As a result of the agreement between Apple and the EUDigital Markets Act (DMA), the third-party iOS app store marketplace AltStorePAL is now live in the EU. The store has been developed by Riley Testut and ShaneGill to accommodate apps that can be self-hosted by developers on their ownservers.

To install the app store, an annual subscription fee of €1.50(plus tax) must be paid, which covers Apple’s Core Technology Fee (CTF). Duringthe installation process, Apple confirms with the user multiple times if theywish to proceed with installing a third-party app, before it finally lets them getthrough.

AltStore PAL is bringing with it two apps, both developed byTestut himself: the Delta game emulator and a clipboard manager app ‘Clip’. TheDelta app is simultaneously also making way to the App Store outside of the EU.According to Testut, AltStore PAL is also open to submissions from third-partydevelopers.

For the purpose of monetization, AltStore PAL is incorporatingits marketplace with Patreon, and intends to assist developers in distributingbeta apps as a reward for crowd-sourced funding – something that the App Storedoesn’t allow.

Contrary to what may be perceived, AltStore PAL is actuallynot a new app marketplace, as it made its first debut in 2019 for iOS. The onlychallenge has been making it work on the iPhone by tricking the device intothinking you’re the app’s developer, with the help of AltServer - a software thatruns on a Mac or PC.

It is plausible that with a software that runs on the iPhone,developers won’t need to go through the App Store each time to get ontocustomer’s devices. While the Delta app is now fully supported by Apple,Clip still needs some workarounds that are all against the App Store policies,in order to run in the background.