This is a great question. Apple's fee basically says:

"Software development should either be money-losing (developer pays Apple and releases a free app), or it should be a business (developer pays Apple and attempts to make a profit)." There is no room for developers who want to release pure hobby apps with no expectation of commerce.

I don't release any of the iOS apps I write. First of all, I would never charge for them, and therefore I cannot justify paying $X/year for the ability to release them. So I do them for my own pleasure and education and that's it.

> hobby apps with no expectation of commerce

99% of this in the real world is spam. Not because it’s malicious. But the app is built for the developer, not the user. That’s not Apple’s MO.

Just because someone cobbles together some code doesn't mean it's going to be listed in the App Store.

iOS isn't the only Apple operating system either.

There is no "anti-spam" argument that can hold water.

Then we should have an alternate means of installing applications. Like sideloading.

Whatever happened to the EU Digital Markets act? That was supposed to force apple's hand.

How many percents of the Linux repositories is spam? What about F-Droid?

I started programming on the Atari ST and bought a compiler and made a fractal program based on the computer magazine examples of the time (not too much earlier, we typed in bytes and ran a checksum to get the computer magazine examples to run on something like a Commodore 64 for those who did not learn 6502 assembly), for fun as you say and posted it on BBS. I got a really nice handwritten letter of appreciation from a couple who enjoyed playing with it, it was immensely gratifying to make something and share the joy of playing with it.

If you want them to call you and ask "Are you really not a business?" after you tick the box that says "I'm not a business", that also costs them money. There's no way around the fact that they operate this at global scale, if they start making it free it will inundate them with spam and useless work. This isn't a local poetry magazine.

Why should I want to call them? There's no need for a phone call. I understand they allegedly need to do some quality control on the app store. And that has a cost. I get that. But they're the ones that decided that the app store shall be the only way to get an app. I don't have to pay anyone to run code on my computer that I got from github. It's not impossible.

That’s why the EU is forcing them to allow side loading apps. That’s the right way about it.