Anders BorumAug 18, 2024

Patreon being forced to pay creators through in-app purchase reminded me of a cool app I made two summers ago.

VPN clients on iOS lie on a spectrum between selling you out to data brokers or being expensive subscriptions.

Having prior experience with Digital Ocean my app made it easy to spin up droplets configured as VPNs ready to use from your iPhone.

It was so fast that droplets could be launched on-demand and shut down fast keeping costs extremely low.

Show threadAnders BorumAug 18, 2024

The app used OAuth to act on behalf of users on their personal Digital Ocean accounts making the cumbersome task of setting up a truly personal VPN available to the less technical or less patient user.

App Review rejected the app because I didn’t collect payment to Digital Ocean through in-app purchase.

Tried to appeal and spoke to Apple on the phone arguing that the payment was outside my control and that my app was a privacy boon but they did not care.

Show threadAnders BorumAug 18, 2024
Without a way to collect a revenue cut for Apple the app wasn’t allowed.
Show threadDaniel
@palmin It doesn’t matter that it is privacy-conscious if it doesn’t produce revenue for Apple.
Aug 18, 2024 at 4:25pmIceCubesApp