AI Engineer & Taste Maker building a 1 man + AI business.
Joined May 2021
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- Following1.6K
- Followers5.2K
- Likes23.3K
Lover of Apps retweeted
Everything is starting to add up now on why so many developers have reportedly been wrongfully terminated.
Phil Schiller reportedly stepped back from running the App Store partly over concerns that Apple’s push for more revenue could deepen conflicts with developers.
He raised those concerns, stepped back, and soon after, developers began reporting sudden account terminations and lost livelihoods. Coincidence?
@Apple @cue @tim_cook @carsonoliver, developers helped build this ecosystem, yet our ability to reach users still depends heavily on your control over app distribution.
If your goal is to boost App Store revenue, compete fairly instead of making developers dependent on your store.
Let developers distribute outside the App Store. Competition could make your store better without forcing everyone to rely on it.
Internal leadership decisions shouldn't determine whether developers can support themselves and their families.
The iPhone remains successful because of the apps developers build and people open every day. Even as you're reading this, you're using an app originally built by fellow developer @jack, once called Twitter.
Apple, your leadership needs to recognize that and sit down with the next generation of developers.
We deserve a seat at the table to discuss the future of an ecosystem we helped build.
Speak to us, not just delete us.
We carry more weight than you think.
And this conversation is only going to get louder.
Lover of Apps retweeted
Just heard from the @dojphofficial
Correspondence I submitted about @Apple will be disclosed during discovery in its lawsuit against the company.
If you’re a developer who lost your livelihood or the ability to reach your users, document your story. Save the emails. Keep the evidence. Consider submitting it to the DOJ.
Your submission could be shared during the legal process too, so keep that in mind.
We’ve made noise. Your story matters. Court is where we win battles like these. 👇
Lover of Apps retweeted
The walls are closing in on Apple’s App Store monopoly and enforcement of unlawful policies in the US and around the world.
Developers need to speak up now and share the ways you’ve been wronged publicly or with law enforcers. Speak up or be trapped under their boot forever.
Just heard from the @dojphofficial
Correspondence I submitted about @Apple will be disclosed during discovery in its lawsuit against the company.
If you’re a developer who lost your livelihood or the ability to reach your users, document your story. Save the emails. Keep the evidence. Consider submitting it to the DOJ.
Your submission could be shared during the legal process too, so keep that in mind.
We’ve made noise. Your story matters. Court is where we win battles like these. 👇
Now let’s recall all the posts going around pretending that any developer who loses their Apple Dev account must have automatically done something so wrong, something so evil, that the gracious @Apple had no choice but to step in & destroy their livelihood to “protect”customers.
If you have an Apple developer account or an app in the App Store, read this now and share it.
Apple rejects your app. The notice is vague, so you fix what you reasonably think is wrong and resubmit.
Apple approves it.
Months later, with nothing in review, Apple terminates your account under 3.2(f) for “a pattern of manipulative or misleading behavior.” Every app gone. No explanation of what you did.
Your crime? Trusting the approval.
Apple’s own reviewer looked at your fix, with your rejection history in front of them, and said yes. Then Apple turned that yes into evidence against you.
So who’s misleading whom?
I ran App Review for seven years and wrote the guidelines. 3.2(f) used to mean real fraud. Now it’s being used against developers who did exactly what Apple approved.
I’ve made this Substack post free for everyone. Every developer needs to see it before this happens to them.
Share it before someone you know gets that email.
phillipshoemaker.substack.co…
Lover of Apps retweeted
Former Apple App Review chief on Apple’s recent banning of developer accounts with long histories of being in good standing.
The App Store needs competition, worldwide! Why does Apple block competing stores in the US, Canada, Korea, and China?
If you have an Apple developer account or an app in the App Store, read this now and share it.
Apple rejects your app. The notice is vague, so you fix what you reasonably think is wrong and resubmit.
Apple approves it.
Months later, with nothing in review, Apple terminates your account under 3.2(f) for “a pattern of manipulative or misleading behavior.” Every app gone. No explanation of what you did.
Your crime? Trusting the approval.
Apple’s own reviewer looked at your fix, with your rejection history in front of them, and said yes. Then Apple turned that yes into evidence against you.
So who’s misleading whom?
I ran App Review for seven years and wrote the guidelines. 3.2(f) used to mean real fraud. Now it’s being used against developers who did exactly what Apple approved.
I’ve made this Substack post free for everyone. Every developer needs to see it before this happens to them.
