> In three months, the App Store sent me barely a trickle of customers. Had I marketed the app myself, the traffic would have flowed the other way. I would've been sending my customers to Apple and paying a tax for the privilege.
This is a key insight: In marketing your App Store app, you work for Apple, for free.
The $99 yearly fee stays the same though, if you want them to notarize your app. But in self distributing you get to keep your customer relationships.
I exclusively default to homebrew when looking for software now.
If it’s not available on homebrew I prefer manual install from git > the developer’s website > going to the app store.
> In three months, the App Store sent me barely a trickle of customers. Had I marketed the app myself, the traffic would have flowed the other way. I would've been sending my customers to Apple and paying a tax for the privilege.
This is a key insight: In marketing your App Store app, you work for Apple, for free.
The $99 yearly fee stays the same though, if you want them to notarize your app. But in self distributing you get to keep your customer relationships.
I'm using a mac for work, and coming from Linux I'm pleasantly surprised by how great homebrew is. It really makes the the experience a lot better
I exclusively default to homebrew when looking for software now. If it’s not available on homebrew I prefer manual install from git > the developer’s website > going to the app store.
Maybe a color picker app just isn’t enough to get downloads in 2026. I’m not sure what Apple is supposed to do there.