The author reflects on a complicated, on-again, off-again relationship with Apple over fourteen years, marked by app development triumphs and frustrations. Despite frustrations with App Store policies and support, the author remains engaged with Apple, seeking clearer communication regarding app rejections. The underlying message stresses a desire for improvement in developer relations.
I have been writing software for a long time. Long enough to have been rejected by App Review before, and long enough to know that most rejections are boring. A missing privacy string. A screenshot that shows a device frame Apple no longer likes. A login the reviewer couldn’t get past. You read the note, … Read more
ModelBusiness has been with me since 2012, PYFFO not much less. Two ideas that wouldn’t leave, both now on the App Store. This is what it actually took — the design decisions, the app store arguments, the marketing, and the nerves nobody warns you about.
PYFFO: An Idea Nearly a Decade in the Making Some software projects start with a requirements document. Some start because a customer has a problem that needs solving. And occasionally, one starts with a slightly inappropriate acronym that refuses to go away. Meet PYFFO™. Pronounced FIH-foh, and these days officially meaning: Pull Your Freaking Finger Out. I’ll … Read more
A few weeks ago I walked out of a camera shop with a Panasonic camcorder, a pair of DJI wireless microphones and a padded LowePro bag to keep them in. In 2026. On purpose. I know how that sounds. The camcorder is supposed to be dead, filed away with the MP3 player and the windscreen … Read more
Publishing software has never been easier. Earning trust hasn’t changed at all.
I spent several months running two health products side by side. Oura on my finger, and Bevel drawing from the rest of my Apple Health data. I was not looking for prettier graphs. I wanted to know whether an AI health coach could genuinely help me make better decisions, or whether it was just a … Read more
An app I hadn’t touched since its last store build stopped opening in my IDE. Not a compiler error, not a failing test. I opened the solution and two of the projects were simply dead in the tree. Greyed out. Unloadable. I hadn’t changed a single line. The ground underneath the code had been quietly … Read more
In January 2012 I wrote a post called “What’s in your toolbox?”, running through the tools I leaned on. My favourite grid at the time was the Component One Flexigrid. A few months later, on 29 April, I followed it with “100% DX”. That one started with a simple, slightly annoyed question: could I get … Read more
I wasn’t planning on starting another software project last weekend. In fact, I was doing my best not to