this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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iOS is also filled with apps that have ads and subscriptions. Having something like F-droid for Foss apps without the nonsense is nice if you need something like a simple pdf reader or even a calculator. IPad has no calculator for example and there's so much crap you have to shift through to find a simple calculator that doesn't have ads or subscriptions.
Understandably - as a developer you need to pay money to keep your apps listed on the Apple store - even if they're free apps. So just to recoup those losses you almost have to put in ads or subscriptions.
Isn't it like $100 per app publisher per year?
I mean, that's not nothing but seems like it wouldn't take much - certainly not many subscriptions - to pay it off.
A very small GoFundMe or coffee tip jar or just spread out the costs between a few interested people and you're done.
Most of the ad-infested apps - and at this point, that's virtually anything listed for free - are just cash grabs, not anything to do with recouping listing costs.
Whelp - I feel like you're overestimating how much money people donate.
I've got a website service that I offer for free with a Kofi tip jar - I got less than 20€ over the past 3 years that is was online. Which doesn't even cover domain costs.
Sure it's very much not in your face and it isn't meant to be, plus being only one anecdotal point of reference, but that's just my experience with that.
I think for consumers it doesn't matter the reason. A bad experience is still a bad experience, and that's something I found the Apple appstore to be, so avoid it most of the time.
The iPad doesn't have a calculator???
Indeed. And you can’t even install the first party Apple one from the store, you have to go third party.
It does, just not as an app. It’s built into spotlight. There’s a built in PDF reader as well, if you just tap to open a pdf file from the files app.
Yich, that reminds me of the ever-expanding role of the start menu in windows.