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I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

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Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

#301

Post by richrichardsson »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #269
mhafez17 wrote: post #29

Wow. I am the author of this email. I have no idea how it resurfaced after 5 years, I was only made aware of this when a friend emailed me the HN link. The sad thing is it was not just my company which was targeted, but Apple removed this entire product category. We never knew the real reason why, or if it was bigger than just a random app reviewer trying to apply Apple policy, until May 2019. That's when Bloomberg i…

I had a retro arachnoid type game in Appstore for years which was under 'Arcade' category, when apple branded its gaming subscription service as 'Arcade', it forced me to change it to an irrelevant category(Casual). I'm confident, none of the earlier 'Arcade' type games made it to the new 'Apple Arcade' program as it required to be a shiny new unreleased game, developed according to Apple's wishes for its subscriptio…

This is the kind of thing that makes me think that yourself and others who are able to demonstrate a loss of earnings due to this decision could litigate. Generally I'm against that sort of thing, but sometimes there is only one course of action that will make someone like Apple listen.

Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

#302

Post by tmhrtly »

Taek wrote: post #289
ransom1538 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) I worked at a game company 2011: kicked out of facebook (quizzes restrictions were added to the toss) 2) I worked at a mobile ads company 2013: kicked out of apple store 3) I worked at a mobile hosting company for small shops 2015: salons, restaurants, etc: kicked out of apple store 4) I worked at a mobile social network company (2017): kicked out of apple store. 5) I built an app where people can promote their gi…

We're working on a decentralized app platform that mechanically is unable to kick devs off. Its early and doesn't have a monetization layer yet, but it's our goal to provide developers and users alike with a home that will outlast the whims of a single corporation. https://siasky.net

Forgive me if this is a stupid question but if you’re unable to remove apps from the store how will you handle blatant issues of spam or, worse, viruses?

Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

#303

Post by Const-me »

tr33house wrote: post #199
ransom1538 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) I worked at a game company 2011: kicked out of facebook (quizzes restrictions were added to the toss) 2) I worked at a mobile ads company 2013: kicked out of apple store 3) I worked at a mobile hosting company for small shops 2015: salons, restaurants, etc: kicked out of apple store 4) I worked at a mobile social network company (2017): kicked out of apple store. 5) I built an app where people can promote their gi…

you've really had it rough. I guess the lesson to all of us is to never rely on third-party platforms as much as possible

Even if you develop for bare metal, you’re at the mercy of hardware manufacturers, who sometimes change specs without warnings.

Windows and Linux are third-party platforms too. I mostly develop for these two platforms (been doing for couple decades now), and never had the unfortunate experience of GP.

Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

#305

Post by ptx »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #240
ssalazar wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Web development absolutely epitomizes this same technology churn. Regardless if one personally sticks to older standards but its impossible to ignore the large section of commercial web applications that are just as much on the tech churn treadmill.

> just as much on the tech churn treadmill. Really? I doubt you could run an app written for Android in 2010 (2.2 Froyo) today. But a website written in 2010 using HTML, Javascript, and CSS and no plugins will almost always work.

I use a shopping list app[1] that was last updated in January 2011 (so pretty close to 2010) and still works fine. The UI is huge and blurry, but it works.

[1] https://f-droid.org/app/caldwell.ben.trolly

Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

#306

Post by Const-me »

overeater wrote: post #37
mhafez17 wrote: post #29

Wow. I am the author of this email. I have no idea how it resurfaced after 5 years, I was only made aware of this when a friend emailed me the HN link. The sad thing is it was not just my company which was targeted, but Apple removed this entire product category. We never knew the real reason why, or if it was bigger than just a random app reviewer trying to apply Apple policy, until May 2019. That's when Bloomberg i…

My sympathies. That's a really sad story. I don't know if it's any consolation that it was at least discussed among the executives. I don't know why you originally eschewed the web. I've developed on closed platforms in the past: Facebook (when Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia Wars were crazy hot), Silverlight, OpenSocial, Twitter, and now Google Apps Script. My work is always worthless in 2-3 years, and what…

> and what I "learned" about that platform is useless.

