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Posts tagged with "AltStore"

AltStore PAL Releases AltStore Classic for EU iPhone Users→

AltStore PAL, the alternative app store for iPhone users in the EU, celebrated its first anniversary today with a whopper of an update. AltStore PAL 2.2 now includes AltStore Classic as one of its catalog of apps. That’s right, a store within a store, which allows users in Europe to sideload hundreds of non-notarized apps.

If this sounds odd, it is, but there’s a method to the madness. AltStore Classic allows users to install DolphiniOS, an emulator that uses JIT (Just-In-Time) compilation, which is necessary to emulate more recent games and isn’t allowed by Apple on iOS out of the box. Alongside AltStore PAL 2.2, the AltStore team released StikDebug, an AltStore PAL app that allows any app sideloaded with AltStore Classic to use JIT.

I’m in the U.S., so I haven’t tried AltStore Classic, but judging from what I’ve seen on Reddit, JIT can make a big difference for emulators. EU users can read more about the update to AltStore PAL and AltStore Classic in the update’s release notes.

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Fortnite Coming to AltStore PAL as Epic Announces New Plans for Distribution→

Yesterday, AltStore co-creator Riley Testut posted on Mastodon that the ‘cat’s out of the bag.’ That cat was the announcement from Epic Games that their hugely popular game ‘Fortnite’ would be coming to AltStore PAL in the EU.

Epic had previously announced they would be launching the Epic Games Store in the EU on iOS and worldwide on Android ‘soon’ with what they called ‘great terms’ for developers. However, this announcement of their most popular title coming to an alternate App Store was somewhat of a surprise.

In the statement, Epic also said they plan to bring their games — including Fortnite — to other mobile stores, though AltStore PAL was the only one confirmed.

This being Epic Games, the statement didn’t forget to take some shots at the larger App Store owners. In addition to mentioning the recent legal battles Apple and Google have faced in Europe, the statement also reminded everyone of Epic’s win against Google in the US before making one final announcement.

In what Epic Games called a ‘protest of Samsung’s anticompetitive decision to block side-loading by default on Samsung Android devices,’ the company announced it would be withdrawing Fortnite and their other games from the Samsung Galaxy Store.

While it was only one sentence in another spicy statement from Epic Games, the announcement of Fortnite on AltStore PAL is a testament to the hard work Riley Testut and Shane Gill have put into the store. It’s also the realization of a joke Riley made way back in 2020.

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