Will any of these developer complaints be addressed in iOS 14?

[Rogifan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1271185023744397312

Great list of changed developers have been asking for. Will Apple finally implement some of these changes? I never understood why when you search for an app the first thing you see is a paid ad for a competing app. And is Apple’s aversion to upgrade pricing because they want to force developers into a subscription model? Phil Schiller should know that subscription pricing won’t work for most indie developers with niche apps. It’s one thing to pay Microsoft a subscription for Office but doing that for an indie developer who makes a to do list manager or calendar app? Sure seems like Apple is giving a big middle finger to developers all in the name of Cook’s mandate to double service revenues.

 

[symphony]

Yes, implement them

 

[MEJHarrison]

As a full-time developer in real life, and a hobbyist on my iOS devices, I think people like me have been getting screwed over in recent years. It used to be you had to pay the $100, even if you were just learning and tinkering. I paid the $100 in that final year. Then they finally made things free. That was a glorious day.

Things were good for a while, but over the years they've gotten worse and worse. As of a few months ago, I can install a maximum of three apps at a time. If I want a 4th, I need to delete one of the three. And I believe they'll now run for a week. Then they stop working. So you have to re-install weekly just to keep something going. It makes no sense to me. It's not that I can't part with the $100. It's just that... why? I really need to pay $100 just to play around with some code that will never be installed anywhere other than my own personal device? That's the part that kills me.

I think this is a big mistake. I was toying with an app last year. Had a lot of fun with it. Did it with SwiftUI. It was actually something that I thought I could maybe develop into something worthy of entering the App Store. But now it's just annoying to even work on it. There was even a period where I could not install it on my phone at all because it used a third-party library (an "oops" Apple reversed). Since it uses HealthKit, I was dead in the water. The simulator is near useless in these cases. Without my phone to test on, I really couldn't progress much.

I think they should go back to letting the hobbyist tinker without restrictions.

I also think they need to up the number of devices you can have on a free account. One of my newer devices (iPad perhaps) I can't even deploy to because I've used up whatever tiny amount of devices I was granted. And I can't just remove the old iPad. No, you need to pay money for that type of service. If I want to test on my iPad, I need to create another free account and then juggle multiple accounts. I shouldn't need to.

Anyway, I think Apple should remove the barriers for the hobbyist. You never know when one of them will suddenly have a good idea and want to give Apple the $100.

 

[hovscorpion12]

No. Apple has made an official statement that nothing about the App Store or Approvals will change.

 

[matram]

Things were good for a while, but over the years they've gotten worse and worse. As of a few months ago, I can install a maximum of three apps at a time. If I want a 4th, I need to delete one of the three. And I believe they'll now run for a week. Then they stop working. So you have to re-install weekly just to keep something going. It makes no sense to me. It's not that I can't part with the $100. It's just that... why? I really need to pay $100 just to play around with some code that will never be installed anywhere other than my own personal device? That's the part that kills me.

Microsoft charges me 20x what Apple charges for my MSDN membership. To me the 100 USD is dirt cheap.

 

[MEJHarrison]

Microsoft charges me 20x what Apple charges for my MSDN membership. To me the 100 USD is dirt cheap.

But you don't NEED an MSDN membership to write windows software. Not at the hobbyist level. These days even Visual Studio is free. There's also no restrictions on writing and running my own software.

I'm a professional developer. I get charging for professional tools. I don't get charging for stuff at amateur/hobbyist level. Let someone get their feet wet. If they create anything of value, you'll likely end up getting their money eventually. If they never create anything of value, why not let them tinker? How is Apple being hurt by someone writing software for their own personal devices?

Why bother giving Xcode away for free only to put so many restrictions in place, it's nearly useless without a paid account? I've already invested thousands just to be in a place to write software for my phone in the first place. I don't think it's too much to ask to have an app I'm testing not stop working after a week. If it turns into something of value, I'll gladly pay the $100 to move to the next level.