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Comment by emsy | Hacker News Reader

You can be perfectly happy so long as the app you rely on is available. If Apple decides to axe it (cough Hey cough) you and the developer are at their mercy. It doesn't matter that you could've bought an Android to begin with. The rules are changing while you're holding onto a device and that should not be possible.

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I like to play Fortnite with my kids. I hook up an Xbox controller and play on my iPad Pro. One kid is on a Switch, the other on an Xbox. As of yesterday, I can’t play with them. I very much miss that experience.

However, I still support Apple’s decision to pull them from the App Store. Why? Because I don’t want there to be another mechanism for in-app purchases on iOS that isn’t subject to parental controls. I love my kids, but there is no way that they should be able to buy anything from an App that I haven’t approved.

Note: I’m sure this would never happen with my kids as they know better and we’ve discussed the perils of in-app purchases and avoiding installing games they see in ads. But their accounts are locked down, just the same.

I absolutely agree with Apple's decision to pull the app. However I don't agree that you should be forced to use the App store. If Epic had the choice maybe parents wouldn't let their children play because of the lack of parental control. That would be a good thing, since that's actually market competition at work. As it is now, Epic's model isn't even allowed to fail.

A lot of these types of arguments are just kind of absurd and flat. We are developer the rules are what we make them. Apple can allow other software stores while still having effective parental controls. None of these things are mutually exclusive.

False dichotomy. No one is claiming that Apple shouldn’t be able to provide the option of limiting phones with parental controls to the main App Store if the parents set it up that way.

> If Apple decides to axe it (cough Hey cough) you and the developer are at their mercy.

Consumers and developers have very different interests. Locked down system is good for consumers, not so much for developers. I'm a consumer, Apple makes its money mostly from consumers, so it makes sense keeping it as it is.

I want to use the app and Apple won’t let me. How is that in my interest? Do you think you will always agree wit Apple‘s rulings? Also the Apps Apple is selling come from developers (and it’s a billion dollar market), so the idea that everything‘s fine and there’s nothing to see here is rather ignorant.

> I want to use the app and Apple won’t let me. How is that in my interest?

No problems here, I will just pick another app, there are so many to choose from. And the app will be safe to use, Apple‘s rulings work great for me.

„It works for me so it’s fine“ is a terrible argument.

I'll rephrase, "Apple‘s rulings work great for consumers".

He is a consumer. It doesn't "work great" for him.

Why then he bought it in the first place?

I am mostly happy with my iPhone. I disagree with the power Apple has over developers and users. I don’t have to be 100% happy with a product I buy.

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