Most of what I’ve learned about Silverlight was directly reusable for the rest of MS XAML platforms: WPF, WinRT, UWP, and now WinUI.

Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

#307

Post by hinkley »

carlsborg wrote: post #286
ransom1538 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) I worked at a game company 2011: kicked out of facebook (quizzes restrictions were added to the toss) 2) I worked at a mobile ads company 2013: kicked out of apple store 3) I worked at a mobile hosting company for small shops 2015: salons, restaurants, etc: kicked out of apple store 4) I worked at a mobile social network company (2017): kicked out of apple store. 5) I built an app where people can promote their gi…

Why were 2, 3, 4, and 6 banned?

I have a distinct impression we aren’t getting the whole story.

This feels a bit like “if you meet assholes all day, you’re the asshole” territory. Or someone who works in the space really doesn’t like them.

Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

#308

Post by mytherin »

cdata wrote: post #282
rimliu wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen the web lately?

If you don't like the web, nobody is forcing you to use it. But, your decision not to use it shouldn't come at the cost of someone else's freedom to distribute legitimate software or creative works to those users who seek it out. Speaking for myself, most of the "apps" I use on my phone and desktop on a daily basis are PWAs, and they are generally indistinguishable from the native apps I use in terms of quality.

I don't think the above poster was critiquing the quality of the web, but rather stating that the web has the same problem of generally being consolidated into the hands of a few big players (Google/Facebook).

If you make a website and Google decides to remove you from their search index for whatever reason, the financial effects on most companies would also be disastrous. Perhaps even comparable to being removed from the App Store.

Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

#309

Post by jmnicolas »

ransom1538 wrote: post #194
mhafez17 wrote: post #29

Wow. I am the author of this email. I have no idea how it resurfaced after 5 years, I was only made aware of this when a friend emailed me the HN link. The sad thing is it was not just my company which was targeted, but Apple removed this entire product category. We never knew the real reason why, or if it was bigger than just a random app reviewer trying to apply Apple policy, until May 2019. That's when Bloomberg i…

1) I worked at a game company 2011: kicked out of facebook (quizzes restrictions were added to the toss) 2) I worked at a mobile ads company 2013: kicked out of apple store 3) I worked at a mobile hosting company for small shops 2015: salons, restaurants, etc: kicked out of apple store 4) I worked at a mobile social network company (2017): kicked out of apple store. 5) I built an app where people can promote their gi…

Something is obviously wrong with you! ;)

More seriously you're a cautionary tale to what Stallman has warned us for so long.

Re: I fear App Review is getting too powerful (2015) [pdf]

#310

Post by pzo »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #35
headmelted wrote: post #19

I mean, there’s a point to be made about how much monopoly power Apple holds, and it’s now clear these questions weren’t asked until now because lawmakers were really sweet on the maker of their shiny iPhone - but this letter ain’t it. The author is grovelling to the point of it being honestly pitiful. The amount of derogatory references to the web and Android also make it really hard for me not to question the motiv…

Your point, that nobody should make iOS apps as a business because that puts them in a lousy situation, is fair but not actionable. Sure, it's a risky proposition, but there are something like 20 million registered iOS app developers out there, and so we've moved well beyond whether this was a good decision on their part. Now we have to figure out how to make society work well for these 20 million people.

many sources estimate there are ~25 million developers worldwide - majority of them are neither iOS nor Mac developers. Apple maybe have 20 million registered developers but some of them might in inactive, dedicated companies accounts for publishing or many journalists, fans who want to test beta versions before releasing to the public.

I'm iOS developer myself but currently making more investment to learn other tech stack (flutter, reactnative, qt).

iOS is definitely a huge market especially the biggest regarding revenue, but globally their marker share is being slowly eaten by android. If WeChat will get banned globally from app store their market share will fell drastically. Apple not gonna disappear anytime soon but worth to ask yourself how the future might look in 10 years. Especially if you are indie or small shop and cannot afford supporting multiple platforms natively.

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