App Fairness Alliance launches initiative to make iOS app distribution like Windows

The nonprofit Coalition for App Fairness wants to build a more open iOS platform with a better review process, external payments, and Windows-like app distribution. The Coalition is targeting casual/unreasonable app submission rejections, scam apps that earn millions of dollars, and bias toward high earners.

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The coalition, which is made up of more than 50 app developers and companies, has petitioned Apple to improve conditions for app development and distribution. In a brief press conference on Monday, four members of the coalition spoke ahead of Wednesday's hearing and reiterated their goals.

• Meghan DiMuzio: Executive Director of the Alliance for App Fairness
• David Heinemeier Hansson: Founder and CTO of Basecamp
• Derrick Morton, Founder and CEO, FlowPlay
• Kosta Eleftheriou, Founder of FlickType

In 2020, Apple rejected the Hey email app, which led those unhappy with App Store censorship to unite and form the Alliance for App Fairness. Hansson's Basecamp launched a long battle over the Hey email app in early 2020. Apple initially allowed the app to be on the App Store, but later rejected it based on its business model. Basecamp didn't want to share 30% of its revenue with Apple, so it fought back and eventually reached a compromise with Apple.

Hey is available now on the App Store thanks to a trial email client included within the app so users don’t end up with an unusable app when they download it. Basecamp can’t advertise its subscriptions from within the app, so users have to discover the service on their own.

Kosta Eleftheriou, an iOS developer and creator of the Apple Watch app FlickType, is embroiled in his own lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the company uses its monopoly to control which apps users can download — sometimes giving Apple a competitive advantage.

Eleftheriou says the App Store review process is broken, allowing scam apps to get through while also making it difficult for legitimate developers to get through. He has been surfacing multiple scam apps that have brought in millions in revenue to prove his point.