FlickType Pulling iPhone Keyboard App After Continued Rejection Issues

[Seoras]

Look I'm not saying Apple is doing something horrible by not allowing a keyboard app for Apple Watch, but they are definitely choosing beggars over the App Store. They want total and 100% control over the App Store,

Yes. I want them to have 100% control of the App store. That's how they keep the quality high, that's how they can bitch slap Facebook and Google into declaring privacy intrusions and allow users to decide if they want tracked or not. That's why Apple's a success. They control EVERYTHING. That way they stake their brand an reputation on EVERYTHING. Are they wrong? Well just look at the sales figures. The people have voted with their wallets - but the powerful don't like that because it dis-empowers them.

AND to take 30% out of your Netflix and Spotify subscription (which aren't even exclusive to your Apple devices), AND to reject any type of app they don't like, AND to dominate the smartphone market in the US. Sorry but everyone has definitively rejected this amount of power be in Apple's hands, and they totally did it to themselves. They are clearly out of touch with their own impact on the world and the likelihood that they will be regulated to **** if they abuse their control of people's devices. If Apple wanted to keep control of iPhone apps they should have played at least a bit more fair. I hope the side-loading bill wins by a landslide and Tim Apple can cry about it and think about how he caused it.

Sure. 30% is reasonable if you are selling in a market place owned by someone. I only lose 15% as I'm a small and independent app publisher. 15% is a bargain for having them handle payments, refunds, credit cards and charge backs distribution and support.

The public (consumers) don't want this. The Government and Apple's rivals do.

 

[bwillwall]

Only for sign-ups on device. Spotify cares so much because they actually _do_ get substantial on-device new subscriptions, and there are also a substantial number of people who will choose to have the subscription brokered through Apple (since Apple makes cancelling a button tap, vs a series of support escalations for 1-2 hours)

Can you really not understand that Apple isn't doing Spotify a favor by providing what's an essential service (phone apps) today? I'm sure Spotify would be more than happy to offer an alternative to the App Store if that were even possible for them.

Apple is NOT doing Spotify a favor because of the App Store. Apple sells millions of essential devices and has a single gate into it.

 

[bwillwall]

Sure. 30% is reasonable if you are selling in a market place owned by someone. I only lose 15% as I'm a small and independent app publisher. 15% is a bargain for having them handle payments, refunds, credit cards and charge backs distribution and support.

The public (consumers) don't want this. The Government and Apple's rivals do.

30% is NOT reasonable for Apple to take from a subscription that doesn't even belong to an iPhone. Apple does not take 30% our of your Amazon purchases. It is reasonable for iOS game in-app purchases and other exclusive app features maybe. That's IT. Apple is NOT simply making their money back doing this, they are profiting. Stop acting like they're just trying to pay the bills. This is the most valuable company in the world.

I am not a government nor am I Apple's rival. I want this as a customer because I want to be allowed to install what I want on my own device.

 

[dotnet]

EDIT: Also the first real result is another $7.99/week scam. Why is this a good thing for users, Apple apologists?

It’s not good per se, but you’re not asking the right question. How could a free for all app loading system that isn’t controlled by Apple (or anyone) be possibly better for users?

 

[brand]

Believe me, I've gone through many App Store frustrations.

I've had an app approved for version 1.0.0. I submitted version 1.0.1 to fix a typo. All of the sudden App Store reviewer has a fundamental problem with how passwords are handled (client requested user's birthday to be the password which Apple didn't like).

A good developer would have never allowed that. The fact that you allowed birthdays to be passwords makes me wonder what other poor coding you did. Thats not an Apple problem but a you problem that you want to blame Apple for.

 

[JMO1]

Apples quick type on watchOS is HOT GARBAGE!

give us a swipe style text Input already!

 

[cardfan]

Apple’s $64 billion-a-year App Store isn’t catching the most egregious scams

The App Store has a scam problem

www.theverge.com

Apple supports scam apps. It's part of their business. Even when given opportunities to make it right, they don't. Try asking for a refund. Nope. They reward the scammers and themselves. Screw the customer.

Shame on Apple for their petty revenge cases like this against people who call them out.

 

[btrach144]

This is an app that has greatly helped blind people. Apple is making the lives of the disabled even harder.

