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AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

tirania.org

41–50 of 125 posts

Re: AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

#41

Wow, I am honestly amazed at the limitless range of human ignorance. Congrats to the author for being a successful person, a good devoper and being the founder of Xamarin, but that doesn't mean you know everything, and according to text I read in the article being a good parent.. "I have kids aged 10, 7 and 4, and my eldest had access to an iPad since she was a year old," I have read this several times now and I cann…

> Don't listen to me if you want, just ask Steve Jobs.

Jobs is not someone I would take physical or mental health advice from even if he was around to give it.

Re: AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

#42

> "No free games or games with In-App Purchases" This is a great rule. As a father of similarly aged kids (10, 9, 4) this is exactly what I would like to have happen at my house. Unfortunately, I have found games like this difficult to surface on the app store. Is there a decent source for games like this? Also, Apple needs to think of the impact that the prevalence of these kinds of apps has on their revenue - I spe…

All these comments suggesting Apple Arcade make me sad that Apple chose to fix their problem with garbage store discoverability with a subscription games service rather than you know, actually fixing the garbage discoverability problem.

Re: AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

#43
These are all excellent (and were needed just as much literally 10 years ago but better late than never).

I would greatly expand the last point on filters: I want lots of knobs so that I can permanently banish from view all the schemes that I hate. It would instantly make the Store much more valuable to me. Incidentally it would also increase value for store-runners, since I would actually start buying things again instead of closing the Store in disgust because I couldn’t find anything I wanted after an hour of scrolling through trash.

Re: AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

#44
post #5

I support most of the requirements listed in this article, in addition to removing the 30% cut. I do not support third-party app stores on iOS because I believe that the benefits of increased consumer choice in that regard do not outweigh the concerns of allowing larger companies with significant app ecosystems (or governments) to make their own app stores with different, potentially user-hostile or privacy-compromis…

No equivalent of something like F-Droid on iOS makes it a no-go in all circumstances. I trust F-Droid far more than I'd trust Apple or Google.

No opportunity to replace things like the system browser on iOS makes it a no-go in all circumstances. I want my device to run software I approved, I want to be able to choose important system components like the web renderer, I want to be able to install an ingress/egress firewall, I want to be able to build software for the device without needing some signing key from the vendor. I want to be able to build software for the device on any of the devices I use which have the required memory, CPU and build infrastructure. This build infrastructure should not be dependent on a single closed operating system since I don't run closed operating systems.

The simple conclusion here is that iOS is not for me nor for those who share my preferences.

Re: AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

#46
The solution here is a free market approach. Apple or someone else can be a more strict gatekeeper for people who want that type of service, while users who what a more laissez-faire marketplace can go through some additional hassle to install a 3rd party app store without Apple support.

Re: AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the kids having remote learning, the school district has them playing this game called Prodigy. It has a really insidious "premium" model that it is constantly throwing up in front of my kids. New dance moves, costumes, all things kids want. I'm tempted to complain about it, the district shouldn't be using apps that push crap like this.

It makes me furious that this kind of dynamic is introduced to a digital learning space at all. Why delineate between the haves and the have nots? Between the kids with access to disposable parental income and the kids that don't? Why make that part of online life of children at all?

Because there is money to be made, and leaving it on the table is just downright unamerican

/s

Re: AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

#48

These are all excellent (and were needed just as much literally 10 years ago but better late than never). I would greatly expand the last point on filters: I want lots of knobs so that I can permanently banish from view all the schemes that I hate. It would instantly make the Store much more valuable to me. Incidentally it would also increase value for store-runners, since I would actually start buying things again i…

What filters (knobs) would you always disable?

Would you prefer that Apple reject all apps that match your list from the app store altogether, instead of offering those specific ones as search filters?

Re: AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

#49

I'm a parent -- it's never been easier to control what your children are doing on devices. My son isn't an admin on his laptop. I don't let him download arbitrary apps and he doesn't even own his own i-device yet. He's only slightly older than Miguel's kids, and he has a Switch (with parental controls on), but I don't see any need to give him his own iPad. When he wasn't old enough to learn about dark patterns, we di…

> Each failure, including one of his accounts getting "hacked", is an opportunity for learning.

I do not have a child but I completely agree. Some of my best learning experiences have been from being manipulate when I was younger. The loss was nothing of consequence in the grand scheme of my life, but the lessons had tremendous value.

Re: AppStore Reviews Should Be Stricter

#50

> "No free games or games with In-App Purchases" This is a great rule. As a father of similarly aged kids (10, 9, 4) this is exactly what I would like to have happen at my house. Unfortunately, I have found games like this difficult to surface on the app store. Is there a decent source for games like this? Also, Apple needs to think of the impact that the prevalence of these kinds of apps has on their revenue - I spe…

Not an Apple App Store vendor, so my information is sketchy at best, but it sounds to me like in-app purchases are only a little more complicated than listing something on the app store in the first place. If the money is the same, and the dopamine hit for the latter is greater, of course everyone is going to 'race to the bottom' with in-app purchases.

Apple has not provided any incentive for people to retain customers by any other mechanism than in-app purchases. Not on iOS, and now not on OS X. Strictly speaking, Steam also doesn't have a way to give a discount to people for upgrading, and yet I've bought several sequels at a modest discount because they support bundling and the bundles are prorated.

However, while a bundle of Red Dead Redemption 1 & 2 might not need an explanation, a bundle of Photoshop N and N+1 is only good for giving a discount for upgrades.

If Apple is interested in turning back this Doom Clock, then support for bundling, and taking a smaller cut of app purchases than in-app purchases would, I think, function as a carrot and stick combination.

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