keep building! you got this! it's going to work!
United Arab Emirates
Joined September 2025
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You now have two choices when going to sleep
1. Turn off your computers access to the internet until you’re back online and ready to deal with a compromise
2. Tell your AI agents to be on watch for any malicious activity and contain it until you wake up
Internet connection is becoming a liability
Do you remain on old software that has vulnerabilities
Or do you upgrade to latest software that has supply chain vulnerabilities
Pick your poison
We identified a security incident affecting a modified Claude Code VS Code extension accessed through our Cursor IDE extension marketplace, impacting at most 5,000 users. This malicious version of the extension was not developed by Anthropic. It does not impact other extensions downloaded from the cursor.com/marketplace, Grok Bot, Grok or our other SpaceXSI products.
In response, we took down our extension marketplace this afternoon, worked with relevant providers to neutralize the malware, and have reinstated the marketplace after confirming there is no further risk.
If affected, please review instructions in this blog post to understand how to find the malicious package and establish a path to mitigate any potential impact. We are asking all customers update to Claude Code for VS Code version 2.1.314: cursor.com/blog/claude-code-…
we're now living in a world where the average developer is more likely to get hacked than an average end user
developers have so many scripts, extensions, modifications, and API keys just lying around, not up to date
I've met so many people building incredible things with Claude Desktop and ChatGPT Desktop
Meanwhile, I'm using Orca because it gives me more control over agents
Are the desktop apps now that good that trying to get more control ends up causing you to build slower?
It's always baby steps until you look back and realise you've made it to the top of the mountain
The ideas for the iterations honestly come from anywhere
Yeah, it could come from when you're at your desk using your product
But all it takes is a prompt to your PostHog analytics, your backend logs, your in-app support chat and you figure out there's way more you could be doing
Crazy how it feels to once have been iterating without AI
This is exactly how @marclou ended his talk in Dubai last week
It's easy to take this quote out of context and think Marc had it all from the beginning
But when you hear him speak about his journey for an hour and then you read his quote on the screen, you realise he lived it
This is why I think it's worthwhile to go iOS first and then build Android
You validate your app idea with an audience that pays more
Then you build out for the platform with more users
Wakes up tomorrow
App account suspended
Makes me wonder what to include in a "What's New" post
You've got a mix of users who are in the app for the first time versus ones who have been there since 1.0.0
Do you dynamically figure out the list of features that should be shown?
How to get a steady stream of App Store reviews?
This approach is simple and genius:
Use major app updates to boost your App Store rating.
Ship a meaningful feature → show a “What’s New” screen → ask for a review.
Reach engaged users at the right moment, without interrupting their experience or relying on gimmicks.
Thanks, @CristianRus4 🤝
I also like to think that putting in effort in the "What's New" helps
I don't see the big players like ChatGPT do it. They use the standard "Stability improvements & bug fixes" line
But maybe it shows a human touch, which the reviewers appreciate?
A lot of new advice since I wrote this.
1. Avoid the 2nd pile at all cost.
If your first review is rejected, it'll go to a senior reviewer. You may wait 14+ days for another review. How to avoid?
- Keep the scope small! A few great features.
- Build native swift for less edge cases & bugs.
- No non-standard payment structures.
- Avoid gray areas: abandon offers etc.
- Submit these for review in a later build.
2. Get automated review.
The signals I've seen is that to have automated builds you'll need:
- An already approved app live.
- Lots of approvals in a row.
- Smaller, more frequent changes.
- Potentially swift builds are prioritised.
- It's on a per app basis.
- Build a trusted relationship with Apple.
- Revenue doesn't seem to matter.
3. Review Notes
Still super important. Real people are reviewing the first submission. So help them out. Record a video walkthrough of everything actually working. Don't hide anything, and NEVER mislead the user. That's what almost all the guidelines come down to.
I appreciate when advice is retracted when it helps the community (both developers and end users)
I can understand there are tactics that lift conversion by tiny amounts, but it could come at the expense of people trusting Apps less
Leading to short term gain for long term loss for all
I have to correct my own paywall article.
In July I told you to show the yearly plan crossed out: $69.99 → $34.99.
If you never actually charged $69.99, Apple calls that a false price.
Guideline 2.3.1(a): a false price can get your app removed and your developer account terminated.
And it says "within or outside of the App Store". So your ads count too.
What I do now:
1. Strikethrough only for a price I really charged
2. No "-50%" in screenshots or ads
3. Real discounts only through Apple's offers
This is like "the internet never forgets", but the App Store version
This is why I loved one of Adam's recent posts: if you pivoted your attention to a new app that's more successful than past ones, reevaluate whether the old ones carry any risk
Makes me wonder if this is Apple's attempt to deslopify the App Store which is appreciated, but getting the balance right... it's tough
Again, another developer just had their Apple Developer account terminated after changing their app's title and name.
I feel like Apple recently rolled out an automated account termination system, and it's clearly not doing a great job, considering how many accounts have been terminated lately.
I'm not even sure if I'll end up in the same situation one day.
This is exactly why I think everyone should start building their personal brand and diversifying into other products, especially web apps, instead of relying on a single source of income.
Remember, under Apple's Developer Program rules, if one of your accounts gets terminated, other accounts associated with you could also be terminated.
That's an insanely high risk, especially if your entire business depends on the App Store.
It sucks to see when someone who's been so helpful by being transparent with their learnings go through this
"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.
Agreed
But now you can actually build products at hackathons that work
Before it was smoke and mirrors
I really miss the old days of iOS development.
We used to talk about frameworks, new APIs, third-party libraries, architecture, and how to solve real problems.
There was genuine enthusiasm. When someone launched a new app, it felt different.
AI made a lot of things easier, but it also took some of that feeling away.
Have yet to see an auto play header video on the App Store
On local fast wifi
Maybe Apple doing a slow roll out
If auto play doesn’t work, I would just stick to static image to avoid the play button
Seeing so many Apple dev account terminations but then the first reply is saying it’s deserved
What do you believe
Apple just sent me this.
Auto-terminated my entire developer account.
No warning. No call. No human.
18 months of work gone.
Only income.
Tier-3 country.
Broke.
All because of old rejections from 8 months ago.
Anyone else getting these automated 3.2(f) bans?
#terminator #apple
@tim_cook @AppleSupport @Apple
#IndieDev #buildinpublic
