Once the closure is open, it seems that anyone can join. After the controversy with Epic Games, Apple again receives heated criticism from developers because of its already well-known 30% commission on in-app purchases. This percentage may or may not be excessive and in fact it is being investigated by US courts, however it is not the only company with commissions of this type and in the end it does not commit any illegality and it is a regulation present in its app store.
They report the approval process of the App Store
There are several steps that developers who want to implement a new application for iPhone, iPad and Mac have to follow, having to comply with all the security rules of the App Store, but also others related to its optimization or the services of payment. The latter are related to in-app purchases, since developers have options to offer payments or subscriptions within their applications, but these must go through Apple services and therefore this takes the aforementioned 30% commission. Although everyone has to accept this contract, some breach it and see their apps outside the App Store, while others for the moment are limited to criticizing it.
They report from Bloomberg of the concern of a group of Japanese developers who have decided to publicly denounce the complexity of the approval process of an application in the case of the App Store. And in this case they do not place so much emphasis on the famous commission, but on how tedious it is to offer an app to iOS and iPadOS users. They compare the process with that of the Google Play Store and affirm that they have much more fluid processes and that even communication with them is better than the one they have with the firm led by Tim Cook. They also mentioned an external service called iOS Reject Rescue to help them run the approval process more smoothly.
These same developers branded the app review as ambiguous and irrational , even going so far as to suggest unethical actions by Apple such as intentionally leaving some apps in the review queue in order to “punish” a developer who has shown a attitude that they do not like. Reviews of content classified as sexual or pornographic has also been criticized, suggesting that the Cupertino company sometimes vetoes video games that contain people in swimsuits because it considers it to be sexual content.
Obviously, these are very serious accusations that, at least for the moment, have not been reported in court. At the moment the company has not responded to these statements and remains silent. We do not know if in the next few hours or days it will issue some type of statement, either through a press release or statements by a spokesperson. On previous occasions, the company has maintained a calm position in the face of these attacks, claiming the legality of its regulations.