alt Hacker News> I might be misremembering or misinterpreting, but it seems like you really need an LLC with a mail forwarding service and a cheap second phone line just to avoid the App Store sending the whole internet to your personal phone and address.
For something free I can get why this would seem unreasonable (modulo scams, for which this is a hoop I would rather have than not), but if money's involved, a consumer should be able to contact a human and be made whole, and having the money be handled by a company (even if that company is just a one-man-show) honestly does not seem unreasonable.
If you want to bypass that, you just shouldn't publish to the App Store, which does (or at least is supposed to) have protections suitable for most people. You should still be able to make apps and use them without the App Store involved, then the individual human who wants that app can make decisions based in the specific app in question and the people behind it, but that's a separate conversation.
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Yes, you’re right that much of this only comes up when you’re trying to charge money for an app.
However, if you’re running your own website you can make those decisions on your own without being forced into most of them.
Plenty of very large “reputable” companies obfuscate their physical address and phone number, and don’t even offer an email address for contact.
I’d also say that this shouldn’t be as necessary when an app platform is involved. Apple takes 15-30% of the revenue and acts as a full retailer. Why do App Store customers have any need to contact the underlying developers in this scenario?
Walmart doesn’t make it easy/possible for me to contact the manufacturer of their t-shirts.
There are even other digital software stores like GOG or Steam that really aren’t selling you software that has a guaranteed point of contact.
Those platforms just have a half-decent to decent return policy and act as the middleman.
But when you’re on iOS you have all the burdens of a third-party supplier without all the benefits.
> a consumer should be able to contact a human and be made whole
Apple does not provide any mechanism for developers to issue a refund, or even look up or view your purchase or subscription - so there is nothing a developer can do here besides refer you to apple support.
(Although as a developer I would like to be able to do this, because customers are very confused by it)
Developers cannot issue refunds from the Apple App Store. Contacting the developer by physical mail doesn’t have any effect.
I would want that hoop for free apps too. If the developer is, for example, found to be mishandling private data, or maybe sharing my intellectual property, someone needs to answer for it.
> For something free I can get why this would seem unreasonable (modulo scams, for which this is a hoop I would rather have than not), but if money's involved, a consumer should be able to contact a human and be made whole, and having the money be handled by a company (even if that company is just a one-man-show) honestly does not seem unreasonable.
You're buying a digital good. You can already get refunds. An email address is fine for contact.
You definitely don't need someone's physical home address, nor an actual phone number.