1y ago

Apple’s rejection of Hey calendar app revives an old feud

www.theverge.com Apple’s rejection of Hey calendar app revives an old feud

Basecamp founder and app creator David Heinemeier Hansson referred to Apple’s decision as “bullying tactics.”

• Apple rejects Hey calendar app for not allowing non-paying users to do anything within the app.

• Hey had previously faced a similar rejection from Apple for its original iOS app four years ago.

• Hey plans to fight Apple's decision, but the specific approach is not yet known.

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40 comments

The issue is that Apple should not advertise the app a FREE on the AppStore. It’s should advertise it as a subscription app or something like that.
- The real issue is almost certainly that Hey doesn’t want to pay Apple 30% so you can’t do anything without an external subscription and they don’t allow you to pay with In App Payments/Subscriptions.
  This guys entire marketing plan is generating controversy.
  
  That’s exactly the same marketing plan as Neflix/Amazon prime/HBO Max… whatever. You download a FREE app but can’t do anything with it without a subscription.
  
  Every single one of those apps supports in app payments/subscriptions. You can subscribe directly from the app.
  So, no, you don’t.
  And if Hey added that, they would be fine.
  This is the reason Apple didn’t lose their antitrust cases - they apply their rules pretty uniformly unlike Google which made all sorts of exceptions and side deals.
  
  Last I checked you cannot sub from within the Netflix app.
  
  Have you checked in the actual app? The App Store page often shows legacy info. I know it was possible before, but afaik they changed it some years back.
  
  That’s not quite correct. At least for Netflix I know that you can browse, add to watchlist etc. without a sub. Just need an account. So you can do something, just not watch anything.
  
  We really need Apple to open their platform to other app stores.
  
  I mean… maybe? I don’t actually care. My MIL will absolutely get tricked into downloading some spyware or scam app from some shady 3rd party App Store if they existed.
  The walled garden approach isn’t for everyone - but I don’t actually mind it at all.
  
  Leave the walled garden up. Just allow an opening of the user wants to.
  
  The issue is for the technically illiterate it’s often not nearly as intentional.
  No one reads pop ups or warnings, they just click ok when they’re told.
  My MIL was on her way to Home Depot to buy gift cards when my FIL called me because he couldn’t talk her out of it and thought I could.
  She had clicked a popup and then called the number - then somehow googled for Apple support number and called another scam.
  Literally anything that makes that more likely or easier is a net negative for a very sizeable percentage of users.
  I am certainly a power user - but there aren’t really any android apps that I think I’m missing out on.
  There’s 1/10th the spyware / garbage ware in the Apple Store vs Play store, and that’s before we get into 3rd party stores.
  
  Mac has a good-ish solution where you need to go into settings to allow unapproved apps. It’s not a pop up. You need to go there manually.
  
  It’s not that great of a solution, though. I dunno if anyone remembers but, when Gatekeeper (the interface to do this) first was added to MacOS, it was in response to a malware “virus scanner” that was out called MacKeeper. It was advertised as a malware scanner/Mac maintenance tool but it was just an ad platform that would inject all kinds of crap into your browser and run all kinds of keyloggers and things in the background.
  As soon as Gatekeeper was released, the MacKeeper website made a specific page that had step-by-step instructions for how to disable Gatekeeper and it would prompt you to visit the page if MacKeeper ever made it onto your system. If you ever re-enabled it, it would prompt you to disable again and show you the instructions.
  It’s an endless cat and mouse game. The only way this works is if they put it in as a multi-step terminal process. Novice users will not fuck with the terminal unless they know what they’re doing and are comfortable with the consequences.
  
  Apple does that for enterprise profiles and vpn profiles on iOS. Guaranteed you can talk most people into doing that without much trouble.
  
  You can trick anyone into doing stupid things. That’s why scam and phishing exists. I also remember tricking kids on counterstrike to format their C: drive to “activate cheats”
  
  Sure, but it’s infinitely harder on iOS to install malware, spyware or something else, I’m sure you’d agree. How many times have you looked at someone complaining about their computer being slow and they have 74 browser weather extensions and bars all siphoning data and doing who knows what.
  It’s also easier to track down the publisher of a scam app to figure out who’s doing the scamming.
  Simply put, I have less to worry about with older folks in my life using iOS than something else.
  
  You dick.
  
  Rush B!
  
  There are more Android users than Apple users worldwide. Lots of them are not very tech savvy, but they don't get tricked into installing random apps. You can't even do that unless you go into settings and enable third-party app installs. I don't think it's really a big problem like you think it is
  
  Just because you married the daughter of someone dumb, the rest of us should suffer? Due to this walled garden approach, the big companies are carving pieces of once open Internet to create their own secluded corners which only stifles competition. I always liked apple as a technology company, but their transition into a lifestyle brand only emboldened their gatekeeping. I am glad they were forced to adapt to USB-C, and I hope that in future, they be forced to open their AppStore.
  
  First off, she isn’t dumb at all. Just easily overwhelmed by technology. She was suspicious and took the time to try to find apple’s phone number to call them, but probably got bit by someone scamming google’s SEO so google spit out a scam number.
  They started using USBC on Macs and iPads forever ago. They weren’t forced to do anything. When they switched from 30 pin to lightning everyone was pissed. They guaranteed 10 years of support for lightning. Which drum roll… expired in 2022. https://www.theverge.com/23312359/apple-iphone-lightning-cable-anniversary-10-years
  If you don’t like it just buy android and windows devices? It’s not like there’s no choices and you’re screwed. It’s also not like they changed their stance over time. Whether you bought iPhone 1 or iPhone 15 the experience has been more or less the same ecosystem wise.
- You hit the nail on the head. Apple needed to add a whole in-app purchase interface to the store UI to make it clear that the free game you're about to download charges $50 for berries and the game is practically unplayable without them.
  They now need to categorize apps as requiring a subscription as the only means to "buy" it or even just use it.
  If the software is free to download but requires a subscription for the service, the button needs to say "Subscribe", not "Get". And the app info needs to show you, in loud type, the minimum buy-in cost.
  
  And an another category that, this app requires to signup for an account to use it
- The don’t advertise any apps as free. Apps that are free to download say “Get”. Nowhere does it say free. Before you get the app you can see if there are subscriptions as well.

40 comments