It has become somewhat unfriendly, but I really appreciate that you can still do whatever you want.
To run self-signed apps, run `sudo spctl --master-disable`
To turn off System Integrity Protection, run `csrutil --disable` from recovery mode.
To modify the root filesystem, do all of the above and run `csrutil authenticated-root disable` from recovery mode.
To disable library validation, do all of the above and run `sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.libraryvalidation.plist DisableLibraryValidation -bool true`
To disable AMFI, do all of the above and add the boot argument amfi_get_out_of_my_way=0x1
(Some steps may be a bit different on Apple Silicon Macs, I don't own any so I'm not as familiar.)
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You now have the same privileges Apple does. You can grant yourself whatever entitlements you like, inject your own code into any process, load your own kernel extensions, or just replace the whole kernel with your custom build of XNU.
I actually think a decent chunk of macOS's perceived "unfriendliness" comes from Mac users being less willing to hack around than users of other OSs. The common refrain in Mac circles seems to be that System Integrity Protection should never be switched off under any circumstances. I agree, if you're a normal user—but if you're not, and the handcuffs are annoying you, just unlock them already. (But do leave everything else in place until such a time as it presents a roadblock.)
Also, method swizzling in Objective-C is fun, try it!
I’m so tired of seeing folks parroting no sideloading on iOS. That’s not been true for a long time. Yes, the conditions of side loading (needs a free developer account, must have app signing refreshed weekly, etc) might not be palatable for your taste (which I’d generally agree), but to say it’s not possible to sideload apps on a stock iOS device is just wrong.
The semi-exception is Altstore, which is a fantastic project... but it's a major hack which sometimes breaks, and which Apple is liable to kill at any time. You also need to keep a server running on a PC or Mac on your wifi network, which isn't workable in a lot of situations.
I mean, my iPhone can run unsandboxed sideloaded apps, because it's jailbroken. But I wouldn't say that Apple allows third-party unsandboxed apps.
Were I to switch to an iPhone, I would have to either list my calculator on the app store (and pay the yearly developer fee) or have to remember every single week to "refresh" my app, otherwise it won't work the next time I need it.
Android has side loading. iOS has the bare minimum concession to allow developers to build something at all, and even that has unnecessary friction built in explicitly so that people don't try to use it to sideload.
> have to remember every single week to "refresh" my app, otherwise it won't work the next time I need it
Did I not fully state that up front? Just because it doesn’t work for your needs (or mine for that matter) doesn’t change that my point is 100% correct, to say that sideloading isn’t possible on iOS is fundamentally wrong. Fake imaginary points (aka HN votes) be damned, I’m not going to cave to the Android fanboys. Apple/iOS has many faults, so I don’t get why folks need to focus on something that isn’t factually correct.
