Alternative application stores for iPhone are starting to multiply. A few weeks after the AltStore, it’s Setapp’s turn to open up to iOS, with a simpler economic model.
iPhone and iPad users will have more and more choices for downloading apps to their devices. After AltStore.io, it’s Setapp’s turn to polish its servers to offer an alternative application store to the Apple App Store. Remember that Apple did not open the doors of its smartphone to competition out of the goodness of its heart, but under regulatory pressure from the European Commission and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), this digital markets law which came into force on March 6 (read our article) and which aims to better regulate the digital giants. Among the measures adopted, there is therefore the obligation to give iPhone users the possibility of installing applications that do not come from the App Store.
Setapp: the Netflix of apps
The arrival of Setapp, from the MacPaw editor well known for its CleanMyMac alternative application store on Mac and therefore offers a substantial catalog of apps. There are more than 240 available for Mac at the time of writing and around 30 for iPhone. To access the catalog, simply take out a monthly subscription of $10 (excluding taxes) or an annual subscription and that’s it: you can install as many applications as you want. This is why Setapp is sometimes called the Netflix of apps. It was already possible, with a few contortions, to access the iOS applications offered by Setapp on your iPhone, but the dedicated alternative store simplifies all that.
For now, the iOS version of Setapp is only available in beta for certain users but will soon be available to all Setapp subscription holders. All you need to do is go to setapp.com from your iPhone’s browser, go to the Setapp Mobile section and follow the instructions. Among these, you must go to the iPhone Settings to indicate that you authorize MacPaw to install a competing store. Once this is done, we have access to the catalog. We tap on the name of an app, read the description and if we are interested, press Install. And that’s all. Like on the App Store, but it’s not the App Store and what’s more, you never pay anything extra and we don’t have ads either. So many advantages that make you want to see this catalog of iPhone apps grow. Remember that to be able to use the Setapp Store, you must be physically in a country in the European Union and use an Apple account also located in Europe.