Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
David Barnard Profile picture
David Barnard
@drbarnard
“Foremost expert on App Store minutia”―@BenThompson. Growth Advocate @RevenueCat. Host @SubClubHQ. Founder @Contrast. Featured in @nytimes @WSJ @TechCrunch etc
sirshannon Profile picture 1 subscribed
Jun 10, 2022 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
After poking around SKAdNetwork 4.0, I’m ready to call it on ATT and SKAdNetwork. Collectively they are a trillion dollar blunder by Apple executives. And likely have/will cost Apple itself billions (and therefore tens of billions in market cap). Hear me out… 1/X 2/ I’m actually quite impressed with SKAdNetwork 4.0! It’s a big step forward and will meaningfully improve ad measurement. Though it’ll take some time… 4.0 will be released “later this year”, Apple’s way of saying not with iOS 16 this fall. And it could get pushed into 2023.
Jun 8, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
“The new set of features added to SKAdNetwork in the 4.0 point release provides a reason for genuine optimism around the long-term utility of SKAdNetwork and the ability for ad networks and ad platforms to improve campaign performance using it.” 2/ While I do share some of @eric_seufert’s optimism — Apple improving SKAdNetwork is a good sign — I have a bit of developer PTSD at Apple’s glacial pace and relatively minor improvements.
Feb 4, 2022 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
1/ I have a theory: paywalls don’t matter nearly as much as most people think. Wait… hear me out. Look at the paywalls from 48 of the top grossing subscription apps on the App Store. What do they all have in common? paywallscreens.com 2/ Not much. Visually and structurally anyway.
Jan 26, 2022 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
1/ The extra week in Apple’s fiscal year happens once every 5-6 years, but it can have a big impact on their earnings that quarter. It’s curious that Apple revised their 2022 fiscal calendar to remove the extra week that was supposed to be in Q1. The original for comparison: Image 2/ By the time Apple filed the 8K in November, they had a bit more insight into how both Q1 and Q2 were shaping up. Pushing the extra week to 2023 has several interesting implications. With Q1 2022 ending December 25th instead of January 1st, that last holiday week is now in Q2.
Nov 3, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
1/ Despite being an Apple user/fanboy since 2003 and helping build apps since 2008, I still end up making seemingly noob mistakes with Apple products. Tonight I was excited to use my new Series 7 Apple Watch, so I jumped right into set up assuming iOS would do the right thing. 2/ Instead I ended up with 2 watches paired to my iPhone. Didn’t even know that was possible! Image
Sep 7, 2021 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
A couple weeks ago, @jeiting and I spoke with @benthompson about all things App Store. One of the many things Ben put so well: regulation is a sledgehammer, not a scalpel. We both shared our concerns that regulation will bring about unintended consequences. 2/ If you don’t get the reference to Apple in the 90’s, @benthompson does a great job explaining Apple’s near death experience and how it shaped their approach to the App Store.
May 12, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
This is one of the many ways regulation as the “cure” could be worse than the “disease” of paying Apple 30% of near-zero marginal cost digital goods and services. I went from zero tech experience to a successful software business in ~6 months thanks to the low friction. And that’s why I continue to think that the best outcome here isn’t across the board drops in app store commissions (though free money is always nice), but exceptions for business models with incremental costs that don’t work at 30% or even 15% commissions.
May 11, 2021 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
1/ This is one of the many reasons why I don’t think Apple is playing 4D chess with ATT. If this was such a deeply considered, strategic play to kneecap FB/GOOG and regain control of the App Store, they would’ve rolled things out differently given the current regulatory climate. 2/ My impression is that Apple started down this road very specifically to clean up the privacy disaster they enabled with the IDFA (and knew they couldn’t fix with App Review policy), which came to a head in 2018: wsj.com/articles/your-…
May 11, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
1/ This is what I care far more about than Apple taking a 30% cut on near-zero marginal cost digital goods and services. They are killing innovation by not having flexibility on the 30% for business models that require it and through App Review policies. 2/ “…if a significant number of people involved in iOS development start to fear App Review the way I have the past couple years, that changes the game. And I’m not just talking about indie developers like me. Contractors may steer their clients away from taking risks.”
May 7, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Over dinner I told my wife one of my tweets ended up in a court case against Apple. Her first reaction, without even knowing what it said: “Is Apple going to retaliate?!” So yeah, for almost 13 years of making a living on the App Store, we‘ve lived in fear of Apple. I know so many kind, amazing people at Apple that have been so helpful to me over the years. But I think it’s lost on Apple institutionally just how disfuncional it’s relationship with developers really is. How much we fear App Review. How much we fear speaking out.
