Apple App Store Connect Sucks for No Good Reason

It drives me nuts that people churn out web apps and phone apps every minute of the day, while App Store Connect — the portal we use to publish iOS apps — is still so awful.

With AI, almost anyone can make an iOS app in days. Well, it still takes me days to make something usable and interesting. But before I even get to the “how does it make money?” question, I have to submit it through App Store Connect, wait for a review, and work out which of Apple’s requirements I’ve failed to meet. It’s like pulling my own teeth.

I get why so many people build web apps. You can change something and put it live almost immediately. I still like native apps for a few things, though. I recently made a boxing timer for iPhone and Apple Watch, and that was exactly the kind of project I wanted to build as an app.

I don’t even buy the explanation that reviews take a long time because so many more people are submitting apps. Apple knew this was going to happen. It’s called demand planning. Anyone who has managed a team, or even had to commute somewhere in a hurry, understands: “Oh, it’s going to be busy soon. We’d better plan for that.”

At Lyft, we knew demand would rise before major events and holidays. We lined up more drivers, more support staff, and more people to manage supply and demand incentives by hand. We didn’t wait for the event to start and then act surprised that people wanted a ride.

But before we even get to review capacity, there’s the App Store Connect app itself. Navigating it makes a mockery of my gigabit internet connection. It’s like molasses. Finding the right choice on a page makes me unreasonably angry.

For example, I recently spent ten minutes trying to remove the current build from a resubmission so I could attach a new one. A little minus sign used to appear beside the build. This time it didn’t, and I couldn’t work out why. I had to ask AI, which told me I was trying to resubmit the same build in another tab. I cancelled that process, and the control I needed became available.

I figured it out eventually. Still, I’m paying US$99 a year for the debatable privilege of submitting an app to the App Store, and the part where I tell Apple which build I’m submitting shouldn’t require a conversation with a chatbot.

We’re at a weird point in history. AI can help me make an app, but I need it to explain how to operate an old portal that’s too awkward for a human to use. Maybe the inevitable future is apps built for other apps to use. That would at least spare me another ten minutes looking for a minus sign.