As an (Apple) App developer, maybe Epic (and all android-lovers here) should 1st RTFM of how to "side load apps" on Apple devices ... before you write your verdict?!?

Don't get me wrong, I understand it's a "cumbersome" thing for the mere 99,9% of all regular users out there to "side load" any app on any smartphone (be it Apple's or any Android-kind ...) .... But for us, "geeks" it's like a 30 second hack to do ...

TL:DR ... Apple doesn't restrict "side loading of apps" .... it's just to cumbersome for us "developers" to guide all of "those 99.9% of users out there" through the processes ... heck, it's way cheaper to pay for the service to let Apple/Google/Microsoft/Sony/Steam/etc/etc handle it ...

As Epic found out the "hard way" through Googles Play Store ... when they reverted to going back to their Store ...

It's easy to "whine and cry Woolf" ... and "hard work" to build a global delivery platform of services and goods for the 99.9% of mere mortals out here ...

Ahm, No! They are not ...Apple is actually "protecting all of their users" Privacy! ... data, financial, payment records, purchasing habits ... etc etc etc ...

And ask yourself, why does everyone want to collect "all that data" from the payment process? ... what do they want to do with it? ....

Why do people so easily neglect the "fingerprint" you leave when you buy something with your payment-method? ....

This is what Apples means when they say that they "are protecting their users" from ... from Epic/TenCent/The-Chinise-communist-party from collecting and storing your data and financial records .... as Apple doesn't "hand it over" to them ... they only get to know information about "how many people bought their gods" and "trivial and non-relative data" and give them their 70% cut ...