BraddoWiz
John GruberApp Store Rejection of the Week: Ice Cubes, a Splendid New Mastodon Client
https://daringfireball.net/2023/01/ice_cubes_app_store_limbo
https://daringfireball.net/2023/01/ice_cubes_app_store_limbo
Christian Selig@gruber Oof.
Steven Sokulski 
@christianselig @gruber That story is frustrating. But I’m glad you shared it.been using Ice Cubes for like three minutes and it’s soooo good.
Stefan です@sokulski @christianselig @gruber I can't believe how many great Mastodon clients for iOS have been developed in such a short amount of time. Sure some of them were already there before the big exodus, but a lot of them are either pretty new or have significantly improved in the past few months. It makes it very hard to decide which one to use.
James Harris - Find my bridged Bluesky account@christianselig @gruber definitely approve of you using your platform to throw Apple under the bus for this. Ice Cubes is my preferred client these days and getting more refined by the day.
Matt Bonney
Ryan Ashcraft
John Parker@gruber It’s not as if automated analysis couldn’t trivially prove this wasn’t the case.
Apple really need to start providing more value for their cut.
James Woods@gruber App Store gaf aside, those app icons 😍 @[email protected]
Ryu@gruber Most of the reviewers Apple hire do not know much about app development, or at all.
@gruber don’t expect any of them to know what Mastodon is.
Michael Simpson@gruber almost sounds like a self own on Apple’s part, saying SwiftUI doesn’t yet meet the “Minimum Functionality” requirement. Been using Ice Cubes for the past few days alongside Ivory and it very much feels like a full featured iOS app!
Albert Kinng 
@gruber I don’t know man… this sounds like an agenda from Apple. Maybe there’s a not told agreement to protect Twitter from sinking by avoiding new and easy alternatives to rise. We don’t know how Tim and Elon found peace, you know.
@gruber I just hope @ivory don’t get the same fate.
Ravishanker@gruber Thank you for highlighting the app. Just joined the beta and it’s by far the best I’ve used (not on the Ivory beta yet)
Helix Cavendish@ravishanker @gruber I’m also waiting to see Ivory, but I’ve been using Ice Cubes for a week or so and it’s really nice.
Nikesh@gruber well said. 👏🏼
daniel s.@gruber this can't come soon enough https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-allow-outside-app-stores-175542063.html?guccounter=1
@selfagency That won’t solve it. It’s almost no better than TestFlight. Even if these alternative stores come to fruition they’ll relegate an app to obscurity. The only practical solution is for Apple to improve the App Store.
Gerry Dorsey ✴️@gruber that’s a damn shame. Because Ice Cubes is one of only two Mastodon apps I’ve tested that I’m willing to pay for if their full App Store releases have a subscription model.
David Bennett@gruber this did have the good effect though of having my download this (excellent) beta!
Ben Bieker@gruber nice app. At least some spots in the TestFlight left which is not the case for ivory 😝
cameronbanga@gruber should have also included that it’s an open source app - the work he’s doing can be used by any developer as a great example of native iOS and SwiftUI code.
dermdaly@gruber jaysus. I thought it deserved sailing through for its beautiful icon alone.
Pedro Pérez@gruber Just downloaded the app, excellent. Still think Ivory leads the pack, but it’s refreshing to see so many developers trying diferent takes and design approaches to mastodon.
6tusBeckmesser@gruber nice, I got into the beta! Thanks! Hope the App Store will approve soon!
Jason Kallelis@gruber It's truly remarkable that iOS is known for best-in-class third-party applications when everyone who tries to make something has to go through this horseshit
Andrew@gruber I just downloaded this and it is amazing!!!!! Clean, fast, responsive. Highly recommend so far (5 minutes of us)
Vincent@gruber ice cubes is amazing, thanks for the tip!
knoopx@gruber maybe it's time to reconsider apple as platform too
Jon Adair@gruber
Then they should pull 50% of the non-game apps from the store for the same reason since there are existing web UIs: Slack, Discord, MS Office, Twitter, Facebook, GMail, Google Calendar, ...
