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WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

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Re: WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

#51
Here, I think that we can clap for all the "Apple products" fanboys that have led us to this new world where a lot of people are thinking that it is normal that 2 companies have the arbitrary and dictatorial right to decide what is allowed to run on an user device just because they sold it...

Imagine, a car manufacturer that would remotely block cars for using highways that they don't like or have not paid the "tribute" to them.

Or, the gouvernement of one of the few remaining real democracies that will arbitrary dictate everything that you can or cannot do, based on arbitrary decisions depending of their personal preferences or financial interests.

Re: WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

#52
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am very privacy, open-source, freedom orientated I like to think I am as well. How do you balance this when moving from Apple to Android, where Apple (seems) to be much more privacy-focused and basically at zero for open-source/freedom, where Android is basically the reverse? I think there are ways to make it better (custom ROM, alternative app stores), but you give up a lot of functionality (Play Store, Google P…

Not OP but, I'm on a Pixel for the "bloat" free Android experience. I don't install any apps, I do all webservices through Firefox, DDG and have uBO enabled. I'm only moderately privacy concerned and I fell like this is an ok balance. Seems like every app on either platform comes with some problematic BS.

I use my phone the same way, no apps and run GrapheneOS - no problems.

Re: WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

#53
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really sad. On the one hand, sure Apple should be able to make a cut on their app store, on the other hand, they shouldn't be allowed to force apps to do this sort of thing. This will only drive domain prices higher on iOS in order to compensate (in the case of Automattic). If I were in a position where Apple is forcing me to pay a 30% tax, I would literally add "30% Apple Tax" to the check out screen on top…

> On the one hand, sure Apple should be able to make a cut on their app store Apple makes a cut: they charge developers a not insignificant yearly fee of 99 USD per seat, they sell iOS devices and services at great profit, they happily earn 15-30% from in-app purchases and subscriptions wherever developers choose to use those features, they earn 30% on any apps that choose to be paid, and they reserve the right to se…

The 99 USD fee is not per seat

Re: WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really sad. On the one hand, sure Apple should be able to make a cut on their app store, on the other hand, they shouldn't be allowed to force apps to do this sort of thing. This will only drive domain prices higher on iOS in order to compensate (in the case of Automattic). If I were in a position where Apple is forcing me to pay a 30% tax, I would literally add "30% Apple Tax" to the check out screen on top…

> If I were in a position where Apple is forcing me to pay a 30% tax, I would literally add "30% Apple Tax" to the check out screen on top of the regular fees to make consumers aware If you don't know that, it is not allowed to sell for more in iOS than in your site, and the app will get banned for attempting that, forget about displaying 30% apple tax to the users explicitly. Edit: Heard from somewhere, likely not f…

> If you don't know that, it is not allowed to sell for more in iOS than in your site, and the app will get banned for attempting that

I don't think this is true, although you've said it so emphatically that a lot of people are going to believe it without any supporting evidence! Can you help us out with some?

App store guidelines: Nothing about the need for uniform app pricing across platforms.[1]

App price: Examples of apps with higher prices on iOS than elsewhere.[2]

Subscription: Spotify and others charged more to offset Apple's 30% cut ($12.99 instead of $9.99 to subscribe in-app) for years.[3]

IAP: Epic charged more for IAPs on iOS than elsewhere.[4]

[1] https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#pay...

[2] https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8031795

[3] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spotify-apple-app-store-16463...

[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/FortNiteBR/comments/85d3uc/the_app_...

Re: WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

#55
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I were in a position where Apple is forcing me to pay a 30% tax, I would literally add "30% Apple Tax" to the check out screen on top of the regular fees to make consumers aware If you don't know that, it is not allowed to sell for more in iOS than in your site, and the app will get banned for attempting that, forget about displaying 30% apple tax to the users explicitly. Edit: Heard from somewhere, likely not f…

Unless you’re YouTube

Media streaming services "only" pay a 15% fee on IAP

Re: WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

#56
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short version of the usual argument: GPL says you can't add restrictions on what a user can do when you distribute an app. App Store terms of service do add restrictions, so distributing an GPL app through the app store is a license violation.

But in this case it doesn't matter, because Automattic is the owner of the application, not a licensee -- they can relicense the application if they want, and they're implicitly doing so here. It does make the source code effectively unusable by anyone downstream, though.

Do they own GPLv2-licensed commits to their codebase introduced by accepting pull requests from contributors?

Re: WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

#57
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't notice when this happened, but apparently iPhone now has over 50% of the US phone market.

interesting neither did I. Globally its still 25% however.

But for the purposes of US antitrust and anti-competetive concerns, why does "global" matter?

Re: WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

#58
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft seem to get away with it: Forza Street on iOS - 125 Gold: £4.99, 255 Gold: £9.99 Forza Street on Windows 10 - 125 Gold: £3.99, 255 Gold: £7.99 Both connect to the same account.

I think YetAnotherNick means the actual words "30% Apple Tax" on the screen.

I don't see how that's possible from his comment:

> If you don't know that, it is not allowed to sell for more in iOS than in your site, and the app will get banned for attempting that

He seems to believe that Apple explicitly bans apps from charging more for iOS subscriptions / IAPs than they do elsewhere (e.g. purchasing the subscription on their website), but I can find no evidence to support this, and a lot of evidence to the contrary.

Re: WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

#59
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short version of the usual argument: GPL says you can't add restrictions on what a user can do when you distribute an app. App Store terms of service do add restrictions, so distributing an GPL app through the app store is a license violation.

But in this case it doesn't matter, because Automattic is the owner of the application, not a licensee -- they can relicense the application if they want, and they're implicitly doing so here. It does make the source code effectively unusable by anyone downstream, though.

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