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Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

david.dev

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Re: Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

#121

Post by saagarjha »

mcherm wrote: post #118
plorkyeran wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do not ban you for removing some uses of private APIs, but missing others and resubmitting. In the last decade of this being the policy on the iOS app store they've been quite consistent about only banning people who very clearly are deliberately trying to sneak things in.

> They do not ban you for removing some uses of private APIs, but missing others and resubmitting. Maybe not -- maybe you know something about how Apple operates. But clearly they ARE sending responses threatening to do exactly that.

> maybe you know something about how Apple operates

Anecdotally, I have never heard of this happening in non-malicious cases, ever. And I know a couple hundred Mac and iOS developers who would raise a lot of noise if this did happen, so I'm inclined to believe that it doesn't.

Re: Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

#122

Post by throwGuardian »

bdcravens wrote: post #116
throwGuardian wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The post shot to #1 on HN in no time, because the developer community thinks this rejection, and it's backing policy to be nonsensical.

The post shot to #1 because there are a lot of Javascript developers that see Electron as a gateway into apps they would otherwise be unable to develop. There's a lot of interest in whether or not that door closes. Apple's policy towards private APIs has been known for years.

In which universe is it good for Apple to roadblock JavaScript (or any other language) developers?

Re: Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

#123

Post by saagarjha »

throwGuardian wrote: post #120
saagarjha wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because the developer community Which is not a homogenous group, both in ideals and for why they'd upvote a submission like this. > this rejection, and it's backing policy to be nonsensical They're different things. I personally think the rejection is perfectly sensical in the context of the backing policy, with which I don't fully agree.

You must be chugging the koolaid to believe developers LOVE Apple's policies, or enjoy getting their hard-work rejected by a bot, or getting shamed by an overzealous Apple employee on HN. Developers are homogeneously unappreciative of Apple's treatment of them. They just don't have any leverage, or opportunity to negotiate

…you're replying to a comment where I state that I don't fully agree with Apple's policies.

Re: Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

#124

Post by bdcravens »

ajross wrote: post #27
outworlder wrote: post #11

> I did write back to Apple trying to explain that I am using Electron and I can't really change any of these public-framework usage Yeah. So? By linking a framework that's using private APIs, this becomes your problem now. And Electron's problem, by extension. Go bug them, not Apple.

Wouldn't a more reasonable path be for Apple to talk directly to Electron and Chromium about the issue and work out a path forward before rattling a banhammer at app developers, though? I mean, did Electron or Google just refuse to fix this? Are these private APIs things that actually get exercised in the apps being threatened? It's not so much about culpability or Apple's right to control their app deployment enviro…

No. Apple is responsible for their platform, not the ecosystem.

Re: Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

#125

Post by bdcravens »

saagarjha wrote: post #56
ridiculous_fish wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably the iOS Chrome is not using Apple's private APIs.

Or it's using other private APIs that have they've managed to got through App Store review…

iOS Chrome isn't Chromium. It's wrapped mobile Safari.

Re: Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

#126

Post by bdcravens »

thothamon wrote: post #33
mensetmanusman wrote: post #2

Is this an attempt by Apple to increase robustness by reducing dependencies on unsigned binaries?

I feel Apple is moving into somewhat dangerous territory. If the intent, as documented by internal messages and emails, is purely to protect the consumer by forcing people to use only public APIs, that's one thing. But, if Apple is trying to apply anticompetitive behavior against certain technologies, if this rule is selectively enforced, if there is any bad smell or anything dirty about this process, then Apple is i…

Apple has banned the use of private APIs for years.

It's only anticompetitive if they selectively apply those rules.

Re: Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

#127

Post by rdevnull »

natch wrote: post #8

The lesson here is write native apps using the preferred native tools of the platform, and avoid shortcut solutions.

perhaps, but you can still build a "native" iOS app using flutter without any issue. I think given that even Skype and Visual Studio are build on electron II don't think is all about shortcuts. Having more options is always healthy for developing apps and for the apple store. Of course if you build with pure native code (swift) you won't have the same issues :)

Re: Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

#128

Post by saagarjha »

mihaela wrote: post #106
freehunter wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Electron developers might say "we fixed it" and the app developer might resubmit based on that and now they're banned due to a mistake made by an upstream dependency. It's not like this app developer is intentionally using private APIs. "Resubmitting the same thing and hoping that it doesn't get caught" seems to be a strawman.

In the article, Apple support explained how he might check whether the private APIs are still being called. "It's not like this app developer is intentionally using private APIs" No, he is just incompetent.

Please don't attack people like this. I'm fairly sure they're here reading the comments, and even if they weren't, you don't need to call them things.

Re: Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store

#130

Post by bdcravens »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #23
roblabla wrote: post #3

Well, why the hell is electron/chromium using private APIs? That seems like the real problem here...

Another interesting question is how Chrome itself gets approved for the Apple web store then, right? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-chrome/id535886823

That's not Chromium. That's wrapped mobile Safari.

Chromium and Chrome aren't in Apple app stores.

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