Then they should pull 50% of the non-game apps from the store for the same reason since there are existing web UIs: Slack, Discord, MS Office, Twitter, Facebook, GMail, Google Calendar, ...
tredstone@gruber great job calling them out
Schaufuss@gruber so sad. Just installed the app and it’s great. Apple really needs to get their sh*t together when it comes to app review 🤬
LearningXP 
@gruber Just…why?
D. Griffin Jones@gruber > Alas, there is not a single even tolerable Mac client yet.
Have you tried Mona for Mac?
https://github.com/JunyuKuang/Spring-for-Twitter/releases/download/MonaBeta/MonaBeta.zip
Mark Gardner@dgriffinjones @gruber @MonaApp So let me get this straight: to use the invitation-only Mona beta #macOS client for #Mastodon, I have to buy a $12 third-party #Twitter client even though Twitter is now blocking the popular ones? And according to https://twitter.com/theSpringApp/with_replies it occasionally gets rate-limited anyway?
@dgriffinjones @gruber @MonaApp PS: #SpringApp and all third-party #Twitter app substitutes are now in violation of Twitter’s #developer agreement: https://www.engadget.com/twitter-new-developer-terms-ban-third-party-clients-211247096.html
Harri Granholm@dgriffinjones @gruber Yeah, Mona is the best Mac client I’m aware of! (Also using Mona on iOS. Everything syncs nicely.)
@dgriffinjones Yes, I have.
gnaegi@gruber Thanks for pointing me to IceCube, absolutely great client. Rejecting of this app is just pure reviewer-power-demonstration. I agree, this guy should be fired.
Andrew Ross@gruber I've only been using this app for like five minutes and it's already one of my favorites. Looks like your post is going to get this app a lot of new users, and hopefully someone at Apple's head out of their ass. @icecubesapp
Mike VanDelinder@gruber this is an incredible post
jochen@gruber Thanks for the heads-up. Writing this in Ice Cubes. Very nice app.
Daphne Preston-Kendal@gruber Glad to hear I’m not the only one lamenting the state of Mac clients – I was worried I was missing something …
Thomas C@gruber Ugh what a nightmare! Just installed the client though and man is it great. Apple has to get their crap together
Aleksandar Vacić@gruber this is very much the look of Apple I expect these days.
Arrogant, greedy, developer-hostile to the core.
Arrogant, greedy, developer-hostile to the core.
Teng@gruber frustrations aside, has he submitted an appeal? I have not been following along the saga.
Appeal guarantees another pair of eyes. If you keep submitting new builds it’s the same (ignorant) reviewer in the other side. I guess having the same reviewer on one version’s review process is beneficial more often than not, but in this case an appeal is the way to go
Brian Dear@gruber Wonder if Apple wants to release their own Mastodon client?
@brianstorms No way is Apple going to make a Mastodon client, but even if they did, they shouldn’t block third-party clients. The App Store is chock full of alternatives to Apple’s own apps. Calendars, browsers, music, podcasts — everything. As it should be.
@gruber Agree that Apple shouldn't block, and I think it's safe to say they wouldn't block, third-party clients. But if Fediverse gets big enough--I do think Apple will have Fediverse-compatible apps. When the Cloud became obvious and profitable, Apple launched iCloud. Same will happen to Fediverse imho. If nothing else, like Apple Mail is an SMTP client.
Dan Ancona
Ben Hollis@gruber these sorts of stories are what scare me off from building native iOS/Mac experiences. Web app / PWAs have loads of problems but nobody can tell me what I can or cannot ship.
Deus Ex MacGuffin 
That's Apple for ya. This is par for the course.
Robin@gruber looks like it got approved. Just downloaded it from the App Store.
Doug Jones"links, images, or content aggregated from the Internet"
I feel like this is 90% of what anyone does on their phones could boil down to this.
Like, how much data do I view on my phone that isn't content available on the web in some form?
Shameful.
Jason McCray@gruber I am using it now!
Brian Ragle (he/him/his) 🇺🇸🖖🏼
So‑Called Vaughn