Share it before someone you know gets that email.
phillipshoemaker.substack.co…
Lover of Apps retweeted
In before the community notes astroturfers come in with made-up nonsense about Apple doing no wrong. Reminder: US and Australian courts found Apple’s policies unlawful and made Apple reverse its decision to block our app.
Lover of Apps retweeted
If you have an Apple developer account or an app in the App Store, read this now and share it.
Apple rejects your app. The notice is vague, so you fix what you reasonably think is wrong and resubmit.
Apple approves it.
Months later, with nothing in review, Apple terminates your account under 3.2(f) for “a pattern of manipulative or misleading behavior.” Every app gone. No explanation of what you did.
Your crime? Trusting the approval.
Apple’s own reviewer looked at your fix, with your rejection history in front of them, and said yes. Then Apple turned that yes into evidence against you.
So who’s misleading whom?
I ran App Review for seven years and wrote the guidelines. 3.2(f) used to mean real fraud. Now it’s being used against developers who did exactly what Apple approved.
I’ve made this Substack post free for everyone. Every developer needs to see it before this happens to them.
Share it before someone you know gets that email.
phillipshoemaker.substack.co…
Lover of Apps retweeted
Look at the receipts: • 6 clean updates approved in a row • 1 routine update submitted Oct 12 • Gets stuck in review • Apple nukes the entire account with a 3.2(f) bot
This is how @Apple treats honest indie devs. Abusive monopoly behavior. @tim_cook @TimSweeneyEpic
Lover of Apps retweeted
The next 12 months of gaming and game development will be insanely cool and empowering!
Lover of Apps retweeted
"You did fraud."
"You refused to rename."
"What's the sus lib?"
Okay, I've read enough.
One by one:
> oo so you just produced slop, good that Apple is clearing you up
The app is almost 3 years old. $114K revenue, low refund rate, lots of updates and improvements shipped.
I have a software engineering background and built it with a product designer.
> oo so you added a sus lib!! what's the lib??
None of the rejections were about the lib.
They were all about metadata that had been live and approved for a long time.
The lib was just for official attribution, so I could run Meta ads and scale the app.
Got drowned in rejections instead, so I never could.
> oo so they asked you to change the title and you refused!!
No. I changed even the title after the call.
Re-read the original post, I say it clearly.
> oo so then you were pretending to be someone else in the title? haha impersonator
No. People were searching for my own brand name.
That's why the rename hurt so much.
> oo so you tried to scam someone! it literally says "fraud"!
No. Not one of my rejections was for dark patterns, and I don't use them.
Refund rate is low.
And the same app is live on Google Play, doing just fine.
> just sue them
bro, I'm not even in the US and I don't have money for this.
To sum up:
I think this is a wave of automated bans that just check whether you had a streak of rejections in the past.
The point of the post is to show this change and bring visibility, instead of every dev quietly getting wiped out.
$114K in revenue. Apple is deleting my account for "fraud".
Over a tiny update I tried to ship 6+ months ago.
8+ rejections. 1 call with App Review. 1 full app rename.
Still rejected. Now my app is off the store, and my whole account is next.
Here's the full story:
The update added one new library. That's it.
Rejected: change keywords that had been there for over a year. mm okay.
Rejected: change a subtitle in some random localization. if it helps..
Rejected: screenshots.
Rejected: the same stuff, all over again.
Rejected: rename the entire app.
That one hurt. Most of my traffic comes from people searching that exact name.
So I asked for a call. Surely we could clear this up live.
The reviewer was genuinely great. He said the name was the last thing, everything else looked good.
So I renamed the whole app, submitted, went to sleep.
3 days later. Woke up to a generic rejection. Subtitle, screenshots, the full combo. Again.
So I asked myself: do I REALLY need this update?
I didn't. I dropped it and moved on.
Today, in that same old thread: "Pending Termination Notice. Evidence of Dishonest or Fraudulent Activity."
My appeal is with the App Review Board.
If it fails, this is what termination means:
Every app I've built, gone.
Every user, gone.
And I can never open a new developer account. Ever.
All over one library update I never shipped.
How do we solve a miscommunication like this?
Lover of Apps retweeted
As search traffic dries up, Reddit announces it’s shifting to a logged-in experience techcrunch.com/2026/10/29/as…
Lover of Apps retweeted
There is clearly something wrong with Apple regarding developers.
So many account terminations lately, and even if most are deserved, the lack of communication is astonishing.
But it's not only that. I recently moved my company from France to Slovenia, and to change my tax address in Apple developer settings I had to contact support. Which I did.
But I had no answer.
I had to send a follow-up email, open a new ticket, and request a phone appointment (that didn't help) to have an answer 38 days(!) after the ticket was opened.
