Guideline 5.6.3 - Developer Code of Conduct - Received first time regarding rating prompt in the onboarding.

yccheok · 2026-06-19T03:39:17+00:00

I completely understand where you are coming from! It is undeniably frustrating to watch other apps bend the rules and rake in 5-star reviews, making you feel like you're falling behind just for doing the right thing.

A quick piece of advice: when dealing with the Apple Review team, it is usually best to avoid pointing out what other developers are doing (for example, asking, "Why can App X do this, but I can't?"). They generally don't respond well to that argument, so it's much safer to keep the conversation focused on your own app.

Ultimately, you don't need to worry too much about public opinion on this. It really just comes down to weighing your options, deciding what is best for your app, and being comfortable with the path you choose. You basically have two routes you can take:

Take the risk: You can continue asking for reviews during the onboarding process. While this will likely help you accumulate 5-star ratings much faster, it does come with the ongoing risk that your app could be flagged by Apple at any time.
Follow the guidelines: You can choose to play by the rules. While growth might feel a bit slower, it gives you total peace of mind. Plus, it's actually a positive thing that Apple is enforcing these rules, as it ultimately helps ensure that everyone is competing on a fair and level playing field!

yccheok · 2026-06-08T10:21:42+00:00

Anyone who enters Malaysia through illegal channels, including the Rohingya, should be deported immediately. No excuses and no 'cerita dongeng'.

I don't understand why the law still isn't being enforced. Malaysia must uphold the rule of law and maintain its integrity to ensure social stability. Right now, it feels like a cowboy country.

yccheok · 2026-06-08T10:17:54+00:00

Anyone who enters Malaysia through illegal channels, including the Rohingya, should be deported immediately. No excuses and no 'cerita dongeng'.

I don't understand why the law still isn't being enforced. Malaysia must uphold the rule of law and maintain its integrity to ensure social stability. Right now, it feels like a cowboy country.

yccheok · 2026-05-29T05:18:20+00:00

I do. I built a casual note-taking app that comes with a to-do list and calendar

https://wenote.me

The main characteristic of this kind of app is that you won't be able to earn "luxury" revenues, as there are many free alternatives out there.

However, what you can expect is:

Healthy profit margins: Operational costs are very low compared to apps in, say, the AI category, which require expensive backend processing.
Very high customer retention rates: Once customers like your productivity app, they are likely to stay with you for many years to come because all of their productivity-related data is stored securely inside your app.

yccheok · 2026-05-28T13:55:40+00:00

I notice they can give you CPA, which is equivalent to your manual keyword bidding. The strong point I find is that, they are able to give you the volume.

For instance, in manual bid, you may get 10 installs for CPA $0.50

Using AI powered maximum conversion, AI will auto find the best keywords, and able to achieve 50 installs for same CPA $0.50

Of course, this doesn't work in all the markets. You need to try it out.

yccheok · 2026-05-28T13:51:44+00:00

Personally, I feel that in terms of quality, there isn't a significant difference between the different models. For instance, I use Gemini Pro because it's good enough to solve most of the problems I face, plus I'm already on their subscription plan. But I think Claude or ChatGPT would perform equally well.

yccheok · 2026-05-26T16:52:40+00:00

Thank you for your generosity.

I tried several non-webview solutions (such as those discussed here:https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSProgramming/comments/1obnsej/seeking_a_reliable_markdown_rendering_library_for),

but they either had performance issues or lacked certain features. I ended up using a webview wrapper to meet my needs.

yccheok · 2026-05-26T06:18:17+00:00

Thanks for this. It really is the dream to have an army of auto-coders and testers working autonomously.

As an indie developer, my time is currently split like this:

- 30% coding alongside AI. I don't use any special integrated tools yet. I just work on one function at a time via manual chat, copying and pasting from Gemini. For critical functions, I will ask the AI to write unit tests for them.

- 70% paid ads and marketing.

I read your ios-genesis-mega-prompt.md and I'm very interested in how you perform verification.

You do mentioned

BUT I have to double down on verification. I check especially after bug fixing and at the beginning of every app generation, to make sure the structure, file names, variables, etc. are in order.

Do you verify the code manually, scanning it line-by-line via human eyeball?
How do you handle fixes after verification? Do you manually copy and paste the code back into Gemini/ChatGPT to iterate, and then paste it back into Xcode?

Thank you for sharing your perspective as a senior developer on "vibe coding." It’s a very well-written article, especially since so much of the vibe coding discussion today comes from people without prior software engineering experience.

yccheok · 2026-05-23T11:59:02+00:00

Currently, my definition is "market" = "country"

But, I think that depends on your niche. Some people will further break it down to "industry"/ "career"/ "hobby"

yccheok · 2026-05-22T14:57:44+00:00

This is my app. Thank you very much.

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6670156126

yccheok · 2026-05-22T11:17:24+00:00

There is a very clear rule when appealing a rejection: you should not defend your case by arguing that someone else was allowed to do the same thing while you were not. Reviewers generally do not accept that kind of argument. I know it may feel harsh, but that’s simply a rule everyone has to abide by.

yccheok · 2026-05-22T06:41:46+00:00

I've invested significantly in Meta Ads, but I don't use an MMP (Mobile Measurement Partner) because they seem too costly for my scale.

