WordPressiOS Locked by App Store

Just add a transparent reporting about how your prices came to be and they will not let you do so.

I often wonder how they count those developers numbers if it was not paid Apple Developer programme.

Consider what would happen if Mastercard and Visa proclaimed that you can no longer accept cash if you want to accept their services ! And then someone would say "but Mastercard is not a monopoly neither is Visa". At one point they even managed to make it illegal to transfer the transaction fees to user visibly as surcharge - but you are still allowed to have a "cash only discount" - Apple and Google are effectively killing this option by preventing third party payment systems and people are saying "they aren't a monopoly".

Fixing this should be pretty straightforward and should apply to all digital app stores :

a) force equal access to these stores (anyone who can legally apply must be able to, irregardless of their relation with store owner, eg. Epic vs Apple, there should be some provisions about what kind of content is not acceptable - but this should be defined on platform basis and enforced consistently, otherwise it should grant you basis for damages suit)

b) force app stores to accept all payment forms in-app (that comply to payment processing standards) - people here claim that app store payment provides them with security, convenience, etc. and I agree - but if I was given the option at a 25% markup (other payment providers aren't free either) I go for other option every time. At 10% over standard payment provider it's a different story - and that's still an insanely profitable spot for them. Point is - consumers decide what benefits them.

c) force app store reviews to follow specific guidelines: time limit on feedback, require explicit feedback of rule violations when you get denied access - to allow appeals through courts if the review process gets abused

If the only thing you're using your phone for is calling, browsing, and buying apps, it's not that hard to switch to Android. You lose all of your apps, and that stinks a lot, but if most of your apps are free you might tolerate that. And outside of the apps, you can keep your phone number, export your contacts, etc...

But if suddenly all of your phone subscriptions including newspapers, music services like Spotify, hosts like Wordpress, email services like Hey, and so on -- if all of those are only managed through your phone and can't be canceled or upgraded by the companies themselves then that's another big annoyance to deal with that might keep you from switching just because you want an Android app that isn't available for your phone.

Apple tries very hard to lock users into its ecosystem. That's why there's a credit card now that only works with Apple phones; it's to make sure that if you ever change phones, you now have to deal with canceling a credit card. That's why companies aren't allowed to build their own interoppable solutions around iMessage. It's to make sure that if you change phones, you get social stigma from your friends and have a worse SMS experience with them.

The payments rules are another part of that. Yes, of course Apple wants the 30%, but they also want literally everything you do on your phone to be tied to them. If Apple could create a world where you lost your phone number when you switched phones, they'd do it in a heartbeat.

They want their walled garden to have a one-way door.