While alternative app stores operate independently and are required by EU law, Apple is still in a position to exert some control. This became apparent a few weeks ago, when iTorrent users suddenly ran into trouble when installing the app.

Thought this was an interesting story, since it's pretty analagous to the recent Android situation, with third party app stores being enabled to some extent, but the company retaining ultimate censorship power.

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[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 14 hours ago

Oh, I hate a lot about Android/Google too. One particular pet peeve of mine is that WebAPKs are still exclusive to Chrome (and, on Samsung devices only, Samsung Internet) despite the FAQ promising that "We are working on it. We are committed to making this available to all browsers on Android and we will have more details soon." (Last updated 2017-05-21)

There is no good option in smartphones, you have to choose the lesser evil. For me that's Android. I can appreciate that for some people it would be iOS. What drives me up a wall is that people defend these awful practices.