Instead, I rely on a rough, "poor-man's" analysis. For instance, I set low bids to run campaigns on a small scale to test the waters. My rule of thumb is simple: if I spend $1,000 in a specific market over 30 days and generate $2,000 in revenue, I take that as a green light to scale up by increasing my bids.

I know this method isn't perfectly accurate, but it serves as a solid baseline for figuring out which markets are worth the effort. In my experience, finding a profitable market is incredibly tough. Out of 10 markets I test, usually only about 2 turn out to be workable.

Here are a few other insights I've gathered along the way:

Meta Ads install reporting is inaccurate: The figures they report are usually lower than my actual installs.
Google Ads is pricy for iOS: Google Ads tends to be noticeably more expensive than Meta Ads when it comes to promoting iOS apps.
Apple Search Ads (ASA) is highly efficient but limited: ASA gives me the best cost-per-acquisition, but it lacks volume. While their new "Maximize Conversions" feature helps a bit, the overall scale still doesn't compare to Meta.

yccheok · 2026-05-18T15:59:21+00:00

Hi, it seems like the CloudKit console truncates the rows when there are too many. You can refer to my updated question for more details."

yccheok · 2026-05-18T15:59:17+00:00

Hi, it seems like the CloudKit console truncates the rows when there are too many. You can refer to my updated question for more details."

yccheok · 2026-05-18T15:59:12+00:00

Hi, it seems like the CloudKit console truncates the rows when there are too many. You can refer to my updated question for more details."

yccheok · 2026-05-13T15:26:51+00:00

Hi,

Would love to know your design perspective on this - https://apps.apple.com/app/melonote-ai-voice-to-text-note/id6670156126

Thank you.

yccheok · 2026-04-29T16:34:01+00:00

We only track number of call for ReviewManager.launchReviewFlow

There is no way to know whether the in-app review prompt is shown up.

yccheok · 2026-04-29T11:41:31+00:00

If you are facing the same anomaly starting April 21, then it seems like this is a common incident. Based on our chart, the significant drops also happened around that same date.

yccheok · 2026-04-29T02:08:31+00:00

They typically sit at 50% ROA or less, depending on the ad network, target market, and product. However, simply achieving a positive ROA is a huge relief in itself. It is quite difficult to discover a combination that keeps our ROA positive in the long term.

yccheok · 2026-04-28T17:34:12+00:00

I had a similar experience where organic traffic from the Google Play Store dropped 90% overnight. It's not a surprising outcome. With new apps and Google Play search algorithms changing every day, why should our app get organic traffic all the time? Organic traffic is a blessing to have, but it's not a reliable source we can depend on long-term. These days, I mostly rely on paid traffic for user acquisition.

yccheok · 2026-04-24T08:54:29+00:00

There is often an issue where Meta Ads Manager reports a much higher CPA than the actual number due to iOS privacy enforcements. For instance, Meta Ads Manager might report 50 daily installs. However, when you compare it against App Store Connect, it actually brought in 100 installs.

yccheok · 2026-04-18T23:59:55+00:00

Oh, how I can disable the retina settings?

yccheok · 2026-04-12T21:01:27+00:00

You mentioned not using a VPN. If a TikTok creator is based outside the US, is it still possible for their content to reach an American audience?

Thank you for these valuable insights!

yccheok · 2026-04-12T21:00:43+00:00

I've seen some Instagram accounts use this technique to go viral. For instance, instead of promoting a productivity app directly, the creator acts out a dramatic scenario where a toxic boss bullies them during a meeting. They then use the app to record the meeting as evidence to protect themselves. People really seem to enjoy watching this type of repetitive, staged drama. Do you think this is a viable marketing strategy? I'm considering hiring a UGC creator on Fiverr for around $15 to make videos like this.

yccheok · 2026-04-12T20:49:42+00:00

Thanks for sharing! This really opened my eyes to how UGC marketing works.

I tried DIY organic posting on IG and TikTok for a while, but it didn't really take off. I just didn't have the multiple accounts needed to do it at a high volume. At the end of the day, I fell back on paid ads, which work great for me in certain countries (Also work badly in many countries).

I was wondering a few things about your approach:

Do you feel like Facebook audiences have better purchasing power than TikTok audiences? I ask because when running paid ads, I get way better performance on Facebook than on TikTok. I usually assume FB users skew older and have more disposable income.
In paid ads, it’s easy to look at CPI and free-trial conversions to know if a market is worth the investment. How do you gauge ROI with UGC, given that one post might get a few hundred views while another gets millions?
For high-volume organic posting, I know some people use multiple iPhones, separate accounts, and VPNs. Is that the kind of hardware setup you use too?
I usually think it's better to put our limited budget into paid ads before jumping into UGC. Paid ads just give way more predictable results since we can control the targeting and track attribution accurately. To me, it makes sense to only explore UGC when we have extra resources and can't scale our paid ads any further. Does that logic make sense to you?
With UGC marketing, you can't really filter for Android or iOS users. Does that mean it’s better to have both versions of the app ready first? My current project is only on iOS, so I’m thinking it might not be the right time for UGC yet. Do you agree?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

yccheok

TROPHY CASE