Comment by screamingninja
3 years ago
> free to create a similar app
Only if you sign up for the Apple Developer Program, comply with all their rules and expectations, and not be surprised if they ban you from using it with no explanation whatsoever.
Yes because out of the millions of app submissions that happen every year, you are likely to “be banned” for some arbitrary reason that is not spelled out.
That must be why developing iOS Apps is so unpopular with developers…
> That must be why developing iOS Apps is so unpopular with developers…
Apple products are popular among consumers and developers in spite of their many user-hostile decisions precisely because there are few alternatives, all of which have substantial disadvantages as well.
So if Apple products are “user hostile” then why are enough users happily spending twice as much on iPhones and more on Macs to make Apple the most valuable company in the world?
Maybe their decisions are only hostile to geeks who want to run Linux on the Apple Pencil.
4 replies →
For one thing, from what I understand (I don't develop mobile apps, and I don't own an Apple phone) Apple forbids applications that provide features already built into the phone. That's why even Firefox on iOS is just a skin over Safari.
So if Apple Weather (or whatever they call the in-house weather app) comes with the phone, then your "same thing but different" app will not be made available in the Apple app store.
Weather is an entire category of apps on the App Store. You can develop any weather app you like.
This is also not true. There are plenty of podcast apps, weather apps, notes apps, music apps, streaming video apps. I can’t think of a single bundled app where there are not plenty of alternatives.