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Getting out of iOS dev was the best career decision I’ve ever made. My baseline level of stress and frustration has plummeted. I also enjoy using my Samsung Not

Getting out of iOS dev was the best career decision I’ve ever made. My baseline level of stress and frustration has plummeted. I also enjoy using my Samsung Note much more than I ever did any iPhone. It feels like the training wheels have been taken off my phone. As developers I think we should all do what we can to nurture the open web. It’s the last truly developer friendly platform.

city41 6y ago
Apple more than anyone is hostile to the web. I still have a recurring iCloud charge I tried to cancel today. But I literally can't as it's not doable on any Apple website. You must use an Apple device or iTunes, neither of which I have.
- microtherion 6y ago
  Apple has instructions for canceling subscriptions from non-Apple devices: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202039 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202039 As a last resort (e.g. if all you have is an Arduino), they advise you to contact Apple support. I'm pretty sure it would be unlawful to have no way to cancel other than with an Apple device.
christoph 6y ago
I agree. There really is nothing more frustrating than spending months working on an app, to get it either rejected on some really minor issue or have to go back and forth with Apple for weeks explaining how things work from a customer and business perspective, constantly on tenterhooks as to whether they will give it the OK nod. Then you go through the same thing each time you push an update, even for a minor bugfix like amending some foreign language strings, get a different reviewer who hasn't read the case notes (I'm guessing these must exist) and decides to do a deep-dive, or maybe a quick rubberstamp in a matter of hours. It seems like a total lottery from my experience. Maybe they just suddenly added a new clause that requires something being done differently and you aren't up on the latest app store guidelines... It really is so frustrating from a developers mental health perspective.
axlee 6y ago
How does developing for iOS impacts your personal choice of phone hardware? I develop windows and MacOS software, but I am running Fedora.
- 7tsfmCAusrQ 6y ago
  It's not really practical to develop apps for iOS without owning an iPhone. Yes, there is a simulator available which you can run on Mac OS in a VM or on a Hackintosh, but you still will need a real device at the end of the day. Certain features like in-app purchases can only be tested on real devices. Furthermore, the App Review Board has the power to reject your app at any time until you provide them with a demonstration video which must be screen recorded on a real physical device, and on this ridiculous and unnecessary hoop to jump through I am speaking from personal experience. Of course, you could always have a personal Android device and an iPhone solely for development purposes. Apple tries to force you to own a Mac and at least one iOS device (be it iPhone or iPad) to develop apps for the App Store. This is yet another example of their corporate greed. You can develop Android apps on Windows, Mac, or Linux, and there's no need for a physical device.
  - tomnipotent 6y ago
    > It's not really practical to develop apps for iOS without owning an iPhone This applies to all platforms. I wouldn't want to do business with a developer that doesn't own the device they're developing for, we learned that lesson with Blackberry thank you.
    - scarface74 6y ago
      The CEO of Google refused to use an Android device for years.... https://9to5google.com/2013/03/21/google-chairman-eric-schmidt-admits-he-still-hasnt-kicked-the-crack-blackberry-habit/ https://9to5google.com/2013/03/21/google-chairman-eric-schmi...
      - romanoderoma 6y ago
stephenr 6y ago
> It’s the last truly developer friendly platform. Right because no one ever complained about browser inconsistencies, the inherent limitations of a browser runtime, etc.
- cageface 6y ago
  If I have to choose between a flawed platform and a broken ecosystem I'll take the former any day. No browser quirk is anywhere near as annoying as having a bug fix update to your app rejected for some new random capricious reason.
  - stephenr 6y ago
    That's your choice to make, but pretending that developing web apps is all sunshine and lollipops and developing local apps for distribution via an OS vendor's store is fire and brimstone, is not realistic.
    - cageface 6y ago
      Do you really think that's a fair characterization of my point? If any of it was all sunshine and lollipops they wouldn't have to pay us to do it because people would be queuing up to do it for free.
      - stephenr 6y ago
        I don't know because you started off by making claims about "broken ecosystem". The App Store may have undesirable qualities for some parties but to claim that it is a "broken ecosystem" just tells me that you're looking to exchange ridiculous hyperbole.
        cageface 6y ago
        An ecosystem where one reviewer having a bad day can destroy your business meets just any useful definition of broken. And that's not even considering that most of the real money to be made in the app store is fleecing whales with scammy IAP.
amelius 6y ago
> As developers I think we should all do what we can to nurture the open web. It’s the last truly developer friendly platform. This is why Mozilla's recent layoff is extra painful.

