Overshadowed by the legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, the complaint that the developer of Cydia filed against the Apple giant has something to smile about as it is surprising.
Cydia, this is a name that many will read for the first time and which will bring back distant memories to jailbreak enthusiasts. Forgotten today, Cydia fell into disuse along with the jailbreak. The reason ? iOS updates gradually filling in the gaps of the iPhone, a task in which Cydia developers had specialized.
But what exactly is Cydia? A Brief History of the First iPhone App Store
The history of Cydia dates back to February 2008. At that time, the first iPhone of the name was not even a year old… the App Store simply did not exist. iOS (which was called iPhoneOS at the time) was even more closed in 2007 than it is today. What’s more, it was only available from one carrier in the United States. At a time when blocking the SIM cards of competing operators was still commonplace, small handymen therefore sought a way to free the iPhone from its allegiance to AT&T. This is how the first were discovered Exploits and that Cydia was born.
Technically, Cydia was just a GUI for APT (Advance Package Tool). This technology simplifies the distribution and management of software and applications on UNIX systems (of which iOS is a descendant). From a functional point of view, Cydia has everything of an App Store: community curation, a large catalog of applications, a simplified installation process, etc.
Success was quick for this open-source project which amassed a tenth of iOS device users by August 2009. Jay Freeman, the developer of Cydia, and his cronies funded the project through advertisements in installed donations from users. As the project grew in popularity, a game of cat and mouse between Apple and the various teams of jailbreakers unfolded and neither seemed to be able to gain the upper hand.
Having failed to end jailbreaking through technology and then through legal means, Apple decided to make the practice obsolete by simply giving users the features they got through jailbreaking. Thus, Jay Freeman announced the end of monetization on Cydia in December 2018, which caused the departure of many developers from the platform.
A complaint that dates back to the end of 2020
2020 was a high point for GAFAM, Apple and Google in particular. The two giants were attacked from all sides, both by governments and by developers for their abuse of a dominant position on their respective platforms. This all came to a head with the “Epic Games vs. Apple” case at the end of the year. Jay Freeman sued Apple in December 2020, alleging that Apple had an illegal monopoly on the distribution of iOS apps through the App Store. Its complaint also alleges that Apple has “consistently tried to stifle alternative app stores” such as Cydia.
In January 2022, Apple had its request to dismiss the lawsuit granted by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who agreed with the company that the claims in the first lawsuit were outside the statute of limitations. . However, the judge allowed Freeman to file a new complaint, which has now been accepted.
Cydia lawyers argue that Apple introduced new technologies between 2018 and 2021 to harm apps distributed outside the App Store, which is the case with Cydia and many other popular apps that users can only install on jailbroken devices.
With this lawsuit, Cydia wants Apple to open up iOS so developers can distribute apps outside of the App Store. She also wants Apple to allow alternative payment methods. to those who wish to compete fairly ” to the company. This action comes just as Apple is facing a similar legal action from Epic Games, which is also being reviewed by Judge Gonzalez Rogers.
The point today
Cydia’s attorneys said the litigation could benefit from waiting until the Court of Appeals hearing in the Epic Games v. Apple antitrust case has passed, which could happen as early as October. But Judge Gonzalez Rogers, who oversaw that case and largely ruled in Apple’s favor last year, recently said she wants the case to move forward more quickly.
Wolfson, one of Cydia’s lawyers, had asked Judge Gonzalez Rogers to allow the extension of certain depositions and evidence until June 2023, in order to give the parties more time to hear the decision of the American justice. in the Epic case. Apple opposed this extension until next June. The trial between Apple and Cydia is scheduled to take place on March 25, 2024.
Source : Reuters, iMore
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