Small Ways the App Store Could Be Improved for Developers

Perhaps the most insulting item on the list is the search results. It's an ideal example of Apple knowing something is broken and doesn't work well for users or developers, but that's not what they care about. As long as the ad system works well, their job is done.

I used to be able to (many years ago) tell users to go to the app store and search for an app by name and be reasonably sure it would be correct. I tried that recently and there's no way to safely send a user to the app store anymore. Between the ads and clones and scams, legitimate software is now buried.

The sad fact is most of the changes Jeff wants are for developers who care about doing things well and not just churning out high profit slop that makes Apple a ton of money through IAP and now advertising directly in the App Store.

I wish Apple would add a wish list for app like Steam does.

I find it hard to accept the app store 'pays', but I have to. There are far better alternative apps outside the store but dark patterns and the laziness of the vast majority powers these institutions. Apple should be ashamed of this aspect of itself, but it is not.

"Allow App Store users on older versions of iOS to purchase the last compatible version of an app."
I don't think this is a good idea as a default. I think is better to give developer option to allow it only. Some people will game the system and buy apps before they went subscription route or some apps have web APIs that stopped working.
But honestly some people will start asking for support and updates on those old macOS (happened once to me and it was printing studio that couldn't upgrade macOS due to some software)

> Show a “contact developer” button when an App Store user leaves a 1 to 3 star rating.

You want to be contacted by people who think your software sucks? Possibly, but sadly this (and the next point on the original blog post) make it pretty clear that you would like to gatekeep comments, albeit with Apple's blessing. But buggy software sucks because it's buggy, not in spite of it, and unfortunately most of my one-star to three-star ratings are indeed bug reports, in fact often accessibility-related, and even if I thought the dev should be cc'ed on them, I most certainly wouldn't want others not to be aware of them either—at least, not until Apple makes their "Accessibility Nutrition Labels" mandatory and the dev indicates VoiceOver support. It's sad, and I respect devs who genuinely put in the effort, but a lot of my reviews end up being something like, "Sorry bud, accessibility is shot, one star for you."

> You want to be contacted by people who think your software sucks?

I want to be contacted by people whom I can help, which is many people who leave a rating in lieu of contacting support. I can tell from the reviews that some people are simply confused, I could easily resolve their issue, and then they would be happy rather than upset with their purchase. That's a win-win-win scenario for the customer, for me, and for Apple. (I haven't received any reviews about accessibility, by the way.)

The entire rating and review system was copied from the iTunes Music Store in 2008, as was the entire App Store. For music, ratings are all a matter of personal taste, and nobody needs technical support, especially not from the musicians. Songs "just play", and if for some reason they don't, that's the fault of Apple and the iTunes/Music app, not the fault of the songs or musicians. The system for music is absurdly inappropriate for computer software. If computer software isn't working as expected, customers need either technical support or refunds. Apple is supposed to review apps for functionality, so apps that don't work shouldn't even be in the App Store. If anything, it should be "report to Apple" rather than a rating.

> I want to be contacted by people whom I can help, which is many people who leave a rating in lieu of contacting support. I can tell from the reviews that some people are simply confused, I could easily resolve their issue, and then they would be happy rather than upset with their purchase. That's a win-win-win scenario for the customer, for me, and for Apple. (I haven't received any reviews about accessibility, by the way.)

OK, yes. I agree that a Contact Support button should be much more discoverable. Maybe a prompt when the submit button is pressed as well, which gave the user that choice of continuing to post the review, or contacting support instead. I just wouldn't want an option not to post one-star reviews when that's entirely appropriate.

And, yes, although your extensions are trickier because of various limitations in the platforms themselves, I've found your software to be very accessible, so good on you for that.