App Store Review Suggestions

Create the option to choose between in-app purchases and external third party purchases.

Don't reject apps that require users to create an account.

Require the review board to manually review a new app being released, but randomize the review process for apps who are submitting updates (meaning don't review each and every build, but rather do it a little less frequently).

There are benefits and drawbacks to both, but I think giving developers the option to choose is extremely beneficial. Apple takes 30% for the first year (and 15% after that), but it increases conversion rates and makes it easier for users to upgrade. If you use an external third party (like Stripe for instance), the conversion rate may not be as high, but you also get to keep more of the revenue. I think it's unfair that Apple doesn't give you the option to choose. Google Play Store takes 30% for in app purchases as well (in the first year), but it also allows you to use third party purchases (in app purchases are not a requirement). Having the option gives developers much more freedom and for new developers I think it's beneficial because you're allowing more developers to actually earn some income rather than being completely restricted into one singular path.

Most of these recommendations are stemming from personal experience, but here's my reasoning: I'm not building a social media app, but I use an external database that stores the users' data (so they have to create an account). This allows my app to use less internal storage on the user's device and allows them to move across multiple devices much more easily. If an app requires a user to create an account, it should be the users' decision to use the app or not. If they don't want to create an account, then they don't have to use the app. If they want to use the app then they can simply create an account. I don't think it should be a requirement that the developers should have to make a non-account version of their app. Again, because I use React Native, Google is much more lenient and so the amount of work it would take to change all of the code in the app to fit Apple's requirements (even though it already fits Google's requirements) is tremendous. And this is simply because of the restrictiveness of the Apple Review Guidelines.

Lastly, I think that the review times for Apple are extremely long, and then if you get rejected, the amount of time it takes to resubmit the build, wait for another review, and then possibly get rejected again is even longer. With the Google Play Store, I can submit a new update, and within a few hours it's already on the play store and I can constantly update the app and just continuously iterate and improve my app. With Apple, the builds just lag behind because of the review times. I understand that Apple may want to hold their apps to a higher standard, and so my suggestion would be to randomize the reviews for updated apps rather than for every single new submission. Obviously new apps need to be reviewed, but if a developer is just updating a few new features, they shouldn't have to wait 1-2 days every single time, and then also have it possibly get rejected. They should have some of their updates get passed through more easily, and if Apple still wants to hold higher standards, they can manually review some of the updates just to check on the app's compliance to the guidelines. This would make the lives of developers much better, and allow users to have better experiences with the apps they use (since those apps are iterating & updating much faster).