Requirements for developing iOS apps:
$99/year, Swift, OSX, Mac, Xcode, and patience waiting for app store approval. Are there even iOS devs out there or it's just a scam?

It's 20 fucking 17 and we still need a guy half way across the planet to say if we're good to go with a teeny weeny update. Bugs the crap outta me.

Then don't develop for iOS. Not hard if you ask me...

@ScribeOfGoD That's a dumb argument. Just because I hate the sidewalk, I don't move to a different city.

@aswinramakrish if you don't like the sidewalk then use a different sidewalk...

Meanwhile,

Android: $0/yr, Java+XML or C++ or whatever other langs people got to work, PC/Mac, Windows/Mac OS/Linux, any IDE but Android Studio is the obvious choice, and the Play Store is pretty decent, I think.

Compared to that, yeah it does sound shitty. But there is a fantastic reason to still make your app for both Android and iOS: There are a shitload of iOS users who love their iStuff and will never use an Android.

Edit: actually, OP, it's that exact stack of reasons that heavily swayed me to focus on Android until I can meet those requirements to start learning iOS dev.

@ScribeOfGoD Apparently, there are only 2 sidewalks left in the city. As a tax paying citizen, it's not too bad to tell the mayor that the sidewalk (built a decade ago should be upgraded), is it? Wouldn't the mayor or anybody who supports the mayor sound like a dic(k)tator, if he said "If you don't like the sidewalk, choose a different sidewalk"?

@aswinramakrish I'm pretty sure the mayor doesn't need the people that don't like paying for an improvement that isn't needed just because you don't like what it currently is. There are others who use the side walk on a daily basis and aren't bothered by it. If the people who use the side walk can't afford the fee then like I said, use the free side walk. It's their product, the can make it free, charge the same, or charge more, it's 100% their choice.

@ScribeOfGoD I don't mind paying the fees. I hate that their approval process is outdated. 10 years and they couldn't have come up with any kind of automation for the review? If you say, I shouldn't release to iOS because I think their approval process is outdated, I think that's a pretty stupid argument. I don't care about the 99 bucks. Their product, their charge. You pay or you go somewhere else. I'm on the same page there.

@aswinramakrish I think it's more of "automation can make mistakes that a human would decide better" type of thing. I guess they code show the AI the type of code to look for when declining but then we'd have people who'd be declined by a mistake then would have to have human intervention to rectify it, which would only increase the time

@ScribeOfGoD I'd disagree. I think an AI like that will only reduce the time. I personally had an experience where our app was rejected quoting some legal issues and they asked us to remove 2 key fields from our app because it would impact privacy and isn't related to the app's core features. But when I explained it to them as to why we need those fields, it got approved in 2 days. Had there been an AI for this kinda stuff, there would be less hassle. With humans, there is a factor of interpretation, miscommunication and mistakes. I don't disagree there has to be a human intervention. But I think that can be minimized greatly with AI to improve approval times.

This post makes me hate my computer just a little bit

@aswinramakrish my point was more of trying to get into their line of thinking, not my own

I wonder why anyone hasn't written about xamarin, progressive web applications or any cross platform development alternative? As for the quote I do find it a bit excessive, but still that has always been the Apple marketing line, exclusive products for exclusive people and exclusive apps from exclusive developers.

In a way, isn't App Store approval just kind of like a git pull request? Need to impatiently wait for some one to check through your code to make sure you aren't doing anything bullshit or seedy.

Sounds good in theory, and it keeps repositories/app stores relatively clean, but that wait it's so damn annoying. And when something is rejected for some seemingly random reason... ugh.

@jpichardo well, there are few, in android, but didnt saw it in ios