Some app developers are increasingly reluctant to work with Apple, and they complain that Apple ’s strict rules governing the app store appear to improve their homes and services and features, not for the stability and health of the entire iOS ecosystem.

Editor’s note: This article comes from Tencent Technology , and review Cheng Xi.

Apple's strict policy dissatisfied iOS developers: it went our way and left us nowhere Apple Corporation has created the iOS application ecosystem, allowing a large number of developers or developers around the world to earn income through software and games, and even start businesses. But at the same time, the Apple Software Store ’s increasingly stringent policies towards third-party developers have made developers more disappointed with Apple, and they look forward to major changes in the iOS ecosystem.

According to foreign media reports, some application software developers are increasingly reluctant to cooperate with Apple, and they complain that Apple ’s strict rules for managing the app store seem to improve their own home and services and features, not for the entire iOS ecosystem. The stability and health of the system.

The parental control software Boomerang now tells parents that when buying their child’s first smartphone, they should buy an Android device instead of an iPhone. “This is because after Apple released its own screen time feature, the software store regulations have become more stringent, which has disrupted the functionality of the application itself,” Justin Pan Yi, co-founder of Boomerang, told foreign media.

“Compared with what we can provide, I have always thought that this is a very bad user experience.” Pan Yi explained, “We can never provide what we provide on Android.”

Boomerange is just one of many mobile phone screen time applications that are subject to Apple ’s strict supervision of mobile device management technology. In the months since Apple announced its own screen time feature, this regulation has become more stringent.

Pan Yi said that although Apple retracted its decision to completely ban third-party screen time control applications, with the release of the iOS 13 operating system this fall, its mobile device management application guidelines have changed again, giving them Software brings new problems.

Apple argues that its restrictions are to protectProtect user privacy. The company sent a general statement to the tech media about its parental control application software policy, stating that Apple will only approve applications that do not share data with third parties (Boomerang says it does not share data) and that comply with its privacy policy at the Apple Software Store Shelves.

But the tension between app developers and Apple is not limited to parent-controlled apps.

Subtle moments

For Apple, developer complaints occur at a subtle moment.

It is well known that in the past many years, sales of Apple’s three major hardwares have all declined. Except for personal computers and tablets that are already the sunset industry, smartphones that account for more than half of Apple’s total revenue Also began to decline. Apple’s prospects as a consumer electronics hardware company are somewhat unpredictable.

As a result, Apple has begun to transition to Internet services, hoping to generate stable Internet service revenue through more than one billion users of iOS devices in the world. Apple’s Internet software and services are growing, such as Apple News, Apple Music, Apple Pay, Apple Network Video, and more. In addition to these Internet content services, Apple also relies on software stores to obtain service-type revenue from a large number of iOS developers.

Today, EU and US regulators and politicians are stepping up their scrutiny of how the digital marketplace, which Apple strictly controls, operates. The Apple Software Store is the only official channel for many Apple mobile phones and tablet users to download games, social networking services and professional tools. This channel has raised questions about monopolizing the market and hindering fair competition.

Call for reform of the app store ecosystem

As the iPhone and other Apple products have expanded the development of built-in features, developers have questioned Apple’s motivations, and independent applications they developed have provided similar features, which has become Apple’s competitors.

Some developers point to a disturbing trend that Apple has either restricted or copied features provided in their applications.

According to some of these developers, their applications have suddenly been removed from the Apple Software Store, or have been subject to new restrictions. This point in time is when Apple started developing similar built-in features for its devices.

Tile iOS software developer Tile has launched a location tracking product to help consumers track personal keys and mobile phones and other easily lost items. The company testified before Congress last month that users of its applications began to receive disturbing messages from Apple Settings, warning them that they were being followed. These warnings came at a time when Apple Inc. updated its built-in feature to track the location of the iPhone.

For Blix, another iOS developer, the email app has only recently been allowed to appear on merchants eight months after leaving the Apple Store. The company is suing AppleSuspected of anti-competitive behavior and patent infringement.

Earlier this month, Blix called on other developers to join the pressure on Apple to attract enough public opinion and thus the attention of external government regulators.

“Our experience shows that Apple has too many restrictions on small developers before the application review process is effectively balanced,” Blix Co-founder Ben Volach told foreign media.

Apple’s development of features inspired by popular third-party applications is not new. At a developer conference in June last year, a US tech media listed nine such examples.

But as the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission step up antitrust reviews of the company, software developers are complaining more and more. Even developers who have not claimed to have been directly intervened by Apple have stated that Apple’s control of software stores conflicts with the inherent interests of software developers.

Lunar Display, an application owned by software developer Astro HQ, competes with Apple ’s official Sidecar feature. The company now advises iOS developers to develop their products across platforms, such as developing products for both Microsoft Windows and Google ChromeOS.

“You must be wondering what kind of message this sends to developers in the Apple ecosystem,” Matt Jung, chief executive of Astro headquarters, told foreign media that Apple’s approach to managing their ecosystem has been compromised. Attack, because they compete with developers, who would want to build the next huge innovative application on this platform? “

Apple has denied allegations of anti-competitive behavior and pointed out that successful third-party applications, such as Google Maps, can normally compete with features or software launched by Apple.

Apple also pointed out that the Apple Software Store has more than 2 million pieces of software. Apple Inc. continues to support the innovation of the iOS development community by providing developers with tools to build new applications.

Apple also refuted the allegations of “plagiarism” and emphasized that although it respects intellectual property rules, if Apple does not compete with third-party developers, Apple users’ interests will be harmed.

This statement did not satisfy some developers.

Astro HQ’s Jung said: “Apple’s strategy has been going on for a long time, but not many people are willing to talk about it. The government’s antitrust investigation has created a space for people to talk about this issue. / p>