Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by kaiju0 1884 days ago
Yep it neatly organizes everything with subscriptions and vetted apps into a single location. Can't ask for more. The only people that want out of it is people who want a bigger rev cut, to bypass app store rules and infect devices.
4 comments

> people who want a bigger rev cut

This is not unreasonable. Apps like netfix and spotify can not possibly pay the Apple cut and stay competitive with apples own services which pay nothing.

Not a single user is going to pay 30% extra to listen to the same music.

Do netflix and spotify currently pay apple 30%?
When you install the app they throw you on a screen that says "You can't continue via the app. Yes, we know it sucks"

They aren't allowed to tell you how to subscribe, they can just say you must and it can't be done in the app. While on Apples own services, it just uses your already filled payment details.

They don’t allow you to subscribe in-app and are not allowed to show CTAs to subscribe online, just an opaque “sign in” screen.
According to this reasoning Apple could make the app store optional and (except for "people who want a bigger rev cut, to bypass app store rules and infect devices") every user would continue to choose the app store. I suppose the reasoning further leads to the conclusion that there is no point in giving users a choice because they would all choose the app store anyway. I do not subscribe to this reasoning. If there was a non-app store option I would choose it and I doubt I am the only such user. Among many potential benefits, a non-app store repository might give me the ability to install/remove old versions of apps on older devices.
I want out because Apple doesn't approve the apps I want to use. Everything from emulators to cloud gaming (Xbox Game Streaming and Google Stadia) and alternative browser engines (all browsers are just Safari skins on iOS) are blocked by Apple because of their app store rules. These types of apps being blocked by Apple does not benefit anyone but Apple.
The bigger problem is the amount of PII they demand from users to install even free apps.

I should be able to install free apps on my device without giving up my name, address, email, phone number, and device serial number. Apple's App Store requires all of these.