And their answer doesn't even solve the problem.
I don't know how it works there (Apple is a black box anyway) but the process could clearly be improved.
Apple Developers were losing accounts way before vibe coding existed. Why do you think @Apple keeps getting sued? Why do you think they go to court & lie? Blatant Low IQ lies, is that because of vibe coding? Did AI make multiple Apple employees take the stand & lie?
Lover of Apps retweeted
i feel 'scared' to upload new apps, or appeal or even re-submit them for review
i have plenty of apps on the App Store but my recent games/apps are being rejected in the name of 'spam' even though they are original ideas
>couple of my updates were flagged as 'fraudulent' features when i did not change anything other than uiux
the true meaning of an indie hacker/developer is being independent and putting your products out there
App Store is denying you the right to be independent
i don't remember being 'scared' to publish my apps anytime
what has Apple gotten us into
$114K in revenue. Apple is deleting my account for "fraud".
Over a tiny update I tried to ship 6+ months ago.
8+ rejections. 1 call with App Review. 1 full app rename.
Still rejected. Now my app is off the store, and my whole account is next.
Here's the full story:
The update added one new library. That's it.
Rejected: change keywords that had been there for over a year. mm okay.
Rejected: change a subtitle in some random localization. if it helps..
Rejected: screenshots.
Rejected: the same stuff, all over again.
Rejected: rename the entire app.
That one hurt. Most of my traffic comes from people searching that exact name.
So I asked for a call. Surely we could clear this up live.
The reviewer was genuinely great. He said the name was the last thing, everything else looked good.
So I renamed the whole app, submitted, went to sleep.
3 days later. Woke up to a generic rejection. Subtitle, screenshots, the full combo. Again.
So I asked myself: do I REALLY need this update?
I didn't. I dropped it and moved on.
Today, in that same old thread: "Pending Termination Notice. Evidence of Dishonest or Fraudulent Activity."
My appeal is with the App Review Board.
If it fails, this is what termination means:
Every app I've built, gone.
Every user, gone.
And I can never open a new developer account. Ever.
All over one library update I never shipped.
How do we solve a miscommunication like this?
Lover of Apps retweeted
I've been building iOS apps for over 10 years. Being an Apple developer hasn't always been easy, but I've always loved the platform.
However, over the past year, I've been feeling increasingly disappointed.
None of that matters if you entered the Small Business Program, you are told to report/link all of your accounts. If that doesn’t get you then accepting the Apple Settlement will, Apple’s Lawyers instructed us to link accounts then too.
If you knew how @Apple operated you would not say something so stupid. Once 1 account is flagged they are all at risk. But there is no rulebook that tells you that. A login, an update or any random action can trigger the removal. It is not 3 mistakes, it’s 1 mistake/false flag.
Lover of Apps retweeted
Imagine if X/Instagram/Facebook deleted your entire account because of a single post, instead of just deleting the post itself.
Apple is doing everything it can to lose its monopoly.
First, the privacy games and blocking IDFA tracking. As a result, billions of dollars now bypass the App Store through web2web. The entire fitness industry has learned to accept payments outside the App Store. That’s tens of billions of dollars (Genesis alone makes $2-4 billion a year).
Then Apple started fighting third-party app stores and payments. As a result, laws in many countries now stop Apple from doing that.
I’m sure constantly banning developer accounts will have consequences too.
$114K in revenue. Apple is deleting my account for "fraud".
Over a tiny update I tried to ship 6+ months ago.
8+ rejections. 1 call with App Review. 1 full app rename.
Still rejected. Now my app is off the store, and my whole account is next.
Here's the full story:
The update added one new library. That's it.
Rejected: change keywords that had been there for over a year. mm okay.
Rejected: change a subtitle in some random localization. if it helps..
Rejected: screenshots.
Rejected: the same stuff, all over again.
Rejected: rename the entire app.
That one hurt. Most of my traffic comes from people searching that exact name.
So I asked for a call. Surely we could clear this up live.
The reviewer was genuinely great. He said the name was the last thing, everything else looked good.
So I renamed the whole app, submitted, went to sleep.
3 days later. Woke up to a generic rejection. Subtitle, screenshots, the full combo. Again.
So I asked myself: do I REALLY need this update?
I didn't. I dropped it and moved on.
Today, in that same old thread: "Pending Termination Notice. Evidence of Dishonest or Fraudulent Activity."
My appeal is with the App Review Board.
If it fails, this is what termination means:
Every app I've built, gone.
Every user, gone.
And I can never open a new developer account. Ever.
All over one library update I never shipped.
How do we solve a miscommunication like this?