[Rotten194]

Some anecdata on this point; I've tried two times to find a decent solitaire app on the app store. I don't play solitaire that often, it helps to pass the time occasionally, so I don't need something particularly complex or featureful.

Every app I could find had some dark pattern or an overflow of ads or both. Some kind of streak system where you were encouraged / nagged to play every day or else lose your "coins" (aka preying on loss aversion to try and addict players), fullscreen interstitial ad pages that try to trick you into clicking them when you're moving cards? Animated banners that distract you from the game?

I ended up giving up and just using a web version. It's not perfect, it's made for desktop and the cards are really small on my iphone 6 and the UI is hard to use, but it's clearly someone's labor of love and a lot pf care has been put into it. I'd happily pay a few dollars for it, if it wasn't free.

There's not many apps like that on the App Store nowadays. And with Apple's predatory rent-seeking practices, requirements of owning a $2000 computer to develop for their platform, and high developer fees, they aren't helping the situation.

[ohazi]

> Every app I could find had some dark pattern or an overflow of ads or both.

This is one of the reasons I strongly prefer using open source software whenever possible. The program was written because somebody wanted it to exist, not because someone was trying to trick you or hold your work hostage for a few bucks.

[unhammer]

I think the No-Bullshit games db https://nobsgames.stavros.io/ was made because of this kind of frustration

[forgotmypw17]

I haven't dug deep on this, but I bet the following URL will offer some helpful ideas:

https://www.google.com/search?q=ios%20solitaire%20reddit

Here is the best looking one from the first thread Google returned for me:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/solitaire-decked-out-ad-free/i...

[Rotten194]

Thanks, it's ok, no ads, but it has coins and lootboxes and daily rewards, so still far from ideal. I understand developers gotta eat but it's still frustrating.

[theturtletalks]

Apple just has to open up the Webkit to support more features so people can just use PWAs. Apple drags their feet because they know once PWAs take over, their app store profits will drop significantly.

[fierarul]

> Every app I could find had some dark pattern or an overflow of ads or both.

Apple's ecosystem evolved towards a 'market for lemons'.