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?
I search the name or type of app. Or look through threads on here where someone asks, “what is your favorite iOS app,” or “what is the best app for X.”
I can’t remember the last time I installed something from the front page of the App Store. I’m always searching for something specific
I like to take a look through it every once in a while but most of the apps are for people who download mobile games, dating apps and various entertainment sources. I don’t watch much content on my phone, unless there isn’t another option, and I avoid mobile games for the most part so most of what shows up on the home page is relevant to general masses but not myself.
Yes, I rarely look at the AppStore recommendations. Even if they’re not paid promotions, I think Apple is incentivized to feature apps that will generate revenue for them whether from their cut on ads, subscriptions, or outright sales. That’s not to say they’re necessarily all bad apps, but sometimes their incentives don’t align with what I’m looking for.