The EU requires iPads to meet the same DMA regulations as the iPhone. That’s why iPadOS will soon also have sideloading. You need to know this.
iPadOS also gets sideloading
Since the release of iOS 17.4 in March, iPhones in the European Union have been subject to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This forced Apple to support alternative app stores and sideloading in iOS for the first time and allow browsers with a different engine to be set as the default browser. The EU has now announced that the iPad will soon have to comply with the same rules as the iPhone.
The EU started an investigation in September 2023 to see whether iPadOS would also qualify for the DMA. In a EU blog The change states that Apple now has six months to ensure that iPadOS is fully compliant with DMA obligations and must allow sideloading. The changes in iOS only appeared the week of the deadline, so we expect this will be no different with iPadOS. This will probably only be with the release of iPadOS 18.
iOS adjustments are adopted in iPadOS
Since 2019, Apple has called the iPad operating system iPadOS instead of iOS. But actually there is still little difference between the two operating systems. Both iOS and iPadOS have the same build numbers and they are almost always updated at the same time. Additionally, they both pull software from the same locked App Store with the same restrictions imposed by Apple.
Apple has already made several changes to iOS in the EU to comply with the DMA. Yet EU regulators are already checking Apple for non-compliance. Depending on the results, the EU could force Apple to make even more changes to the way third-party apps can be installed in iOS. In addition to sideloading, any changes Apple makes to iOS will likely also be implemented in iPadOS.
Sideloading in iPadOS will therefore take some time, but will be possible in six months at the latest. When the time comes, you can install AltStore PAL on your iPad just like you did on your iPhone.
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