Apple Tried To Kill My Startup

How I defeated Apple by invoking their greatest fear

What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know, goes away in the end. You could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.

I’ve had a combative relationship with Apple in my writing career. Frankly, as the richest company in the world (erm, I think they’re still up there), they can probably cope with me taking a few potshots.

The developer community is served well by calling them out, which also happens to be one of my hobbies:

Apple is Killing Swift

No, this article isn’t about Apple’s retaliation to this article, though that would be hilarious. This story all started back in 2022, a couple of startups ago.

This is my first-hand account of a platform owner starving out the little guy. I wrote it like a fast-paced Dan Brown novella (with less violence and a bit less sex), but please understand that these were the longest months of my professional career.

This is the story of when Apple tried to kill my startup. By trapping us in app review for 170 days.

Luckily, this is also the story of how we saved ourselves, by invoking Apple’s biggest fear.

Subscribe to Jacob’s Tech Tavern for free to get ludicrously in-depth articles on iOS, Swift, tech, & indie projects in your inbox every week.

Paid subscribers get full access to this article, plus my full Quick Hacks library. You’ll also get all my long-form content 3 weeks before anyone else.

Tomorrow is your last day to lock in my current $7.50/month pricing, forever. After that, prices go up by 60%.

Not sure? How about a 2 week test-drive? If you like it, you will keep the current $7.50/month price after the trial period.