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by dgellow4 hours ago |
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upvoteby avianlyric3 hours ago|
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It’s always been true. If you want to build a limited distribution app Apple has mechanisms for private distribution which is used by companies for internal apps etc

They don’t want the App Store filled with app that can’t be used by the vast majority of people that might see and download it.

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upvoteby fundatus2 hours ago|
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> If you want to build a limited distribution app Apple has mechanisms for private distribution which is used by companies for internal apps etc

Yeah, but that wouldn't be an option for this app obviously.

> They don’t want the App Store filled with app that can’t be used by the vast majority of people that might see and download it.

Then they should add alternative methods. Instead they are actively sabotaging such efforts, for example by the EU. Want to distribute an iOS app in the EU through the web? Yeah, as a requirement you need an app with 1m annual downloads[1] already in the AppStore before they allow you to do that. Which completely defeats the point.

[1] https://developer.apple.com/support/web-distribution-eu/

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upvoteby elicash53 minutes ago|
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I would have previously said I don't blame Apple for not prioritizing that rare use case.

But with so many people vibe-coding apps, I do think it'd be good if Apple simplified the experience for non-developers. I made a stupid little rhythm game ("Headbang") this weekend that is controlled by AirPods head movement and I'd love to share it with two people and two people only. They would run it once and then never again.

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upvoteby Havoc2 hours ago|
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It’s likely more the exclusionary nature rather than niche per se that was the challenge

Then again presumably there are plenty of organization specific apps that are also decidedly exclusionary

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upvoteby lopis2 hours ago|
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So you can't sideload apps on iOS, installing your own apps in dev mode is unnecessarily hard and restricted, and you can't release an app in the app store that is not open to the general public? So if I want to build an app just for my family, what do I do?
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