iPhone users will soon be able to use alternative app stores to the Apple App Store. Setapp will be the first of them.
It was to be expected: the first alternative application stores will begin to emerge in Europe following the application of the Digital Market Act (DMA). We now know the first of them and it comes to us from MacPaw, the company behind the Setapp store well known to Mac users will launch a European version of its service compatible with iOS.
Setapp arrives in Europe on iPhone
In a press release published on its website, MacPaw announces the launch of Setapp in Europe in a mobile version. If you are not familiar with this service, it is available by subscription ($9.99 in the United States) and offers “a curated collection of premium macOS and iOS apps, streamlining software discovery and management“.
We are blazing a new path for the software industry towards a better and more diverse application ecosystem. This will provide customers with greater choice and a better user experience — Oleksandr Kosovan, President and Founder of MacPaw.
You will be able to download a selection of iPhone applications outside of the Apple App Store, containing “a wide range of productivity, creativity and system management tools, without advertising or in-app purchases“. As part of this subscription, users will also have access to the latest versions of these applications, which will be constantly updated.
On macOS, Setapp offers a very comprehensive offering, with essential applications such as CleanShot X, Bartender, Downie and iStat Menus. We do not yet know which iOS applications will be offered in its European version, its beta is currently accessible on a waiting list.
The price still unknown
But there is still one unknown: the price. We doubt that this is similar to the dollar rate practiced across the Atlantic, but MacPaw assures the site The Verge that this “will fit standard subscription models, but it has not yet been defined“.
We should expect more and more initiatives of this kind on iOS while Apple seems determined not to give up on all these applications distributed outside its App Store. The applications present in Setapp may also be available on the official store as is already the case for iOS, but we imagine that many of them will only be available via the MacPaw service.