Can you not simply use a feature flag that you control remotely to toggle the app between fake and real modes? You just need to toggle the flag on when submitting for review
Ask HN: How do apps get into Apple App Store pretending something they are not?
11–12 of 12 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do apps get into Apple App Store pretending something they are not?
#12The judge in the Epic case said they had a 70% profit margin on their App Store fees, ignoring that multiple other groups of people are also funding the iPhone ecosystem and by the time these fees are being collected from users several hundred billion dollars in other revenue has also piled up. They said Apple wasn't investing anything in app moderation. > At other points, she says Apple “does a poor job of mediating…
> Apple “does a poor job of mediating disputes between a developer and its customer”
As "its customer" users buy retail from developers in the app store because they know (personally or anecdotally, such as from parents whose kids used IAP) that dispute goes my way. And then, most buyers never dispute. So win win for end user and upstanding developers who "get" what the ecosystem is about, win lose for end users versus exploitative apps.
At the same time, IAP is the worst thing Apple's ever done.
It — through short term benefits at the expense of long term trust — has done to software what Google Ads did to contentful web sites.
Ultimately, there's a straight line from IAP and apps it attracts to why EU is using adtech-drafted (and ad-supported media drafted) legislation to dismantle Apple's product experience.
In the long run, IAP and its consequences are likely to cost Apple margins trillions.