What is Apple doing in 2021? Yikes

 

[DoubleJ2119]

Apple’s $64 billion-a-year App Store isn’t catching the most egregious scams

The App Store has a scam problem

www.theverge.com

Apple supports scam apps. It's part of their business. Even when given opportunities to make it right, they don't. Try asking for a refund. Nope. They reward the scammers and themselves. Screw the customer.

Shame on Apple for their petty revenge cases like this against people who call them out.

If a customer believes they've been scammed they can go to reportaproblem.apple.com

I've never had any problem getting a refund when an app didn't do something it claimed to. And it's a full refund, including Apple's commission and the developer's payment.

 

[farewelwilliams]

A good developer would have never allowed that. The fact that you allowed birthdays to be passwords makes me wonder what other poor coding you did. Thats not an Apple problem but a you problem that you want to blame Apple for.

You failed to read properly. I said it was at the request of the client (you even highlighted this part). Also the fact that you think you can judge an engineer's quality of code based on what features were implemented without actually seeing code says a lot about how quickly you jump to conclusions.

 

[ececlv]

You failed to read properly. I said it was at the request of the client (you even highlighted this part). Also the fact that you think you can judge an engineer's quality of code based on what features were implemented without actually seeing code says a lot about how quickly you jump to conclusions.

But but but. You didnt blame the client, you blamed apple.

 

[whatgift]

The whole idea that you need approval by Apple to run apps ON YOUR OWN DEVICE is ludicrous.

Yet people are happy to accept it for security and privacy reasons, it’s why the walled garden is a key selling point for Apple devices.

While you own the device you only licence the software, which again is a bigger selling point for most Apple users, not the hardware.

 

[Seoras]

30% is NOT reasonable for Apple to take from a subscription that doesn't even belong to an iPhone. Apple does not take 30% our of your Amazon purchases. It is reasonable for iOS game in-app purchases and other exclusive app features maybe. That's IT. Apple is NOT simply making their money back doing this, they are profiting. Stop acting like they're just trying to pay the bills. This is the most valuable company in the world.

I am not a government nor am I Apple's rival. I want this as a customer because I want to be allowed to install what I want on my own device.

If I sell something for you I want 30%. Not happy? Sell it somewhere else.

 

[DoubleJ2119]

Deleted.

 

[AussieSimon]

The whole idea that you need approval by Apple to run apps ON YOUR OWN DEVICE is ludicrous.

Yeah, it's a shame that nobody makes a phone that doesn't require approval from Apple to run apps.

 

[Da_Hood]

I get that its frustrating as a developer to see copy cat and scam apps show up in the App Store. Trying to see this from Apple's side with countless apps flying in. I think giving employees the power to claim something is a copy cat app could cause legal ramifications if they are wrong. Although they are very slow, if you provide enough evidence, they will remove the app. I agree the system is not perfect, actually not even good. BUT. How is App Stores popping up everywhere running like the Wild West going to improve this? At least now you have a slim chance of getting a copy cat and scam apps removed. With the Wild West approach, good luck with that.

1. Your saying 30% cut is inadequate to police store even though they promised to provide this service?
2. If the Wild West of outlaw sideloading was such an issue would iPhone not be the last man standing in phone os?

”trying to see this from Apples side”, an update with only fixes is rejected after succesful appeal 3 yrs prior, inconsistent if true. If devs story is true, either they screwed up prior, or now, not responding shows app store fee is to low provide service.

 

[DoubleJ2119]

Deleted.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Why is this a good thing for users, Apple apologists?

One thing Apple apologists WON’T abide is Apple’s App Store search engine, though. ALL Apple apologists agree that you should use anything, Duck Duck Go, Google, heck, even Bing… ANYTHING other than Apple’s App Store searches. As a group, they haven’t used Apple search results in quite some time and they’re surprised that people still expect to use the most limited search engine ever made to find out about good quality apps.

I’d guess that nullumaluphobia is a condition that drives a LOT of usage patterns, though.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

It's always a one sided story, bcause apple never responds. If they had a reason, they probably would have screamed it from the almighty big-tech tower.
Another innovator bites the dust.

And Apple loses yet ANOTHER developer to Android. The developer should provide a link to their app in the Google Play store in ALL of their communications so that everyone knows where the REAL innovation is.

 

[pasamio]

The whole idea that you need approval by Apple to run apps ON YOUR OWN DEVICE is ludicrous. It has been ludicrous from the beginning. Steve knew it, but being the jerk he was, he tried to get away with it and he managed to--so far. Apple knows it. Everyone who looks at it rationally knows it. The faster people realize this, the better.

