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It recently occurred to me that it’s been years since it was possible to find some new and interesting app just by browsing the App Store, like it used to be wh

It recently occurred to me that it’s been years since it was possible to find some new and interesting app just by browsing the App Store, like it used to be when iPhone and Android were first introduced. Now I open the store knowing in advance what exactly I’m looking for and take care not to accidentally click on a lookalike.

echelon 9mo ago
Same on Android. Except on Android when you search for something and you get the big "match found" with "install" button, it's an ad and the real result is hidden like a search result. This practice ought to be illegal. These are trademarks, and monopolies are injecting themselves as market makers in a bidding war they created. This isn't enshittification. This is Roman Empire collapse. It doesn't work anymore.
- hu3 9mo ago
  At least in Android you can use F-Droid which is Play Store for open-source apps. I installed a regex powered notification blocker yesterday. Works as a charm.
  - echelon 9mo ago
    For now, and only but a tiny fraction of you. 99.99% of users never visit the settings. For those that do, they won't get past scare wall #1 of enabling APKs and scare walls #2, #3, and #4 of downloading, installing, and enabling the app. Google knows this. Tyranny of defaults, trained user behaviors, ecosystem, scare tactics, and even SERPs manipulation to make this nigh undiscoverable. But they weren't content with some number of you slipping through the cracks! They're starting to close the ability to release unsigned and self-signed code. You can only imagine what's after that.
    - hu3 9mo ago
      Agreed. Far from enough. But at least there's an option for tech savvy folks.
yieldcrv 9mo ago
Discovery is social If you’re optimizing for searchers (SEO) you’ve been out of the loop for a decade or catering almost exclusively to the elderly
- KellyCriterion 9mo ago
  Then whats all this "Appstore Optimization" about? :-D ;-)
Y_Y 9mo ago
I still do this but with F-Droid (or one of the nice frontends like Droidify). Will some new player come and give us some golden years of VC handouts and pre-enshittification decency? I hope so, but the barriers to entry are mighty.
hightrix 9mo ago
I've had success finding games in the Apple Arcade by just browsing. The bonus is that the games are all included with Apple+ and don't have any ads or microtransactions. That said, I completely agree that you cannot find any interesting apps by just browsing the App Store as a whole.
geooff_ 9mo ago
It's only getting worse with the amount of AI Slop being poured into the store. I'm relatively new to the space, but it feels like more and more of the time of indie devs / bootstrappers needs to get allocated towards marketing.
seviu 9mo ago
Not only that, it’s dangerous too specially if you have a family account with a single credit card. Apple doesn’t care about quality.
- galenko 9mo ago
  Yes. My wife’s mother keeps buying crap in game using my card and I have no reasonable way of blocking her from doing so if I want to keep app purchase sharing. It’s insane. Does no one at apple have senile in laws? Or is this acceptable?
  - saagarjha 9mo ago
    I’m sure Apple realizes how many senile in-laws can make them money.
  - ilikecakeandpie 9mo ago
    Can you not just make her a separate account and make her put her own card on there?
    - asdff 9mo ago
      > if I want to keep app purchase sharing.
      - ilikecakeandpie 9mo ago
        That's fair, I must have missed that Regardless, there has to be a breaking point. The value of sharing those will be exceeded by the microtransactions at some point
  - robinwhg 9mo ago
    I think you could convert her account to a child account. That way, you have to approve the purchases first.
criddell 9mo ago
It's a mature market. Maybe the age of new and interesting apps is over? I know I've pretty much settled into a small set of apps that I use on my iPhone, ThinkPad, and iPad and probably haven't installed anything new (ie not upgrades) for five or ten years now. The last new app I installed was either Fusion360 or Visual Studio Code. I guess I have had to install apps for other things I bought (like Christmas tree lights), but I don't really count that because the app is only a gateway to the thing I really want to use.
- deinonychus 9mo ago
  >Maybe the age of new and interesting apps is over? it's a shame it really feels this way! i discovered some fun social apps recently like Bump and Retro that are a refreshing break from the big algoscrollers, but all my friends are either too locked into the existing big social apps or are determined to not mess with any social apps at all.
chamomeal 9mo ago
Try to find a slideshow app that just plays photos as a slideshow. The first 10 results are all the same app with different skins. You try to make a slideshow and after adding 10 photos it wants you to upgrade to a $10/month SUBSCRIPTION to MAKE SLIDESHOWS. Only a problem because apple removed the ability to change your slideshow speed. Tried showing my fam a trip recently and it flies through at mach 5

echelon 9mo ago

Same on Android. Except on Android when you search for something and you get the big "match found" with "install" button, it's an ad and the real result is hidden like a search result. This practice ought to be illegal. These are trademarks, and monopolies are injecting themselves as market makers in a bidding war they created. This isn't enshittification. This is Roman Empire collapse. It doesn't work anymore.

