Why don't those developers who provide free software via Github made their apps available under Apple App store?

[hajime]

Hi, I see there are some interesting free apps when looking for Windows management software and software that can fix the Mac forgetting monitors' settings problem. However, it is recommended that we should only install apps that have been checked by Apple via the Apple App Store. If the software is free, can developers post their apps on Apple App Store? Do they get charged by doing that?

 

[Pakaku]

Yes, there is a developer fee. Apple only "recommends" the App Store because that's potential revenue for them, but app discovery for small-time apps is terrible, and Apple is still kind of sloppy at vetting everything. In the end Github and the App Store are both the same, they're just hosting sources, and why pay a fee when Github will host it for free and the end-product is literally no different.

 

[MisterSavage]

There's a $99 yearly fee for a developer account.

 

[sracer]

...and its not just the fee for a developer account. Every app submitted to the store gets reviewed by Apple. The app can be rejected if it doesn't conform to the restrictions/limitations they impose for apps on the app store.

 

[gregmac19]

...and its not just the fee for a developer account. Every app submitted to the store gets reviewed by Apple. The app can be rejected if it doesn't conform to the restrictions/limitations they impose for apps on the app store.

An example of the ramifications of Apple's policy: "ForkLift 3 isn't available in the App Store, and we don't plan to sell it in the App Store in the future either. The reason for this is that the sandboxing rules of the App Store would seriously impact the usefulness of ForkLift. For example, an App Store version wouldn't be able to open files that aren't in the home folder of the user."

 

[MisterSavage]

An example of the ramifications of Apple's policy: "ForkLift 3 isn't available in the App Store, and we don't plan to sell it in the App Store in the future either. The reason for this is that the sandboxing rules of the App Store would seriously impact the usefulness of ForkLift. For example, an App Store version wouldn't be able to open files that aren't in the home folder of the user."

Here's one that's even worse.

App Store Rejection of the Week: Ice Cubes, a Splendid New Mastodon Client

We’re now on the cusp of a new frontier with Mastodon, and it’s Apple’s utterly clueless bureaucratic App Store reviewers who are doing their best to lock the new playground’s gates before they even open.

daringfireball.net

 

[Boyd01]

I'm using a web app to distribute my free software instead of the app store. I simply didn't want to join the developer program or go through the approval process, not to mention learning how to code in another language. But even more important, the exact same app can run on MacOS, iOS, Windows, Android - or any hardware/platform that has a browser.

A web app is basically a website with additional resources that allow installation on the device where it runs independently in its own window using the browser engine but without the browser user interface. But it can be accessed as a regular website without installation too. On MacOS, Safari pretty much stands alone in not supporting web apps while all the other browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, etc) do. But web apps are supported in Safari on iOS, although Apple does its best to conceal this fact. Go figure!

There was a front page article about web apps recently. They can be very powerful, but also have some strict limitations to help prevent them from doing anything malicious. They really have no access to the device filesystem, aside from opening files that the user always has to choose in a browser dialog or exporting data to your downloads folder. They would not be capable of the "window management" that the OP is interested in either.