News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store. Parent comment

Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by saagarjha on Sunday November 03, 2019 @07:08PM (#21437739)
Calling private API is not nonsensical Apple policy, and you're reducing the instances in which rejection is nonsensical Apple policy.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by throwGuardian on Sunday November 03, 2019 @07:22PM (#21437822)
The post shot to #1 on HN in no time, because the developer community thinks this rejection, and it's backing policy to be nonsensical.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by bdcravens on Sunday November 03, 2019 @07:40PM (#21437935)
The post shot to #1 because there are a lot of Javascript developers that see Electron as a gateway into apps they would otherwise be unable to develop. There's a lot of interest in whether or not that door closes.

Apple's policy towards private APIs has been known for years.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by throwGuardian on Sunday November 03, 2019 @07:47PM (#21437973)
In which universe is it good for Apple to roadblock JavaScript (or any other language) developers?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by bdcravens on Sunday November 03, 2019 @08:07PM (#21438076)
You misinterpreted my comment.

Apple is roadblocking the use of private APIs, not languages. Or interpreted another way, they're roadblocking frameworks, not languages. This is true whether you're using Javascript, Swift, or C. This rule has been in place for years.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by saagarjha on Sunday November 03, 2019 @07:26PM (#21437844)
> because the developer community

Which is not a homogenous group, both in ideals and for why they'd upvote a submission like this.

> this rejection, and it's backing policy to be nonsensical

They're different things. I personally think the rejection is perfectly sensical in the context of the backing policy, with which I don't fully agree.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by throwGuardian on Sunday November 03, 2019 @07:44PM (#21437952)
You must be chugging the koolaid to believe developers LOVE Apple's policies, or enjoy getting their hard-work rejected by a bot, or getting shamed by an overzealous Apple employee on HN. Developers are homogeneously unappreciative of Apple's treatment of them. They just don't have any leverage, or opportunity to negotiate
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by saagarjha on Sunday November 03, 2019 @07:48PM (#21437975)
…you're replying to a comment where I state that I don't fully agree with Apple's policies.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by scarface74 on Sunday November 03, 2019 @08:56PM (#21438335)
Who are you going to blame when applications start breaking because Apple removes or changes the functionality of a private function? [1] without warning?

When you are writing any software that has a public API you should feel no obligation to change the functionality or completely remove a private method without warning.

[1] I refuse to call it a private API. An API is public documentation of the inputs and expected behavior of a dependency. It should be a completely black box how that functionality is implemented.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by throwGuardian on Sunday November 03, 2019 @10:14PM (#21438725)
Blame the developer? Which is why, when an app breaks on the Mac store or app store, users pound the app with 1-star reviews. Even if the breakage happened from a platform (iOS or MacOs or Android) bug.

This is not Apple "watching out" for the developers, no matter how much you spin it

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by saagarjha on Monday November 04, 2019 @02:03AM (#21439513)
If enough applications break, users are more than likely to blame the "stupid Apple update" rather than their apps.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by simonh on Monday November 04, 2019 @06:40AM (#21440723)
It's Apple watching out for users.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by arvinsim on Sunday November 03, 2019 @08:36PM (#21438230)
Doesn't help that developers still buy their machines.

Apple will only listen if it hits their bottom line.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by simonh on Monday November 04, 2019 @06:42AM (#21440736)
The problem is that flakey software on their platform, that breaks on OS updates and bug fixes annoys users, and thus also hits Apple's bottom line.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Electron apps cannot be submitted to the Apple store by biggestdecision on Sunday November 03, 2019 @08:38PM (#21438243)
The rejection is legitimate, but it's still a big issue for developers of Electron apps. The fix should happen in Electron if at all possible.
[ Parent | on HN ]