hu3 9mo ago
At least in Android you can use F-Droid which is Play Store for open-source apps. I installed a regex powered notification blocker yesterday. Works as a charm.
- echelon 9mo ago
  For now, and only but a tiny fraction of you. 99.99% of users never visit the settings. For those that do, they won't get past scare wall #1 of enabling APKs and scare walls #2, #3, and #4 of downloading, installing, and enabling the app. Google knows this. Tyranny of defaults, trained user behaviors, ecosystem, scare tactics, and even SERPs manipulation to make this nigh undiscoverable. But they weren't content with some number of you slipping through the cracks! They're starting to close the ability to release unsigned and self-signed code. You can only imagine what's after that.
  - hu3 9mo ago
    Agreed. Far from enough. But at least there's an option for tech savvy folks.

yieldcrv 9mo ago

Discovery is social If you’re optimizing for searchers (SEO) you’ve been out of the loop for a decade or catering almost exclusively to the elderly

KellyCriterion 9mo ago
Then whats all this "Appstore Optimization" about? :-D ;-)

Y_Y 9mo ago

I still do this but with F-Droid (or one of the nice frontends like Droidify). Will some new player come and give us some golden years of VC handouts and pre-enshittification decency? I hope so, but the barriers to entry are mighty.

hightrix 9mo ago

I've had success finding games in the Apple Arcade by just browsing. The bonus is that the games are all included with Apple+ and don't have any ads or microtransactions. That said, I completely agree that you cannot find any interesting apps by just browsing the App Store as a whole.

geooff_ 9mo ago

It's only getting worse with the amount of AI Slop being poured into the store. I'm relatively new to the space, but it feels like more and more of the time of indie devs / bootstrappers needs to get allocated towards marketing.

seviu 9mo ago

Not only that, it’s dangerous too specially if you have a family account with a single credit card. Apple doesn’t care about quality.

galenko 9mo ago
Yes. My wife’s mother keeps buying crap in game using my card and I have no reasonable way of blocking her from doing so if I want to keep app purchase sharing. It’s insane. Does no one at apple have senile in laws? Or is this acceptable?
- saagarjha 9mo ago
  I’m sure Apple realizes how many senile in-laws can make them money.
- ilikecakeandpie 9mo ago
  Can you not just make her a separate account and make her put her own card on there?
  - asdff 9mo ago
    > if I want to keep app purchase sharing.
    - ilikecakeandpie 9mo ago
      That's fair, I must have missed that Regardless, there has to be a breaking point. The value of sharing those will be exceeded by the microtransactions at some point
- robinwhg 9mo ago
  I think you could convert her account to a child account. That way, you have to approve the purchases first.

criddell 9mo ago

It's a mature market. Maybe the age of new and interesting apps is over? I know I've pretty much settled into a small set of apps that I use on my iPhone, ThinkPad, and iPad and probably haven't installed anything new (ie not upgrades) for five or ten years now. The last new app I installed was either Fusion360 or Visual Studio Code. I guess I have had to install apps for other things I bought (like Christmas tree lights), but I don't really count that because the app is only a gateway to the thing I really want to use.

deinonychus 9mo ago
>Maybe the age of new and interesting apps is over? it's a shame it really feels this way! i discovered some fun social apps recently like Bump and Retro that are a refreshing break from the big algoscrollers, but all my friends are either too locked into the existing big social apps or are determined to not mess with any social apps at all.

chamomeal 9mo ago

Try to find a slideshow app that just plays photos as a slideshow. The first 10 results are all the same app with different skins. You try to make a slideshow and after adding 10 photos it wants you to upgrade to a $10/month SUBSCRIPTION to MAKE SLIDESHOWS. Only a problem because apple removed the ability to change your slideshow speed. Tried showing my fam a trip recently and it flies through at mach 5