Thread by @film_girl

This from @gruber describing @_DavidSmith's @WidgetsmithApp success/immediate knock-offs with impunity encapsulates my biggest problem with the current App Store policies/arguments. daringfireball.net/2020/09/widget…

Look, for some developers/publishers, a 30% cut of revenue will never be something they want to pay, and I get that — but the value of that 30% cut and the effort needed to stay within the opaque rules and guidelines disappears the second stuff like this happens.

It’s disingenuous to argue with a straight face that the array of rules — and the size of the revenue cut — is required because of a curated and human overseen experience if that experience is bad for users and actively harmful to developers.

I would much rather Apple “justify” their rules and fees by saying “because we said so” rather than arguing that those rules keep the crap out of the store. They don’t and this doesn’t even begin to touch on apps with predatory pricing subscriptions that are advertised/promoted

Because @WidgetsmithApp is the first really viral iOS native app we’ve had in years. It is ridiculous that the knock-offs are allowed to stay in and flourish and frankly, it reflects badly on iOS and the App Store for users that very easily find the wrong thing.

Also one last thing — knock-offs are going to come. That’s a given. Next week, the top App Store list will be full of smarmy, spammy, thrown-together apps with expensive IAP subscriptions that create basic WidgetKit patterns. That’s fine. It is what it is. But for @WidgetsmithApp

This BS is really shitty b/c apps that rip off the name and icon are outranking the real app in the very small window the app likely has to stand out against the assault of spam widget apps we’re about to be deluged with. And that makes me sad and frustrated.

And not because I’ve met @_DavidSmith a few times and found him to be lovely — but b/c all this does is reinforce the worst kinds of behavior and app development patterns and push good indie devs out even more.

I’ll also reiterate that although my literal job is to advocate for developers (something I did for a decade before going into DevRel), my real concern is for users — the people that download apps. Because this is ultimately a terrible user experience.

And if the only counter-argument is, “well the Google Play Store/$foo App Store is worse” — sorry, that’s not good enough.