The app store monopoly needs to be broken. Now it looks like this may happen by law. I surely hope it does.

Yes, if only there were some other more open mobile device ecosystem that could liberate us from the shackles of Apple's locked down system.

Apple's monopoly needs to be broken, there needs to be choice so you could buy mobile devices that didn't ship Apple's locked down ecosystem. If only there was choice in the market, some other alternative that let you run multiple app stores, side load applications and had a great custom keyboard API.

 

[michelb76]

Eleftheriou has been highlighting the scam apps Apple lets through, so I hope he at least continues doing that.

 

[bgillander]

If not for that facet of, "the resolved this rejection reason 3 years ago" because it was rejected in error for that, you might have a point.

Third party keyboards and browsers on IOS are basically lipstick on a pig for Apple's implementation.

Android has allowed third party keyboards since day 1 with much more openness and how often do you hear of keylogger exploits in them? You don't.

Never mind this is a keyboard for THE BLIND. Good luck keylogging that input method.

Maybe I’m missing something. Why would key logging a keyboard for “THE BLIND” be any different? Still creates keystrokes, right?

 

[JoB4031]

While I agree with your arguments in principle, do take into account that this is just the developers side of the story. We don’t actually have the full facts.

Maybe the developer is right and Apple really have failed to provide meaningful or constructive feedback. Or have put up obstacles and ignored contact.

Or maybe the developer is trying to use unauthorised API’s, isn’t being totally forthcoming about the reason for rejection or heck is just being straight up misleading about their entire story.

So I’d just gently suggest waiting to see if the story develops further before believing the developer on blind faith alone. It’s easy to gaslight an individual for sure but equally individuals are quite capable of using exploitative language when it suits their narrative.

The developers dissatisfaction with Apple maybe overstated, but isn’t unique (reference other post). But as a small developer that appears to being ignored, what do you do?

I wonder how much of this unresponsiveness on Apple is due to remote work?

Finally I am saddened that this app is going away as it was one of the few apps I routinely use on my Apple Watch. Found it much easier to use than the scribble.

 

[arobert3434]

As a keyboard developer myself I can really empathize with his comment about 'Apple's "terrible" third-party keyboard APIs'. They provide a bare minimum and are buggy to boot. I've had to tell so many users, "Sorry, we can't implement <insert-nice-feature-here> because Apple's APIs don't support it." Meanwhile Apple's own keyboard doesn't use these APIs at all but its own back doors. They have no incentive to expand the public ones (they basically haven't, since iOS 8) nor fix bugs (which stopped around iOS 9 or 10, though not, unfortunately, introduction of new ones). And the "it's for security" argument does not go very far. They allow keyboards to upload whatever the heck they want if you give them full access, but provide an API to move the cursor up or down? Let them run a popup 8 pixels above the keyboard? Must be too dangerous. It's almost as if Apple feels it is competing with its keyboard against third-party alternatives and wants to ensure itself the upper hand.

 

[bgillander]

30% is NOT reasonable for Apple to take from a subscription that doesn't even belong to an iPhone. Apple does not take 30% our of your Amazon purchases. It is reasonable for iOS game in-app purchases and other exclusive app features maybe. That's IT. Apple is NOT simply making their money back doing this, they are profiting. Stop acting like they're just trying to pay the bills. This is the most valuable company in the world.

I am not a government nor am I Apple's rival. I want this as a customer because I want to be allowed to install what I want on my own device.

If you buy a subscription through their store they have a right to charge a commission. It isn’t like Target doesn’t get a cut of that iTunes gift card I bought at Target, even though the money is for Apple. That is how stores work.

The main problem I see is when (or if, in case they do not still do this) they don’t allow the developers to add the extra charge to their subscription price and to tell the customer that they can get it without the extra commission charge directly. I am even okay with Apple not wanting a direct hyperlink to the offsite purchase. If that were allowed, I figure Apple could rightfully argue the the customer prefers the convenience of buying on the App Store versus bothering to jump off store to save a couple of bucks. Or even if they don’t let the developer add the extra fee, but allow them to say beside the Buy button that they would get 100% of the profit if you go direct to buy. Then Apple could correctly say that they customer couldn’t be bothered to go buy from the developer and bought through the App Store for the convenience, so the developer’s 70% or 85% cut is more than the 0% they would have gotten without Apple.