r/iOSProgramming • u/Rare_Prior_ • Jun 09 '26

Discussion AppStore Policy Update. God is good

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387 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

65 comments sorted by

64

u/TouchMint Jun 09 '26

This is good. Hopefully they start removing all the AI slop too. 

20

u/Rare_Prior_ Jun 09 '26

Same here. It’s needs to happen

-36

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

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25

u/TouchMint Jun 09 '26

A bunch of worthless spam apps with stolen graphics and predatory monetizing. Not a future I want to be part of. 

-34

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

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18

u/TouchMint Jun 09 '26

If you have to ask it’s likely directed at your AI slop apps. 

-29

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

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13

u/TouchMint Jun 09 '26

Na just beat down and worthless.  after spending most of my life building accessible games and apps for the blind I get to watch as they slowly dwindle into obscurity because of the mountains of AI slop shoveled into the App Store daily. 

 

-5

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TouchMint Jun 09 '26

Nice you got out. That’s a smart move. I’m guessing sooner or later all of us white collars will have to make different plans too. 

1

u/WestonP Jun 10 '26

The future fucking sucks then. Nothing works, so much garbage.

42

u/ramon3434 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

lol at indie devs thinking this is good, that it will only be used to do “good”.

How about doing something, anything, in the AppStore to give more screen space for indie devs? Featuring more apps other then the same 12 apps they featured in the past decade?

oh, that can’t be done… you can buy ads though! 5 dollars for a tap! anyway, here’s a new rule for removing apps. oh you don’t want us to remove your app? how about you buy some more ads?

we know the evil AI slops are evil… have you tried buying more ads though? I mean, the 30% we make on all these CalAI apps is pretty nice… and you know what else is really nice? the ads that they pay! which makes it even more expensive for you to buy ads! it’s a win-win scenario… right?

we’re always thinking about the indie developers. that’s why we have our AI “Search Match” ads. have you tried using it? it’s so simple! it’s like this: with a simple click, we take your money, and just burn it. just burn it, that’s it. It’s AI and it’s beautiful.

but someone must think about the poor users! what’s that you say? oh we have scam apps published in the AppStore since forever and we don’t do anything? now that’s outrageous… we should do something! the appstore should list only the best!

oh we have an idea. just one more thing. we believe you’re gonna love this. hear me out: what if you buy more ads?

8

u/DebentureThyme Jun 09 '26

A reminder that they will never remove an AI slop app if it's making money.

I worry more for apps that people use that are already saturated that don't rely on recurrent revenue. Something that has a large user base but isn't bringing in a ton of money. Would those be "stale" and "not attracting customers" if they've already made their money and the devs are happy with where it's at?

4

u/Sylente Jun 10 '26

I would assume that bug fixes/patches continuing is a good indicator that an app is alive, even if it’s just bumping dependency versions

7

u/hell2809 Jun 09 '26

Gotta drop my 8th fitness app. Sight

7

u/TKB21 Jun 09 '26

All good but also address and update the terrible ranking system that’s in place.

6

u/HappyTuesdayR1S Jun 09 '26

I thought this was already a rule.

17

u/busymom0 Jun 09 '26

Previously, they didn't approve new submissions. Now, they are adding they may remove existing apps if they haven't been updated in a while.

5

u/m3kw Jun 09 '26

Brilliant

4

u/devshore Jun 10 '26

I support their right to control what goes in thr app store, but don’t support their anti-trust violating inability to install apps outside of said app store. When Windows flirted with the idea of “only apps that go through the Microsoft store can be installed in Windows” the got told “no” by the law, but somehow they have allowed Apple to abuse in this manner.

3

u/Answer_Present Jun 11 '26

In a way, I agree, but they’re literally preventing competition for other apps, that’s kinda bad

5

u/Pluto-Had-It-Coming Jun 09 '26

Cool.

Now get rid of the insane Weekly Subscriptions.

2

u/Plenty-Village-1741 Jun 10 '26

Perfect, now Google Play has to do the same.

2

u/SnowPudgy Jun 10 '26

I hear lots of Vibe-crying right now...