city41 6y ago

Apple more than anyone is hostile to the web. I still have a recurring iCloud charge I tried to cancel today. But I literally can't as it's not doable on any Apple website. You must use an Apple device or iTunes, neither of which I have.

microtherion 6y ago
Apple has instructions for canceling subscriptions from non-Apple devices: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202039 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202039 As a last resort (e.g. if all you have is an Arduino), they advise you to contact Apple support. I'm pretty sure it would be unlawful to have no way to cancel other than with an Apple device.

christoph 6y ago

I agree. There really is nothing more frustrating than spending months working on an app, to get it either rejected on some really minor issue or have to go back and forth with Apple for weeks explaining how things work from a customer and business perspective, constantly on tenterhooks as to whether they will give it the OK nod. Then you go through the same thing each time you push an update, even for a minor bugfix like amending some foreign language strings, get a different reviewer who hasn't read the case notes (I'm guessing these must exist) and decides to do a deep-dive, or maybe a quick rubberstamp in a matter of hours. It seems like a total lottery from my experience. Maybe they just suddenly added a new clause that requires something being done differently and you aren't up on the latest app store guidelines... It really is so frustrating from a developers mental health perspective.

axlee 6y ago

How does developing for iOS impacts your personal choice of phone hardware? I develop windows and MacOS software, but I am running Fedora.

7tsfmCAusrQ 6y ago
It's not really practical to develop apps for iOS without owning an iPhone. Yes, there is a simulator available which you can run on Mac OS in a VM or on a Hackintosh, but you still will need a real device at the end of the day. Certain features like in-app purchases can only be tested on real devices. Furthermore, the App Review Board has the power to reject your app at any time until you provide them with a demonstration video which must be screen recorded on a real physical device, and on this ridiculous and unnecessary hoop to jump through I am speaking from personal experience. Of course, you could always have a personal Android device and an iPhone solely for development purposes. Apple tries to force you to own a Mac and at least one iOS device (be it iPhone or iPad) to develop apps for the App Store. This is yet another example of their corporate greed. You can develop Android apps on Windows, Mac, or Linux, and there's no need for a physical device.
- tomnipotent 6y ago
  > It's not really practical to develop apps for iOS without owning an iPhone This applies to all platforms. I wouldn't want to do business with a developer that doesn't own the device they're developing for, we learned that lesson with Blackberry thank you.
  - scarface74 6y ago
    The CEO of Google refused to use an Android device for years.... https://9to5google.com/2013/03/21/google-chairman-eric-schmidt-admits-he-still-hasnt-kicked-the-crack-blackberry-habit/ https://9to5google.com/2013/03/21/google-chairman-eric-schmi...
    - romanoderoma 6y ago

stephenr 6y ago

> It’s the last truly developer friendly platform. Right because no one ever complained about browser inconsistencies, the inherent limitations of a browser runtime, etc.

cageface 6y ago
If I have to choose between a flawed platform and a broken ecosystem I'll take the former any day. No browser quirk is anywhere near as annoying as having a bug fix update to your app rejected for some new random capricious reason.
- stephenr 6y ago
  That's your choice to make, but pretending that developing web apps is all sunshine and lollipops and developing local apps for distribution via an OS vendor's store is fire and brimstone, is not realistic.
  - cageface 6y ago
    Do you really think that's a fair characterization of my point? If any of it was all sunshine and lollipops they wouldn't have to pay us to do it because people would be queuing up to do it for free.
    - stephenr 6y ago
      I don't know because you started off by making claims about "broken ecosystem". The App Store may have undesirable qualities for some parties but to claim that it is a "broken ecosystem" just tells me that you're looking to exchange ridiculous hyperbole.
      - cageface 6y ago
        An ecosystem where one reviewer having a bad day can destroy your business meets just any useful definition of broken. And that's not even considering that most of the real money to be made in the app store is fleecing whales with scammy IAP.

amelius 6y ago

> As developers I think we should all do what we can to nurture the open web. It’s the last truly developer friendly platform. This is why Mozilla's recent layoff is extra painful.