May 4, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Part of me now wants to find a way to sue Apple just for the discovery. To better understand the discussion around the volumes of email I’ve sent about scam apps, App Store policies, etc. Haven’t seen one yet, but I’m expecting at least one of my emails to pop up in the Epic docs I’ll just dox myself in the mean time. Here’s a good one from 2019 on App Store dark patterns and the Touch ID scam:
May 4, 2021 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Ah… the heady days of 2016, when I thought Apple was finally going to make more than token changes to the App Store. Felt the same in 2008, and 2009, and 2010, and 2011, and 2012, and 2013, and 2014, and 2015, and for some reason still hope Apple rethinks the App Store in 2021. 2/ 2014: “I’d love to see Apple wield that power to shape the App Store in ways that will sustain and encourage meaningful development over the long-term and not let the current success of the App Store blind it to issues that are impacting the trajectory of the App Store.”
May 4, 2021 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
1/ This email from @pschiller looks bad on the surface, but one of the things Apple should be arguing in this case is that by running the store and collecting the revenue they have protected consumers. 2/ Thought experiment: if instead of adding IAP to the App Store in 2009, Apple had allowed devs to collect payments directly inside apps, would there have been less fraud or more? Would subscriptions be easier to cancel or harder? Would paywalls be less deceptive or more?
Feb 5, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Advertising helps businesses bring attention to their products and services, and that’s not a bad thing. Targeting made ads better for everyone, including those viewing the ads (I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve grown to actually enjoy Instagram ads) 2/ I’m thrilled that Apple is essentially deprecating the IDFA and preventing all the creepy tracking that’s been going on. But I think they’ve thrown the (targeting and measurement) baby out with the (creepy tracking) bathwater.
Feb 4, 2021 • 33 tweets • 9 min read
Steps to reproduce:
1. Search a high traffic keyword like wallpapers, scanner, VPN, etc.
2. Download the top 5 search results
3. At least one (often multiple) will be shady apps pushing expensive weekly subscriptions using various dark patterns
4. Get mad at Apple all over again 2/ More steps to reproduce:
1. Browse TikTok and tap on app ads until you find a shady subscription app
2. Start a free trial in that app (TikTok has now identified you as an easy mark)
3. Tap on any new app ads you see and explore just how bad things really are on the App Store
Feb 2, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1/ I wish it were this simple. Unfortunately, allowing access to the IDFA allows a heck of a lot more than just personalized ads. Eric’s point is valid though, the combination of SKAdNetwork and App Tracking Transparency don’t actually give consumers choice. 2/ When a consumer allows tracking, they are allowing anything that app might do with any of their data. And for personalized ads to even work in this paradigm, they have to allow tracking for multiple apps, not just Facebook/Instagram/Google Chrome/Whatever.
Nov 21, 2020 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
1/ This is one area where Apple holds itself to same or higher standards than they hold 3rd party developers to. At least according to their written policies. A thread: 2/ Developers can use the IDFV to individually identify all users across their portfolio of apps & collect as much data as they want. Apple doesn’t prevent Facebook from doing that. Apple is preventing them from tracking users across any app (with their SDK installed) and the web
Nov 20, 2020 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
1/ One thing a lot of people forget in the App Store take rate discussion is that Stripe only operates in 42 countries, doesn’t automatically collect/pay sales tax, doesn’t handle local compliance, etc. There are Stripe apps you can pay to handle some of that, but not all. 2/ The App Store operates in 166 countries, collects and pays all taxes, handles local compliance, etc. Calculating the overlap would be a PITA, but after a quick look at my revenue this year, I’d guess I earn at least 5% more because of all the additional App Store countries.
Nov 19, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Exactly. Most apps don’t flirt with $1M, they blow right past it. And many of those will be subscription apps with some growing percentage of revenue on the 85/15 subscription split. Which means it’s not that one day you’re paying 15% on all revenue, the next you’re paying 30%. 2/ There’s been a lot of focus on the $1M threshold (including by me), but I’m warming up to it not being an issue. It’s like the tax arguments about how raising taxes on people making over $400k will disincentive people from making over $400k. That’s just not at all how it works
Aug 28, 2020 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
1/ With rumors flying that Apple is delaying the iOS 14 privacy changes, I thought I’d share some nuance on why that would be a good thing. 2/ Apps being able to do cost-effective marketing ultimately benefits everyone involved: consumers, Apple, developers, ad networks, and even the thousands of growth/ad tech/infrastructure companies (including @RevenueCat) that help facilitate that marketing.
Aug 27, 2020 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
1/ The recent brouhaha about Apple’s ad personalization being on by default missed an important point: Facebook’s ad personalization is also on by default, the IDFA isn’t needed in its own apps. @benthompson did a great job addressing the nuance in today’s @StratecheryMO email Image 2/ Facebook can collect as much data as they want (or can legally) in the Facebook app, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc. and then use that for ad personalization. iOS 14 only limits their collection of data in 3rd party apps (including advertised apps and apps that display ads).