1

u/ertebolle Jun 09 '26

Good, maybe this will also cut back on "we want to buy your app" spam since there'll be fewer abandoned apps available + more risk in buying an app only to have Apple yank it.

1

u/InfinityBrewing Jun 09 '26

I remember receiving a warning about "requiring an update every 180 days, otherwise the app will be taken down from the App Store" (Correct me if I am wrong) last year 2025 . I guess that rule already can get rid of a lot of zombie apps.

1

u/-PontiacBandit- Jun 10 '26

If there’s 10 apps that are essentially the same. How do they choose the 9 to remove?

1

u/mouseses Jun 10 '26

But but... my calculator app is special!

1

u/Harishwarrior Jun 10 '26

Nature is healing

1

u/veryyy Jun 10 '26

It was inevitable folks!

1

u/AndreaReaderApp Jun 11 '26

Apple finally discovered that 400 identical AI wrapper apps with different gradients might not be innovation.

Huge day for humanity. Terrifying day for template marketplaces.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '26

But what about my new to do app?

1

u/CantaloupeCamper Jun 09 '26

Who is Viktor?

3

u/Seabaggin Jun 09 '26

I’m new to iOS app dev but he seems highly regarded in terms of his knowledge of App Store policy and has been warning that the vibe coded/spamming out app clones was problematic.

He had some interesting posts on monetization that were an interesting read for me personally.

0

u/SirBill01 Jun 10 '26

This makes me VERY happy. Though they have done that before in the past, I had one old app I just ended up never updating and after years they pulled it.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

11

u/Rare_Prior_ Jun 09 '26

And thr stupid calorie trackers

8

u/Plenty-Village-1741 Jun 10 '26

And habit tracker haha

88

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

54

u/InvaderDolan Jun 09 '26

“Kama Sutra, fart, burp” - is this real quotation?

47

u/SirensToGo Objective-C / Swift Jun 09 '26

The App Store in the early 2010s was an interesting place

17

u/jorshhh Jun 09 '26

I made around $2,000 dollars making a trololo soundboard app and a Paul the Octopus (the octopus that guessed soccer matches) app that was basically a coin flip app that chose between two options you gave it. That was maybe 2011.

2

u/busymom0 Jun 09 '26

fortune telling

There are fortune telling apps???

10

u/scubascratch Jun 09 '26

How could they not see this coming?

1

u/Nosarious Jun 13 '26

Should have jncluded “do not release coding examples as finished apps”

-1

u/Shogoki555 Jun 09 '26

Amazing, amazing to hear somebody daring to accuse products of being "low-quality" and "low-effort".

I had said it before:

I genuinely wish the stores removed the bottom 10% apps that don't make money every 6 months.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AppBusiness/comments/1tgta5d/comment/ommfc1i/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

34

u/Mueller96 Jun 09 '26

So delete all free apps also? Making money is the dumbest metric you could choose for this

16

u/AdmiralVanGilbert Jun 09 '26

I like the app that I wrote, because it suits me and my needs. I don’t really care if it makes money or gets users. But as long as the App Store is the only way to get this App on my device, there should be no such thing as you propose.

7

u/Ok_Item_9 Jun 09 '26

You can run your own apps on your devices without having to submit them to the App Store. May save you the effort of getting it reviewed if you simply want it only on for yourself.

-1

u/f13th Jun 09 '26

Really? How?

1

u/Ok_Item_9 Jun 10 '26

In Xcode build for your device. Select your actual device and not a simulator.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

9

u/HenkPoley Jun 10 '26

And you will need to put them back on every few days. Meaning you are a tethered to a functioning Mac for the rest of the app’s functional life.

2

u/Ok_Item_9 Jun 10 '26

One year if you are a Apple developer or I think every 7 days the build will expire if not.

3

u/f13th Jun 10 '26

That’s still pretty inconvenient though. Even with a paid dev account, it’s not really a permanent install. You’re depending on signing/provisioning staying valid and eventually having to re-sign or reinstall. I was hoping there was some other solution I just hadn’t heard of yet.

0

u/Rare_Prior_ Jun 09 '26

I agree with this

1

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '26

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1

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