Self-Hosted VPN App Rejected Due to IAP
Anders Borum (via Miguel Arroz):
Patreon being forced to pay creators through in-app purchase reminded me of a cool app I made two summers ago.
VPN clients on iOS lie on a spectrum between selling you out to data brokers or being expensive subscriptions.
Having prior experience with Digital Ocean my app made it easy to spin up droplets configured as VPNs ready to use from your iPhone.
It was so fast that droplets could be launched on-demand and shut down fast keeping costs extremely low.
The app used OAuth to act on behalf of users on their personal Digital Ocean accounts making the cumbersome task of setting up a truly personal VPN available to the less technical or less patient user.
App Review rejected the app because I didn’t collect payment to Digital Ocean through in-app purchase.
Tried to appeal and spoke to Apple on the phone arguing that the payment was outside my control and that my app was a privacy boon but they did not care.
Patreon was already collecting payments from supporters on behalf of creators, and Apple wanted a cut. You can think the cut is too high or disagree on principle, but it at least makes sense. In this case, Borum didn’t even want to be in the business of selling Digital Ocean hosting services. He just wanted to make a utility to help people use their existing accounts. At least Apple is not requiring him to become an AWS reseller…
Previously:
- Creator Platforms and the App Store
- Apple Going After Patreon
- The Business of VPNs
- Potential
- WordPress Bug Fixes Blocked Over IAP
3 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
I've actually thought about trying to make a general purpose VPN iOS app, and stories like this make me think I'm not going to bother, because after putting in all the work of programming it, Apple can just pull the rug out from under me. And even if they accept the app initially, they can just pull the rug out from under me later.
Combined with the fact that iOS's APIs are going to be fairly limited compared to what I can do on the mac, and much more so compared to what I can do in a properly open system like Linux, it just doesn't seem worth the effort. I'd rather use a platform where I'm actually in proper control of my own device and can distribute software how I like.
> because after putting in all the work of programming it, Apple can just pull the rug out from under me. And even if they accept the app initially, they can just pull the rug out from under me later.
This is devastating and you are not alone. Hard to imagine the cool apps that never got developed for this reason. And how miserably it holds the platform back.
Digital Ocean would also pull the rug out from under the creator when their customers cause DMCA takedowns to be issued unfortunately.
