We tested Aptoide, the first free app store alternative for iPhone

The popular Android alternative market Aptoide has just been launched as a challenger to the Apple App Store in Europe. We saw a drip of stores have been launched since March, when the Digital Markets Act (DMA) forced Apple to support third-party iOS app marketplaces – but nothing so far has managed to upset the balance of power and change the status quo.

Aptoide has been around since 2009 and is primarily known as a Google Play alternative for Android users. The Portugal-based company says it currently hosts 1 million apps for around 400 million users. The Aptoide iOS app store launches today (as an invite-only beta) is a different beast as it only distributes games. It’s the first marketplace of its kind available for Apple devices – and its freemium structure could be very attractive to both developers and users.

Can Aptoide thrive where others have struggled? Could its gaming focus appeal to audiences? And could its freemium model open a path to third-party marketplaces? We had the opportunity to play around with a preview of Aptoide to find out.

So far, serious disruptions have escaped the alternative iOS markets now available in Europe. Including Aptoide, four are active at the time of writing. The first to be released was Mobivention, a business-focused store that distributes apps to employees. The second was AltStore PAL, an interesting marketplace whose main selling point was an iOS emulator undermined by Apple, finally allowing the software in its own store. The third was Setapp Mobile, a subscription-based service still in closed beta that focuses on providing a bench of productivity tools.

All of this has come with promises to take down Apple’s monopoly, but so far progress has been slow. AltStore PAL, for example, launched in early April with two apps: Delta and Clip. Now, two months later, it still only has two apps. This, according to its developer, Riley Testut, is because the new software “got stuck in Apple’s notarization process.” Things are a little better for Setapp Mobile. The company launched its store with 13 apps in mid-May and now, about three weeks later, it has 37 available.

Now it’s Aptoide’s turn to try.

Installing the Aptoide game store on your iPhone is similar to other markets: complicated, but possible with persistence. You have to navigate around a dozen on-screen interactions that repeatedly warn of impending danger. Fortunately for beginners, Aptoide provides a handy illustrated guide to the necessary steps, and having gone through this process a few times, I can assure you that it quickly becomes routine.

Once Aptoide is on your phone, it’s easy to navigate. You click on a game, install it and start playing. Unfortunately, in the state in which we tested Aptoide, what’s available isn’t very impressive. There were just eight base games (think versions of Solitaire and Hangman) when we tested, and none of them were particularly compelling. This will change, however. Paulo Trezentos – co-founder and CEO of Aptoide – says that 100 developers have already expressed interest in appearing on its iOS market and that “30 of them are currently in the technical integration phase”.

With new games planned to be released weekly, the library will grow quickly — although most of them will be titles already available on the App Store, rather than exclusives. There are also no plans for controversial titles not allowed on Apple’s marketplace, such as pornographic or gambling games. Emulators will be allowed “if they do not infringe intellectual property”, but they are already a growing category in the Apple store itself.

So what’s the main selling point? What does Aptoide offer users that they can’t find on the App Store? In addition to a current list of “curated” games, one element that Trezentos points out is the way Aptoide combines a freemium model with a rewards structure.

Aptoide is the first third-party marketplace to use an Apple-approved in-app purchasing system. For users, this means that all games will be free, but some will include in-app purchases. The difference between this and the App Store is that Aptoide will give “bonuses” to people who regularly spend in the app, something that will result in a 5 to 10 percent discount on each purchase.

Earth destroyer? Maybe not – but Aptoide’s attitude towards developers could see the store gain some traction.

According to Trezentos, Aptoide is “developer-oriented,” something it shows with its approach to fees. It charges developers 20% for organic in-app purchases generated by the Aptoide iOS marketplace and a 10% fee in all other cases – for example, when the developer independently advertises and drives app downloads. On the Android store, Aptoide charges 25% and 10%, respectively. Apple, on the other hand, charges a general fee of 30%.

Additionally, Aptoide is paying developers between $1,000 and $2,000 to release a game on its iOS platform, with the highest amount going to those who include in-app purchases in their software. The company also manages the core technology fee – a cost of 50 euro cents per annual marketplace installation – for its share of in-app purchases.

This core technology fee approach differs from the Setapp Mobile and AltStore PAL stores, which pass the fee directly to users as part of the subscription. Aptoide is in an interesting position as the first third-party iOS app store that people can use for free.

This is Aptoide’s true difference. Because it is free to use, it can appeal to a wider audience, making it attractive to more developers. In turn, the store’s friendliness towards developers could lead to the release of a large number of quality games, which could attract the public. There is potential there – to a point.

My concerns with Aptoide are threefold: its reliance on in-app purchases; the quality of the titles; and its competitiveness in relation to the App Store.

Although it is a financially successful business model, in-app purchases are largely looked down upon by technology enthusiasts. And which segment is most likely to download a third-party app store in the EU? Nerds. If the library contains only basic games of the type available at launch – and many are already available on Apple’s platform – what reason is there to go through the hassle of installing a third-party app store? I’m not sure a small discount in the form of a bonus is enough to encourage a large portion of the public to care.

Let’s not forget, however, that we are still in the early days of third-party app stores. Aptoide and Setapp Mobile are still in closed betas, while AltStore PAL hasn’t even started hosting apps from other developers yet. Many sideload fans may have wanted quick changes, but things aren’t happening that way.

Three months later, the alternative app stores launched so far in Europe do little to undermine Apple’s monopoly – and you know Cupertino is quite happy about that.