Why does Apple make a minority of developers finance the entire App Store? (lapcatsoftware.com)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

I thought that you had to pay a fee every year, even for free apps. Something around 100$. Compared to a website, I think that for hosting a static file in a CDN it's already pretty expensive for most free apps developers.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

yawn Delete the Apple App Store and install a third party replacement, the way god/EU Intended.

[+] [email protected] -18 points 1 week ago

See I bet you think that would make things better, don’t you?

It won’t. It will make them so much worse.

Unless the EU (government) runs it, you’re going to get the world’s shadiest App Store or Sores possible.

“Just don’t use the shady ones then.”

That’s great until:

It’s your SO or kid accessing it and they don’t know any better.
You just bought something (an appliance, a vehicle, an FPV drone, whatever) and it requires you to use an app, and that app is an exclusive on the shadiest App Store possible.

“That doesn’t happen on android!”

It will absolutely happen with Apple, because there’s so much money that will be up for grabs.

I hope you like signing up with all your personal data and credit card information on app stores that make Apple look like saints, because that’s where this is headed, and sadly you’ll drag me with you.

Because again this hypothetical thing you bought might be a family member buying it, so it won’t even be up to you at that point.

This is what I see happening in the future.

The way to avoid it is to get rid of app stores completely, and have users download and install apps one by one. Like that’s going to happen.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago

Lmao, this is hysterical nonsense.

Hey everyone on Windows, is your machine filled with thousands of shady app stores because you have the ability to install Steam? No? What a shocker! Who could have predicted!

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Or you can just use f-droid and research in advance if the application you need is on on f-droid and let that influence your purchasing decisions.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I use F-Droid on Android and I don't use Google Play at all. I'm really glad laws exist that prevent monopolization and I'm really glad the OS is open source so that if it were to ever change I will just use a different fork.

There's no sign up or payment info required.

It works great for me. I don't pay for any apps nor have I ever nor will I, but if I did, I would PayPal/Ko-Fi/Shopify/Patreon the money to the Dev without any further sign up required.

It’s your SO or kid accessing it and they don’t know any better.

Teach them or dont give them devices or admin privs on them. If all else fails they are free to use the apple app store where apple will now be exposed to the broader market and set the fees accordingly.

You just bought something (an appliance, a vehicle, an FPV drone, whatever) and it requires you to use an app, and that app is an exclusive on the shadiest App Store possible.

I would never buy such junk that it requires an app. Your decisions are your own.

hope you like signing up with all your personal data and credit card information on app stores that make Apple look like saints, because that’s where this is headed, and sadly you’ll drag me with you.

Isn't that also a problem with Apple? And any specific app? In any case I've never signed up with any app store nor am I going to.

Because again this hypothetical thing you bought might be a family member buying it, so it won’t even be up to you at that point.

I mean, it's their device, why do you care? You can educate them but you can't make the right choices for them nor can I for you.

The way to avoid it is to get rid of app stores completely, and have users download and install apps one by one. Like that’s going to happen.

Do you mean like the way everyone installs programs on Windows and has for the last two and a half decades?

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

“That doesn’t happen on android!”

It will absolutely happen with Apple, because there’s so much money that will be up for grabs.

Yeah sure because there are no expensive Android phones.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

https://9to5mac.com/2023/09/06/iphone-users-spend-apps/

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Clearly the author doesn't understand how capitalism works. If Apple can pick you up by the neck, turn you upside down, and shake whatever extra money it can from you then it absolutely will do so.

The problem is that one indie developer doesn't have any power over Apple... so they can go fuck themselves. The developer is granted the opportunity to grovel at the feet of their betters (richers) and pray that they are allowed to keep enough of their own crop to survive the winter. If they don't survive... then some other dev will probably jump at the chance to take part in the "free market" and demonstrate their worth.

this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025

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