Alternative app marketplaces

iOS / iPadOS alternative app marketplaces

iOS 17.4 introduces support for third-party app marketplaces for devices in the European Union (EU). With the introduction of a special developer permission, third-party developers can now create their own alternative app marketplaces that can be downloaded and installed on devices running iOS 17.4 and later. Alternative app marketplaces offer a new distribution method for applications that allows users in the EU to download apps outside of Apple’s App Store

Configuration via Relution restriction

The configuration Allow installation of alternative app marketplaces has been added to the restrictions. This allows the value to be easily adjusted in Relution

Configuration via Apple Configurator 2 Configuration in Relution

  1. create a new policy with the name Restrict Marketplace
  2. add an Apple Configurator 2 configuration in this policy
  3. create an empty text file with the following content and save it as restrictMarket.mobileconfig
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>PayloadContent</key>
	<array>
<dict>
        <key>allowMarketplaceAppInstallation</key>
        <false/>
        <key>PayloadDisplayName</key>
        <string>Restrictions</string>
        <key>PayloadDescription</key>
        <string>Block Third-Party App Marketplaces</string>
        <key>PayloadOrganization</key>
        <string></string>
        <key>PayloadType</key>
        <string>com.apple.applicationaccess</string>
        <key>PayloadUUID</key>
        <string>a9f1b84e-6695-4f47-bcfa-e6334228bce1</string>
        <key>PayloadVersion</key>
        <integer>1</integer>
        <key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
        <string>786da36c-8283-48cd-9a23-91dde10cf4d3.Restrictions</string>
</dict>
	</array>
	<key>PayloadDisplayName</key>
	<string>Ohne Titel</string>
	<key>PayloadIdentifier</key>
	<string>sergeifink.4D826E8F-8336-4862-903F-C56CB2938B43</string>
	<key>PayloadRemovalDisallowed</key>
	<false/>
	<key>PayloadType</key>
	<string>Configuration</string>
	<key>PayloadUUID</key>
	<string>15684D12-3C64-4C47-955A-50B26E0BBE86</string>
	<key>PayloadVersion</key>
	<integer>1</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
  1. assign a name in the Apple Configurator 2 configuration and upload the mobileconfig file created.
  2. publish the policy and assign it to devices with iOS 17.4 or higher