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App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

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Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#311

Post by ece »

Aeolun wrote: post #223
trebbble wrote: post #8

They've done this since the early days of the app store. Mostly-content apps without really broad appeal have long carried a high risk of rejection. > Homescreen widgets: utterly useless, but can't get more iOS-y and less webapp-y than this, right? This especially, but really the whole post reads like the system working as intended. Granted (as the author notes) way too much shit gets through anyway, but that's not a…

I don’t see why you’d reject ‘mostly content’ apps as long as they have the content to justify keeping on your phone? If I want an app instead of a website that is my business. I’m all for rejecting ‘low effort’ apps, but this app clearly isn’t low effort.

Offline content as an app without extra permissions seems pretty justified. This is a curated Flipboard or subreddit with the ability to buy tickets, which maybe you could do on Flipboard/Reddit, but then Flipboard/Reddit would profit from the curation, not the person doing the curation who made an app.

Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#312

Post by throwaway675309 »

skrtskrt wrote: post #91
jaywalk wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no love for Apple's walled-garden, and I absolutely appreciate 69 jokes, but this app is stupid.

the first apps I remember on iOS were a beer glass that poured out beer when you tipped the phone, and a lightsaber app that made sheeewwwww sounds when you swung the phone around. We loved them It's ok to make stupid apps as long as you're not scamming. The oh-so-serious nature of the current online experience sucks

Just to be fair, the beer pouring app was a somewhat clever use of the accelerometer even if it was rather pointless, this one on the other hand skip's the whole clever part and jumps right to pointless.

Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#313

Post by cycomanic »

mikeyouse wrote: post #96
DiggyJohnson wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see how that wouldn’t make sense… It’s not that they decided to set an arbitrary threshold of 3.7M apps, but that they have become more stringent on app approvals in light of the growth and quantity of apps in their store. I don’t think GP’s comment requires an incredulous snarky response, despite me not doing a great job making this point…

FWIW, I completely got your point. The Android ecosystem is horrible for this kind of thing. There are roughly 200,000 varieties of calculator apps. Why? There should be some criteria to help consumers avoid poorly supported simplistic clones that are often just filled with adware.

So I just did a quick search on the web for calculator app on the apple store (I don't own an iPhone) and for thr first one I found (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/calculator/id458535809) the same developer already has 3-4 other calculator apps and I see a couple of other calculator suggestions). So there might not be 200,000 calculator apps on the app store but maybe some 100s (?).

After maybe 10 or 20 the number doesn't really make a difference any does it? You will not look at them all to see how good they are, it's a function of how well the review/star system works. And yes that is a mess on the play store (is it better on the app store?)

A side note, a calculator that tracks my location, and other privat identifiers (see link above) and still charges $5?!

Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#314

Post by jrockway »

I had a moment of disillusion when I first bought an iPhone. I came from Android, and when you open up the Marketplace, 99.9999% of the apps are useless piles of shit. I got an iPhone, and was so excited to open up the App Store. I did, and I found that 99.999% of the apps were useless piles of shit, many of which didn't even run on my devices.

I have no idea what Apple is trying to achieve with the App Store. If every app were a Top 10, that would be amazing, and that's what you'd think you get from all the human curation. (How can every app in an app store be the best? Reality distortion field, trust me.) Instead, you just spend a million hours getting your crap app through human reviews until the human is like "you know what? FUCK IT" and they just let it in. The result is an App Store that's probably going to have laws made against it, for absolutely no gain for the end user. I don't get it.

Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#315

Post by lstamour »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #257
lstamour wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except with a free account (“ADP” according to Apple) there are limitations: https://help.apple.com/developer-account/#/dev21218dfd6 On top of that, apps installed this way expire after a number of days, possibly as few as 7 days? And there’s a limit to how many can be installed this way, might be as few as 5 apps.

But that's not what he said. He said you can't do it. You can.

Sure. As long as you don’t need Fonts, iCloud, NFC, VPN, Push Notifications, Sign in with Apple, Sign in with browser credentials in-app (useful to avoid typing your passwords in multiple times), time-sensitive notifications, Siri or Low Latency HLS, amongst other features.

And don’t mind re-installing the app every 7 days by connecting your phone to Xcode and installing again or it will expire and stop working… And yes there is wireless connectivity to Xcode, but it’s still extra work, especially if the app itself can deploy using JS in-app updates.

So yep, you can do it. Technically. But the first time my app “expired”, I went and bought the subscription again. It’s waaaay too annoying if you actually want to use an app to use the free edition. The free edition is for, like, class projects maybe. Not apps you actually want to build and use.

Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#316

Post by davidkuennen »

jrockway wrote: post #314

I had a moment of disillusion when I first bought an iPhone. I came from Android, and when you open up the Marketplace, 99.9999% of the apps are useless piles of shit. I got an iPhone, and was so excited to open up the App Store. I did, and I found that 99.999% of the apps were useless piles of shit, many of which didn't even run on my devices. I have no idea what Apple is trying to achieve with the App Store. If eve…

As an app developer this is my experience as well.

It's way easier to get good ratings on the App Store than on the Play Store. I was confused why, until I noticed that it's just that the standards for apps of iOS users are way lower. There is so much trash around. Especially trash that wants to scam you for money and gets thrown into your face at the top of the list. They crave for anything that isn't a complete pile of shit.

On Android it's different. There is lots of good apps and thus users are way more critical even if the app is the exact same one as on the App Store.

Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#317

Post by _-david-_ »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #182

Maybe this is a controversial opinion but I think I agree with Apple here. The Google and Microsoft stores are absolutely full of completely useless featureless apps, many of which exist only to trick you into thinking that it is something else. My general mental rule is "could this app be a website"? And in this case it absolutely could be.

>My general mental rule is "could this app be a website"? And in this case it absolutely could be.

Can't every app other than a browser, phone and messaging be a website?

Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#318

Post by throwaway892238 »

We need a law to open up these devices. Just because it's a Duopoloy instead of a Monopoly doesn't mean we should be forced into using a device only the way these companies dictate.

The whole idea of the App Store is, to me, actually worse than no App Store at all. If you want to find popular software, normally you google for it, and go with the recommendations from a trustworthy publication. Yes there is malware on the internet, but there is also malware in the App Store! Let the market try to solve these problems since Apple and Google can't.

Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#319

Post by cma »

throwaway892238 wrote: post #318

We need a law to open up these devices. Just because it's a Duopoloy instead of a Monopoly doesn't mean we should be forced into using a device only the way these companies dictate. The whole idea of the App Store is, to me, actually worse than no App Store at all. If you want to find popular software, normally you google for it, and go with the recommendations from a trustworthy publication. Yes there is malware on…

The App store taxes minus their expenses is more than federal taxes, and even taxes you if you make a net loss unlike the government.

Re: App Store doesn't accept “too simple” apps

#320

Post by bergenty »

throwaway892238 wrote: post #318

We need a law to open up these devices. Just because it's a Duopoloy instead of a Monopoly doesn't mean we should be forced into using a device only the way these companies dictate. The whole idea of the App Store is, to me, actually worse than no App Store at all. If you want to find popular software, normally you google for it, and go with the recommendations from a trustworthy publication. Yes there is malware on…

There really isn’t all that much malware on the App Store. I like the way things are to be honest, apple does its best to protect my device, ecosystem and privacy and it works for me without having to expend brain cycles. If I wanted an open phone I would just jailbreak the iPhone or get an android.
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