Especially considering how much people harp on about Apple's amazing UX and quality and how that makes the absurd prices worth it. The notch problem, as well as other UX bugs (like scroll direction having two separate toggles in mouse/touchpad settings, that toggle each other) really don't look all that polished to me.

The problem with this is that Apple is also a developer trying to sell you things. I would feel better if Apple's goals and the user's goals were aligned all the time instead of just some of the time.

Admittedly, Apple's real priority is just to make money on every transaction that occurs upon an idevice.

Yes, it says that they didn't bother to waste resources doing unnecessary changes.

But it also says about Apple that they do not respect the time and resources of the developers that bother to support their platform.

There is no way to spin Apple breaking APIs and programs that people have worked on (for developers) and bought (for customers) in a positive way.

The moral of this story is clear but third-party developers for Apple devices don't want to face it. With a few exceptions, most Apple frameworks and application software are proprietary. If Apple's internal source code is deemed to be central to their business, outside developers will probably never get to see it. And if they can't see it, they can't fix and improve it.

If you write application software for Apple devices, you have made a Faustian bargain. You are at the mercy of the whims of Apple Software Engineering; Apple has you by the proverbial balls. If your own code is also proprietary then your customers are in the same vulnerable position, so stop complaining.

Are there any developers who aren't?

>this has significantly tempered my lusting over the new M1 macs.

What sad is that when it comes to locking down computing devices Apple really is the vanguard of where things are going.

How is that exactly? A huge majority of developers in your situation go out and buy a Mac; another hardware purchase in their pocket. This is part of their business strategy: developers are forced to participate, and by and large they do just that.

It hurts you far more than it does Apple by refusing to participate. If you believe you're "hurting Apple" by not developing for their platform, think again. Even if your software is free to download, it's not Apple that suffers - it's your (potential) users; and they will blame you, not Apple, for the lack of support.

Apple wins this battle every time. Welcome to the ecosystem. :)

Sounds like these so-called “indie devs” who cannot afford to build for iOS devices should not tackle projects/clients that require building for iOS. Or, if a client is in the mix, bill the client a large enough fee to cover the cost of testing on real devices. That’s not a problem Apple is responsible for solving.

I would never rely on developing, testing, and releasing an Android app on a simulator alone. I don’t want to buy a bunch of Android devices. So I don’t take on work that is meant for Android, or I hire people who can properly test on devices. Pretty simple—and it’s both my choice and a matter of professional responsibility and accountability to ship work I can stand behind.

Apple isn’t going to change any time soon. I’m so tired of the disingenuous moaning from “indie devs” who want to take on projects for and make money from iOS, but can’t be bothered to get over their own personal anti-Apple feelings to buy a device.

The ecosystem of Apple devices are hardware and software. The simulators and build tools are never enough. You wouldn’t ship an app for Apple Watch without testing it on a watch, would you? Or would you ship it relying only on having one friend with an Apple Watch test it? Sounds lazy and unprofessional—and if an indie dev can’t do the job right, they shouldn’t take on the job.

Praising Apple for doing the right thing for small developers is not "Short Term thinking".

It's a good first step, It should be recognized as such. There is a lot of room for improvement, but whining about something that puts millions of dollars in the pockets of indie developers is just not cool.

This isn't something that is exclusive to Apple though this has always been an issue with them even regarding security issues with OS X.

>Despite all of the rightful moaning of iOS developers, for some reason they continue to flock to the Apple platform.

They develop for iOS because that is where the money is though this isn't the issue. It isn't as if the Android browser doesn't have its fair share of bugs.

>Apple will continue to treat their developers like second class citizens until there is a financial incentive to do otherwise.

You're right. Apple puts the interests of their customers first (not trying to be smug here). The developers come second. The only time you do hear complaints that go unanswered for devs it is usually only answered when there's a public (consumer) interest regarding it. A good example of this is Phil Schiller replying to customer's email about the Rogue Amoeba situation.

I'm certainly not defending Apple but this is a problem that has existed for as long as I've been interested in tech.

Explain how Apple, or any hardware manufacturer, is supposed to fix software bugs in third party software. Ridiculous.

Yeah, not happening. I have some users who sometimes complain about something broken in iOS on Safari, I google, and it turns out to be a known Safari bug. I just tell them that it is their device which is broken, which they agree with because it works fine on their computers. And it works fine for other users with Android phones.

The people who this hurts, are the Apple end users. There are a few bugs they just have to deal with because it's impossible for me to test a fix. Tough luck for them.

This is however for a free product. Anyone is of course welcome to buy me Apple hardware, but I don't see that happening either.

I think this is a problem for outside observers, not competent developers. Unlike us, Apple developers have ready access to statistics about bug reports and other forms of support requests that we do not. This data, presumably, is not subject to the same biases that infect an anecdote-driven discussion of software quality by outsiders.

You're hating on it for being from Apple? That makes as much sense as loving it because it's from Apple.

And yet they feel like they need to price gouge and charge a shit load of money and on top of it do basically the absolute minimum software testing and constantly with almost every update release a TON of new bugs they should have gotten rid of during testing.

You have too much respect for a company that USED to make great products and takes advantage of customers. Apple and Timmy are probably laughing at you.

Developers do some pretty shitty things. Lots of us using Apple stuff came from more open ecosystems and are here at least partially because Apple restricts what developers do.

My video game console is very closed. My phone is fairly open. The controller on my weekend project is a Raspberry Pi - very open. It's not a question of zealotry really.

I don't think it's hostile, I think they're just hands-off; they throw the hardware over the fence and say, "if you wanna make use of it, here's our software; if you don't like our software, sorry no docs but you're free to write your own". Which is exactly what's happening.

I mean it would be nice if Apple had released more documentation, but I totally understand if they don't want the burden of supporting it.

I’m a user and a developer and I’m convinced this is not what’s best for users.

For example, its the introduction of new bugs in the Finder that started with Maverick and still haven't been fixed. Its not too shrill, it is the software version of the neglect we see with the hardware. Things just aren't being fixed and the OS is getting flaky. I am getting a little sick of filing radars with no response or fixes. I would imagine our Adobe classes are going to end up transitioning to Windows if this keeps up and that would truly suck.

I don't understand how my fellow developers could ever tolerate Apple doing this.

This goes one way, and its been like this for decades.