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A family member of mine has an Apple phone, and the lack of availability of not just open source software but even freeware or freemium software astounds me. T

A family member of mine has an Apple phone, and the lack of availability of not just open source software but even freeware or freemium software astounds me. They make it so difficult to distribute anything, that it's not worth it unless you are getting significant revenue. This means that often the only option is something extremely scammy that charges monthly for the most trivial capabilities. Of course, Apple gets a 30% cut in any scams, so they have absolutely no incentive to do anything about it, and really their policies are what create it, in the first place.

furyofantares 1y ago
Is that an Apple thing? People trying to monetize anything they make seem to vastly outnumber those of us who just want to make stuff for other people to enjoy. When I turn off an adblocker I'm shocked how many hobby projects spam ads at their users to try to make a few pennies. It feels like a social issue.
- nickthegreek 1y ago
  Giving away free software on the appstore is gonna cost you $100/yr developer license. Sure, the more apps you make dilutes the cost, but it doesn’t seem like that inviting of a space for maintained free apps.
  - hu3 1y ago
    You'll also need a Mac computer for the happy path so it's more than $100/year.
  - Aloisius 1y ago
    Free for non-profits though. I'm a little surprised there isn't an open source non-profit set up to act as an umbrella for open source iOS app development.
    - oefrha 1y ago
      Then one bad app and the whole account is nuked. Not a great setup unless with explicit blessing from Apple, which they won’t give.
- esalman 1y ago
  It's a thing that was started by Apple and now everyone is trying to mimic. The other day I transferred pictures from my android phone to my Windows desktop, and some of them required a codec to open. I followed prompts, which landed me on a page in Windows store asking for $0.99 in exchange for the said codec. We had a good Internet in the 90s and 00s. Apple had to ruin that.
foobarian 1y ago
You know how we got here? It used to be a free-for-all where grandma could download any software off the Internet on her Windows computer. You know how the rest went. I honestly don't mind it. It's so easy to recommend an iPhone to non-technical users, knowing the app store is still not compromised with low quality/malicious garbage. (Sure it requires a bit of expectation attenuation but the Android app stores are worse yet).
- johnecheck 1y ago
  This is an argument for gating the free-for-all behind a setting technical users can find, not demanding 30% of revenue if a dev would like access to apple users. The security aspect is real, but this is really about maximizing profits by monopolizing access to anyone with an iPhone.
  - ryandrake 1y ago
    When a normal user is highly motivated to install software, there is no such distinction from a "technical user". He wants to install AnimeWallpapersTotallyNotATrojan.app. The operating system disallows it. Then he just does a search for how to install AnimeWallpapersTotallyNotATrojan.app on iOS, and finds 20 tutorials walking him through the steps to ungate the install. You can make the expert mode dialog say "Clicking this button will erase your hard drive, drain your bank account, and give your dog cancer" and people will still click it.
    - foobarian 1y ago
      Grandma: Help me, Joey! After the neighborhood kid helped me install the coupon code app (he said something about expert mode, he is very smart!) my phone runs slow and crashes. :-( Me: ...
      - kelnos 1y ago
        I love how the threat of Grandma installing malware on her phone is the new "think of the children!" And I love how the response to shit mobile security is to lock down devices so the people who buy them don't actually own them. Instead of, y'know, actually cleaning up the security posture of these devices.
1123581321 1y ago
How did you conclude the lack of freeware? Both the Apple and Google app stores have a couple million apps, and most of them (about 95% in the App Store’s case) are free.

furyofantares 1y ago

Is that an Apple thing? People trying to monetize anything they make seem to vastly outnumber those of us who just want to make stuff for other people to enjoy. When I turn off an adblocker I'm shocked how many hobby projects spam ads at their users to try to make a few pennies. It feels like a social issue.

nickthegreek 1y ago
Giving away free software on the appstore is gonna cost you $100/yr developer license. Sure, the more apps you make dilutes the cost, but it doesn’t seem like that inviting of a space for maintained free apps.
- hu3 1y ago
  You'll also need a Mac computer for the happy path so it's more than $100/year.
- Aloisius 1y ago
  Free for non-profits though. I'm a little surprised there isn't an open source non-profit set up to act as an umbrella for open source iOS app development.
  - oefrha 1y ago
    Then one bad app and the whole account is nuked. Not a great setup unless with explicit blessing from Apple, which they won’t give.
esalman 1y ago
It's a thing that was started by Apple and now everyone is trying to mimic. The other day I transferred pictures from my android phone to my Windows desktop, and some of them required a codec to open. I followed prompts, which landed me on a page in Windows store asking for $0.99 in exchange for the said codec. We had a good Internet in the 90s and 00s. Apple had to ruin that.

foobarian 1y ago

You know how we got here? It used to be a free-for-all where grandma could download any software off the Internet on her Windows computer. You know how the rest went. I honestly don't mind it. It's so easy to recommend an iPhone to non-technical users, knowing the app store is still not compromised with low quality/malicious garbage. (Sure it requires a bit of expectation attenuation but the Android app stores are worse yet).

johnecheck 1y ago
This is an argument for gating the free-for-all behind a setting technical users can find, not demanding 30% of revenue if a dev would like access to apple users. The security aspect is real, but this is really about maximizing profits by monopolizing access to anyone with an iPhone.
- ryandrake 1y ago
  When a normal user is highly motivated to install software, there is no such distinction from a "technical user". He wants to install AnimeWallpapersTotallyNotATrojan.app. The operating system disallows it. Then he just does a search for how to install AnimeWallpapersTotallyNotATrojan.app on iOS, and finds 20 tutorials walking him through the steps to ungate the install. You can make the expert mode dialog say "Clicking this button will erase your hard drive, drain your bank account, and give your dog cancer" and people will still click it.
  - foobarian 1y ago
    Grandma: Help me, Joey! After the neighborhood kid helped me install the coupon code app (he said something about expert mode, he is very smart!) my phone runs slow and crashes. :-( Me: ...
    - kelnos 1y ago
      I love how the threat of Grandma installing malware on her phone is the new "think of the children!" And I love how the response to shit mobile security is to lock down devices so the people who buy them don't actually own them. Instead of, y'know, actually cleaning up the security posture of these devices.

1123581321 1y ago

How did you conclude the lack of freeware? Both the Apple and Google app stores have a couple million apps, and most of them (about 95% in the App Store’s case) are free.