Im not usually someone who posts negative stuff, but my god has the Appstore gone down the shitter.
For context, for the last ~3,5 years I wasn't really actively using any iOS devices. I had an iPad but used it rarely and only really as a Video machine. But now I’m setting up a XS I got for a killer price used (<60€) and of course I looked into the Appstore what the hot new Apps are. And my god nearly everything either constantly asks you for a subscription to use basic shit, is slow af or full of ads.
For example the „Favorite of the week“ an App called iScanner in my case took 4 seconds (!) to show me anything, which an is abysmal launch time, then shows me the Google ad tracking dialog followed by a clicking the „next“ button 5 times to show me nonsense company propaganda, followed by dialog to subscribe for 4,99€ a month. For a fucking document scanning app. And Apple has the gull to put this garbage in their weekly curated recommendations! And this isn’t the only example. 80% of Apps I downloaded today were removed within 5 minutes.
I’m honestley smitten by how bad things seem to have gotten. Really the only saving grace is that Apples own built-in Apps have gotten really good, in most cases to the point where downloading something else seems unnecessary. But still things seem to have taken a nose dive over the last 3 years.
Also to more active Apple users whats your way to find high quality Apps?
It was always hard for developers to offer one-time payment in these low price ranges. People still expect constant development and get angry when you release a completely new app for version 2 and so on. It’s rare that this price model works. Things 3 is 6 years old and still great but for each device you pay a relatively high price up front and development is kinda slow. They made an amazing app from the start and there is not much more to expect, so that’s why people are happy. But I think they hit a niche with people wanting exactly that and nothing more. But I think these are the best apps because they make sure to release a complete product.
These apps do exist but they can’t be found in the hot mess that is the App Store front page. You kinda have to stumble over them.
I’m also not a fan of subscriptions. I understand why devs do it but many times they feel obligated to release new features and change everything which just makes the app more bloated. Or the apps are not really updated but you pay for the content, which is mostly the same stuff you can find for free somewhere else.