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> This is exactly what I expected to read when I started reading. So many apps have done this to me that I'm now hesitant to install, and become dependent on, a
by cookiengineer 5y ago
> This is exactly what I expected to read when I started reading. So many apps have done this to me that I'm now hesitant to install, and become dependent on, any new apps.
To provide a little context: Most developers have no choice but to do this. I've seen a lot of developers for the App Store getting broke because of Apple's refund policies. People are quick to click refund, but then the developer has to pay for Apple's 30% of the fees (and transfer costs).
Say, you sell an App for 10.00$. Apple gets 3.00$ of that when a user buys the App, and the remaining 7.00$ go to the developer's account. When the user is now unhappy with the app they can get a refund for the costs.
User gets 10.00$ back, but from the developer, which means the developer now has a net negative of -3.00$ (ignoring the accumulative bank transfer costs)
And no, there's no limit in how many people can scam an App developer on the App Store, which means that you could literally use millions in the case of a social justice thing that goes viral, which happened to quite some Indie game developers I personally have worked with and was a target of in the past because the target audience (kids, teens and the like) doesn't realize the damage they're causing with this. Kids think it's funny and it forces the Game developers to implement the features they so desperately want, but the result is that the developer is broke and legally so indebted that they won't be able to recover from this anyhow; certainly not when they are a private developer.
- spijgpise 5y agoDo you have a source for this? I've seen claims that this is the case and then people responding that it isnt. See: https://twitter.com/twolivesleft/status/1288625617873694721 https://twitter.com/twolivesleft/status/1288625617873694721 And discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23995750 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23995750 Apple may have in the terms that they could do this, but rarely do.
- cookiengineer 5y agoMy indie game dev days were from around 2010-2014, so this might have changed. European App Store (Germany). As you might guess, I didn't use any Apple product eversince and kind of ditched all ideas to develop an app or game for iOS. This seems to be a pretty well researched article that links to the specific clause in the developer's contract [1] and [2] [1] https://www.cultofmac.com/9789/updated-appstore-refund-policy-wont-bankrupt-developers/ https://www.cultofmac.com/9789/updated-appstore-refund-polic... [2] https://kotaku.com/apple-putting-the-squeeze-on-iphone-developers-updated-5181471 https://kotaku.com/apple-putting-the-squeeze-on-iphone-devel...