distribution service out there actually, well, only for android apps.
Android is open source OS which also means that any app made for android phones can be installed whether the source of the apps is play store or not.

App store is way different because it is completely like a centralized platform, that only approved apps on app store can only be installed on its OS nothing else. So apple don't have a choice but to follow apple rules on its device.

[DaveF]

App store is way different because it is completely like a centralized platform, that only approved apps on app store can only be installed on its OS nothing else. So apple don't have a choice but to follow apple rules on its device.

Sort of, there are jailbreaks out there for iPhones but not as many or as easy as just clicking the unknown sources on Android.

Bringing it back to the topic at hand, I think it's not that big a deal if CB wanted to work around it they could, even if it was a 'if you buy it on the app your gas will be 50% more message' and just take the cut. But, since they did not you have to figure they thought it was such a small market as to not be worth it.

Outside of the NFTs are crap side of the augment, looking at it from the other way NFTs are dead. Their sales have fallen off a cliff so I really think in a bit it will become a non issue.

-Dave