Fight for the Future wants to abolish the Apple App Store

As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to hear testimony from aggrieved app developers, the digital rights group Fight for the Future has launched a petition asking Congress to end Apple’s App Store monopoly

The group argues that, “for years, Apple has maintained monopoly control over the App Store, preventing iOS users from installing software not purchased through the App Store on their iPhones and iPads.” With the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled to hear testimony from tech companies, app developers, and media organizations, Fight for the Future has launched a new website, AbolishTheAppStore.org, “to ensure that lawmakers hear from ordinary people who have been impacted by Apple’s monopoly.  

“By centralizing software distribution through the App Store, Apple is upholding the unjust laws of authoritarian regimes and restricting innovation in the mobile software industry,” said Ken Mickles, CTO at Fight for the Future, in a press release. “We believe that iOS should work like every other general purpose computing system, including Apple’s own macOS. Developers should be free to create — and users should be free to install — software directly onto the devices that they own without asking for Apple’s permission.”