The App Store Review Process Needs Fixing

This has been suggested for a long time and for the record I agree. It doesn't solve all problems but it creates no new ones and solves a major glaring issue.

I just don't see anything changing here until some major external force causes them to have a "come to jesus" moment, like AI did with Siri. If ChatGPT hadn't come along, Apple would have been perfectly happy to have the same awful Siri for the next many decades, all the while telling us how amazing and capable and trusted it is.

That's where they're at with the App Store. They say the few lines that are technically legally true and ignore all the unpleasant realities. But even worse in this case because those scams make them money.

So really the only way to get them to clean up the App Store is going to be major governments around the world enforcing the same legislation making Apple responsible for copyright infringement and scam losses.

I don't know how that would work but I can't think of anywhere else to hurt Apple the only place the care about, in the wallet.

Apple doesn’t handle well the bureaucracy it already has with App Review, and I worry that any new program (even one designed to fix something) will just be implemented poorly and make things worse somehow.

It’s sad that so many egregious examples of scams are SO EASY to find (e.g. if you just spend 10 minutes looking at Top Grossing), and Apple can’t even do that.  They need to prove they can fix the low-hanging fruit first.

A trusted developer program is just a way to pull the ladder up behind you. And there’s no way to ensure smaller indie devs won’t be priced out or just not allowed to become trusted developers, at least after awhile

It’s also just a bandaid on the real issues of the App Store. The main problem with the App Store is Apple doesn’t have to compete with anyone else because they banned alternative installation options. This means no one can provide a better service and Apple gets to pretend their app store is the best possible solution

This is why we need government mandated sideloading and third party app stores

> This is why we need government mandated sideloading and third party app stores

Fix your communication on this. Apple has reversed and propagandized the term "sideload" to push their rent-seeking behavior.

I don't want a "sideload". Apps aren't just a "sideload"; they're the raison d'etre for owning a device.

I want Free Range Apps. That means install an app with one-tap from /anywhere/, no fake scary messages, no OS fighting me, just click and run like a real computer, because I *own* the device. I don't need a third-party app store (they're fine if they exist) or Nanny State Apple (NSA) stopping me from launching software I want to run on my device.

The App Store is the sideload.

This is why anything iOS-based is a toy and not a personal device, because you cannot run apps freely.

Do not let Apple PR destroy your argument by calling your right to use a device you paid a lot of money for a mere "sideload", like it's some unimportant secondary option. It's very important to Rent Seeking Apple that you think of it that way.

You want Free Range Apps. You want a personal computer. No device needs an App Store.

> He suggests a Trusted Developer Program

Funny. As the real solution is no review at all and let people install the software they want on their hardware without the need to ask Apple permission.