Marco Arment

Finished the annual App Store survey, which ended with an odd series of questions that I believe are new this year (see image).

As usual, the rest felt like the questions were crafted only to confirm what Apple already believes: everything's great.

Nowhere did it ask about:
- the 30%/15% tax
- the Small Business Program
- IAP policy
- linking to the web
- sideloading, etc.

And again, the only API it asked about was ARKit. Are we using it yet? If not, why not, and when will we start using it?

Feb 2, 2023 at 7:04pmIvory for Mac
Show threadDon WhitesideFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment Smells like a push poll. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_poll
Push poll - Wikipedia

Show threadJD BarteeFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment when are you going to ARKit to overcast so I can see your AR face while listening to you talk about tech??????? /s
Show threadGrant McConnaugheyFeb 2, 2023

@marcoarment Stuff like this *should* be eye-opening to Apple.

It's a developer saying they are a huge fan of Apple, but that Apple doesn't care about them and they're not at all excited about where the App Store is going. It should pain Apple execs to see stuff like this.

Show threadAdi šŸ¾ (he/him)Feb 2, 2023

@grantmc @marcoarment that assumes they don't know it already. They do.
The survey deserves two purposes:
1. Giving developers a feeling of being heard
2. Providing a barometer of how bad the things are, so they can tweak a policy to relieve pressure occasionally.

Those two answers reinforce each other. Apple can treat developers like shit because (as long as) its users love it.

Show threadmarcoroboticsFeb 2, 2023
@grantmc @marcoarment but if you were in charge wouldn't you put profits over developer's interests?
Show threadGrant McConnaugheyFeb 2, 2023
@marcorobotics @marcoarment It's not a zero-sum game. You can be wildly profitable and show developers that you care about them/give them reasons to be excited about your platform. These ideas can coexist.
Show threadFreediverXFeb 2, 2023
@grantmc @marcoarment
Show threadOmar Shahine Feb 2, 2023
@marcoarment isnā€™t that what most surveys do? Tell us what we want to hear so we can keep doing it with data supporting it.
Show threadSimon WhitakerFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment "Apple's App Store is our preferred marketplace". Was this iOS or Mac, or both? If the former, this question is just weird.
Show threadGavan ShanleyFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment ā€œpreferred marketplaceā€ as opposed toā€¦..?
Show threadƓscar Morales VivĆ³Feb 2, 2023
@marcoarment ARKit: The Best framework or The Greatest one?
Show threadAlex RosenbergFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment ā€œThis would require forward momentum on ARKit and RealityKit, but they seems to have almost entirely stopped and been abandoned in this buggy and functionally bare state.ā€
Show threadrafisaarFeb 2, 2023
Interesting that they asked about ARKit. It was looking more and more like RealityKit was the new kid on the block and that ARKit may not be supported on the upcoming headset.
Show threadJohn DavisFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment when itā€™s able to build a decent user experience without reinventing the wheel. šŸ™„
Show threadNotSoSilentFeb 2, 2023

@marcoarment I hate surveys like this that had no place to add your input on whatever you fancy.

I usually dump it even after Iā€™ve filled it in. If I can give my unadulterated 2 cents you donā€™t get my survey. Like they care about us anyway.

Show threadHeijiFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment that reminds me that one still canā€™t browse or buy the other AppStores in a browser on the Mac (or Mac App Store for that matter)
You would think they would at least optimize their profit making opportunitiesšŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø
Show threadEnricoFeb 2, 2023
@Heiji @marcoarment browsing for apps on the web is not possible and never happened. Thatā€™s why we went from boxed software on CDs to appstores, with nothing in between. What you are asking is literally impossible!
/s
Show threadJonwFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment definitely a blinkered approach
Show threadmarcoroboticsFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment to be fair ARKIT is the best camera tracking implementation out there.
Show threadPhilippFeb 2, 2023
@marcoarment well they probably already know the answers to most of those questionsā€¦ šŸ˜¹
Show threadGen X-WingFeb 3, 2023
@marcoarment You might have already spoken about it at length. But as an app developer, whatā€™s your view on alternative app stores (who can afford to run one?) and side loading? Good? Bad? Worries?
Show threadMarco ArmentFeb 3, 2023
@breadbin I wish the Apple App Store was so good and fair that regulators didnā€™t need to step in and I never had to deal with anything else.
Show threadGen X-WingFeb 3, 2023

@marcoarment Apple used to be so good at change, now they feel like a company terrified of it:(

Like the yearly OS releases. They no longer make sense. Keep the OS for much longer and focus on apps instead Iā€™d say. But they donā€™t reevaluate.

(I donā€™t want alternative app stores, as I donā€™t see anyone able to run any at scale and do it better. But I donā€™t think Appleā€™s is good. I fear they do.)

Show threadOliFeb 3, 2023
@marcoarment I keep wondering why Overcast isnā€™t using ARKit. Its uses are so obvious! šŸ¤£
Show threadRic SantosFeb 3, 2023
@marcoarment they probably donā€™t ask about the small business program because no one at Apple actually knows how it works
Show threadOwenFeb 3, 2023

@marcoarment as with every survey, donā€™t ask questions that you know you wonā€™t like the answer to; and always ask questions in a way that biases the answers to support the outcome that you want.

Thereā€™s lies, damn lies and statistics! šŸ¤£