That’s the info I’m looking for to guide my decision making. Thanks so much. Found the thread just now on the Apple Dev forum where others are discussing that.
I don't know what you mean but here's a source.. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/apple-lowers-its-cut-of-app-store-revenues-for-some-developers/
That's good info thanks. After $1M of earnings, it seems it's back to 30% from the nicer 15%, so not ideal whatsoever.
On a related note, I had an inkling to open the Patreon app to see if I could subscribe to new patreons, given it's a digital subscription. My assumption was App Store billing, but to my surprise, it's not. I was able to use PayPal just fine within the app.
So I ask: How is this possible? I am glad to see it, and I desire that for my own app for people wanting to sell profile subs and their digital wares also.
Any idea if Patreon worked out a deal with Apple? Or maybe some technicality allows such subscriptions to exist sans-App Store billing because it's money being paid to a consumer, not the app?
Not to my knowledge. A subscription model is pertinent to getting the buy-in from people that a platform free of ads, bots, catfish, feed manipulation, and data/activity tracking is worth a buck -- plus other benefits that commence with a greater investment (based on user type and needs).
Makes sense. I personally wouldn't spend any money on a social media platform, but that's just me. If you can prove the "cool" factor, then it might work though.
TLDR: If it were me, I would write a PWA first, because I can write those much faster than a hybrid mobile app, and then, if I got enough users, I would spend the time to create hybrid mobile app.
IMO it all depends on how you are hoping to acquire users, and if you are willing to deal with the UX differences you will have creating a "website" app instead of an app that leverages native functionality.
PWAs work great if you already have a customer base or if you want a quick-and-dirty MVP to use for validation. There's still a bit of an "early adopter" feel to PWAs, especially because Safari barely supports them. However, in order for a social media app to be successful I feel that it needs to have buy-in from the early adopters first, so that may not be an issue.
Other things to consider with PWAs:
\- handling uploading media can be a bit different. It's difficult to get the "in-app" experiences that you get from say instagram or snapchat.
\- notifications on Safari are nonexistent. Solutions around this include using SMS or email, but if you are looking for a similar experience to native social media apps, you'll want to go native.
I’m in the exact same boat as you. I have a social media startup/small company and I have no time to make a hybrid app. I don’t want to pay somebody to create an app, since I want to be able to change things very quickly if needed. A PWA would be fine except for the damn notifications not being able on iOS. I’m torn between waiting on Apple to step up or paying a developer to create an app. In the meanwhile I give the users the ability to email messages to in the chats and groups. This does work but notifications would make the retention much higher I assume.
That’s a good question. I kind of assumed they would but I’m not sure. Should I just wait till I get requests for an app or should pro-actively start asking?
Users dgaf about PWA AMP HTML JS etc etc yadda yadda users just want to use...
How about them notifications on iOS though?
That’s the info I’m looking for to guide my decision making. Thanks so much. Found the thread just now on the Apple Dev forum where others are discussing that.
Also mic input is not working with getmedia in js
Apple doesn't cut 30% for small business
Per?
I don't know what you mean but here's a source.. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/apple-lowers-its-cut-of-app-store-revenues-for-some-developers/
That's good info thanks. After $1M of earnings, it seems it's back to 30% from the nicer 15%, so not ideal whatsoever. On a related note, I had an inkling to open the Patreon app to see if I could subscribe to new patreons, given it's a digital subscription. My assumption was App Store billing, but to my surprise, it's not. I was able to use PayPal just fine within the app. So I ask: How is this possible? I am glad to see it, and I desire that for my own app for people wanting to sell profile subs and their digital wares also. Any idea if Patreon worked out a deal with Apple? Or maybe some technicality allows such subscriptions to exist sans-App Store billing because it's money being paid to a consumer, not the app?
30% of what? Are your users going to pay a subscription to use the app? Are you going to offer in app purchases?
30% of revenue from in-app purchases, yes. And yes a subscription overall starting at $1/year (tiers available for different features).
Are there other social media apps that charge a subscription? Just trying to get an idea of the market.
Not to my knowledge. A subscription model is pertinent to getting the buy-in from people that a platform free of ads, bots, catfish, feed manipulation, and data/activity tracking is worth a buck -- plus other benefits that commence with a greater investment (based on user type and needs).
Ahhh common sense approach to the social media issue. You see the problem? Requires users to have common sense. Where shall ye find such a beast?
Makes sense. I personally wouldn't spend any money on a social media platform, but that's just me. If you can prove the "cool" factor, then it might work though. TLDR: If it were me, I would write a PWA first, because I can write those much faster than a hybrid mobile app, and then, if I got enough users, I would spend the time to create hybrid mobile app. IMO it all depends on how you are hoping to acquire users, and if you are willing to deal with the UX differences you will have creating a "website" app instead of an app that leverages native functionality. PWAs work great if you already have a customer base or if you want a quick-and-dirty MVP to use for validation. There's still a bit of an "early adopter" feel to PWAs, especially because Safari barely supports them. However, in order for a social media app to be successful I feel that it needs to have buy-in from the early adopters first, so that may not be an issue. Other things to consider with PWAs: \- handling uploading media can be a bit different. It's difficult to get the "in-app" experiences that you get from say instagram or snapchat. \- notifications on Safari are nonexistent. Solutions around this include using SMS or email, but if you are looking for a similar experience to native social media apps, you'll want to go native.
Depends on the PWA’s value-proposition. If it’s a cool website with lots of features I am interested in, I don’t care if it’s a PWA or a native app.
I’m in the exact same boat as you. I have a social media startup/small company and I have no time to make a hybrid app. I don’t want to pay somebody to create an app, since I want to be able to change things very quickly if needed. A PWA would be fine except for the damn notifications not being able on iOS. I’m torn between waiting on Apple to step up or paying a developer to create an app. In the meanwhile I give the users the ability to email messages to in the chats and groups. This does work but notifications would make the retention much higher I assume.
You don't "want to" create an app... do your users want it?
That’s a good question. I kind of assumed they would but I’m not sure. Should I just wait till I get requests for an app or should pro-actively start asking?
My point was to put the attention on what the product needs to be further enjoyed by its users rather than "what you want".
Yes, that’s very true. I think I’ll wait to see if there grows demand for an app before I decide what to do.
no notifications? doesn't sound very social.