Apple's Golden Goose Is in Trouble 🪿
Let’s start with the punchline: Apple is not a good steward of the App Store. Sure, it’s insanely profitable, but that’s not the point. They’ve got a goose that lays golden eggs—and they’re killing it.
That may sound extreme, especially coming from someone without a trillion-dollar balance sheet. But here are three (of many) reasons why it’s true:
- Apple doesn’t adequately protect App Store users.
- Apple uses its power punitively.
- Apple fails to clearly explain its requirements.
Protecting Users
Apple claims the wide-open internet is too dangerous for most users. And honestly, that’s a reasonable argument.
But if you make that claim, your platform must be safer. Unfortunately, there are too many examples of scams reported in the App Store that aren’t addressed quickly enough.
Nobody expects perfection, but clear, dangerous issues should be resolved incredibly fast.
Punitive Rules
Apple’s review process can be weaponized. Take Hey, for example. When an app doesn’t directly improve Apple’s bottom line, they’re more than willing to reject it.
The “fix” for Hey? Hand over 30% of their revenue.
Here’s the kicker: most of Hey’s functionality runs on the web, independent of Apple’s devices. And yet, Apple still believes they’re entitled to 30% of the revenue.
Unclear Requirements
Imagine this: You invest $100,000 into building a new app. You pore over Apple’s guidelines, and everything checks out. Then you submit it for review—and it’s declined.
Why? Because Apple’s guidelines aren’t the final authority. Approval is entirely at the discretion of the App Store review process. Worse, you can’t even get tentative approval until you’ve finished building the app.
This alone makes the creation of unique and revolutionary app extremely risky for app developers.
Apple isn’t a good steward of the platform. Their focus is on their immediate bottom line, but long-term, this isn’t good for their customers, their partners, or even themselves.
What about you? Have you run into issues with App Stores? Hit reply and let me know.