The first iPhone torrenting apps are now available, but you'll need to live in the EU to install them
It was only a matter of time.
AltStore PAL, the third-party app marketplace that allows EU-based iPhone users to install apps outside of Apple's App Store, has some new wares on offer. And two of them are exactly the kinds of apps that would never get Apple's seal of approval.
Four new apps are available for download, three of which are exclusive to the store and two of which fall into the same category — torrent apps.
Torrenting apps are explicitly banned from the App Store which means that the AltStore PAL route is the only one available to them, outside of the jailbreak world at least. And it was surely only a matter of time before they popped up via an alternative app marketplace.
Two to choose from
The two apps in question, The Verge reports, are iTorrent and qBitControl. The former is an iPhone torrent client as the name might suggest while the latter is a remote client for qBittorrent.
The other apps now available for download are PeopleDrop, a dating app of sorts as well as UTM SE, an app that can emulate operating systems like Windows and macOS on an iPhone. This app is already available in the App Store after it was released earlier this month but the other three apps have never been blessed by Apple.
Of course, you'll need to be in the EU to install any of these apps or indeed the AltStore PAL marketplace itself. The Digital Markets Act makes all of this possible, although those who have concerns about the potential legality and possible privacy risks of third-party app marketplaces will no doubt point to these new torrenting apps as a sign those concerns are founded.
More from iMore
- AltStore PAL warning issued to users on iOS 17.5, do not delete your app
- AltStore, a popular third-party app store, is now available to download on iPhone
- Here's your first look at installing apps in the EU on iPhone without the App Store
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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.