Amazon no longer hosts Parler

This is a pretty interesting thread. Will be interesting to see if his predictions turn out to be accurate:

 

Got it. Thx for the explanation. I fully understand both of these approaches.

For Enterprise, makes total sense. For end consumer user, that initial lift is still extra steps - but if someone want it, not as easy as just getting it from the AppStore, but not too difficult either, especially for a well known popular app that is already trusted.

 

no. that's an Apple product. Fortune 100s that use iPhones all have their own App Installers that circumvent the AppStore. That's why the iPhone supports "signing"/"trusting" Enterprise apps.

this is why I first tried the term "sideloading" in this thread. No matter how I describe this, it never seems to the casual to be as easy as it is.

let me try again

• AppStore is an App Installer. It installs app binaries in IPAs.
• Enterprises do not have to use the AppStore to install their inhouse Apps. If that were a requirement, all Fortune 100s I know of would be Android-only, as they will not put their inhouse Apps on the AppStore.
• Employees are trained to "Trust" their proprietary Enterprise App Installer
  (which is a common piece of code in client projects when they haven't created their own, and they are contracting out an App job)
• Enterprise Trusting is done in your iPhone Settings ... very simple
• that said, we can actually install IPAs without doing that "Trusting" step...as simple as they are.

 

I did briefly mention a trick to not have to do the Trusting steps in your iPhone Settings. There is no "initial lift" necessary like AppCake ... which is still rather simple and supported by Apple

trust me, Parler can be installed in a one-click action as easy as any App from the AppStore w/o any "initial lift"

 

So, what are the steps to download such an app without going through App Store? Where would one obtain this third party app installer? Can it be installed directly from the web onto the phone without requiring connection to a computer?

 

this /4 remark by Dave Troy is a big sigh ... disingenious overstatement of difficulty

1. They will have no problem finding a co-lo facility somewhere in the world
2. It is a simple click to fire up new servers ... then you transfer your code...no biggie
3. They actually do not even need a co-lo, but it is cheaper than DIY
4. Apple can't delete what's already installed on ppl's phones ... so with a new hosting solution, all Parler users are back up
5. For new users, Parler can do the things I listed in previous posts for seamless install
6. The only race against time is a competing trashy app doing 1-4 above quicker ... *and* stealing their users

 

You did. I kind of assumed that is a “hole” (intended or not) that if is exploited by consumer apps, Apple might shut it down... again, back to security vulnerabilities - still stuck there.

 

I can’t remember the specifics of one of the Q conspiracies my mother told me... but it involved bill gates, microchips, and paying us in Bitcoin so he could see everything we buy.

 

there are two very simple approaches for New Users of Parler to get their app on an iPhone.

• Note: This is a non-issue on Androd
• This is a non-ssue for ppl who have previously installed Parler

First Way:

1. Parler merely puts a download link on their website and Apple's instructions on iPhone Settings to check
2. While on their phone, user browse to the link and click it ... app starts installing
   (alternatively, Parler users just text this link to their friends in iMessage and click from there)
3. Follow Apple's 3-4 steps to allow an untrusted app to run ... this only needs to be done once

Second Way:

1. There is a trick to eliiminate the need to follow Apple's instructions to trust a non-AppStore app
2. imso, this is not really needed, because Apple instructions are very simple

Not needed ... I was merely explaning the background of how Fortune 100s rollout all their inhouse apps

not needed

 

yeah, it would become a wack-a-mole game. I'm describing using an AppStore app to launch an IPA. It could be an existing app, or a new app, but word would have to get out, where it is.

I don't think Apple would consider the programming an 'exploit', but the internets would certainly keep telling them which AppStore app to ban

 

I don’t see the big deal. Parler only existed so people could post on their Facebook about how much better Parler is.

 

Ooof

 

I am assuming parler is like twitter.. so you'd be needing to use databases, notification services, auth services, probably some encryption etc etc...
so unless they used 3rd party non AWS services to provide these functions (which I think would be very very unlikely), it would be a lot of work to
port the app to another platform (Azure, Google cloud etc...)

Not impossible but not a drop in replacement kind of exercise.

At least a few weeks, depending on the cleaniness of the design and implementation.

 

This is over my head but the Reddit scuttlebutt is that AWS stuff is heavily intertwined with Parler and would indeed be a big deal to move to another service. That and Parler is a slapped together mess.

 

So much sketchy stuff with parler it would be difficult to list everything -- they'll probably find another host somewhere though, but will they bother since they probably won't be able to make much money.

 

I think you're assuming a lot here. It is very possible parler is self-contained code (and database), in the sense the code is not relying on Amazon for anything more than EC2 (which is a web service for on-demand computing).

Being self-contained doesn't mean they don't use 3rd Party solutions. And using 3rd Party solutions doesn't have to tie you to server hosts, nor are you required to use Amazon's solutions for each thing you mentioned.

I'm not talking from a position of theory here. I've worked with web app and mobile app startups for decades, and we've yet to create one that would be hardwired to the services of a host ecosystem ... too much risk

Let's go down your list:

• databases -- i'd be shocked if the app's database isn't easily moveable. Can you elaborate?
• notification services -- I assume you mean SNS? Are you talking about Push Notifications to users? Or pub-sub application architecture? I wouldn't be surprised if they don't use SNS, because there is a plethora of 3rd Party solutions that compete with SNS on this, which wouldn't tie them to a host. And heck, Parler could probably live without Push for a few weeks and just disable that code, until they can change their push code to a competing solution.
• auth services -- Are you talking about Cognito? security/authentication is one of my primary responsibilities, so we do this with re-useable inhouse code, always. They could very well have shopped out this code to a contractor, many startups do. There are competing solutions that don't tie you to Amazon. Free and Open Source Keycloak on Docker is pretty popular. Cognito costs money and has some UI flexibility issues, and I can see other reasons why an app startup would not use it. Stuff like Auth0, Okta, Cognito are kinda overkill, actually, for Parler...but that's just my opinion.
• "probably some encryption" -- not sure what you mean by that wrt tying them to Amazon. Elaborate?

anyhoot -- there is a good chance they only use Amazon EC2 Web Services, which means they have flexibility to move hosts fast.

 

do you have a link to that reddit.

Is that coming from an actual employee, or is it speculation from people who use AWS for themselves? see my post right above this.

Through my years, techies like to sound tough. And this is an opportunity for many to piss on Amazon, and make it sound like if you use them, then you're tied to all their services. That's just untrue.