> 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/