Notes on building for iPhone
Short, dated posts: what Apple changed and what to do about it, and what we learn running our own apps. For the questions that stay the same, such as cost, timelines and choosing a stack, see our guides.
- Apple news
- 8 posts
- From our apps
- 2 posts
- Latest
- 18 October 2026
October 2026
- Apple newsWhat the October 2026 App Review update means for AI image appsOn 16 October Apple updated the App Review Guidelines. Most of the changes are clarifications, but one names a kind of app directly: AI content creation apps now sit under the same moderation rules as social networks. If your app makes images from people’s photos, here is what that means.
- Apple newsiPhone Duo goes on sale on 23 October: what to do now, and what can waitiPhone Duo is available from Friday 23 October. Every iPhone app will run on it from day one; how well depends on how it was built. This is a short triage: what happens to your app on launch day, what is worth doing now, and what can wait.
- Apple newsMultiseat subscriptions start on 22 October, and they are already switched onIn September Apple announced multiseat purchases: organisations and groups buying several seats of a subscription in one In-App Purchase. The first part, Volume Purchasing, starts on 22 October. It is switched on by default, so it is worth five minutes before then.
- From our appsCredits or a subscription? How we chose for each of our appsWe run five iPhone apps of our own. Three sell credits and two sell subscriptions, and the choice was never about which model earns more in theory. It came from one question about each app. Here is the question, and how it played out.
- Apple newsSwiggy moved two apps from hybrid to native Swift. Five things worth notingIn September Apple published a developer story about Swiggy moving two of its apps from a hybrid setup to Swift and SwiftUI. We spend a lot of our time on the same question for other teams, so here is what stood out, and what we would take from it.
- Apple newsApp Tracking Transparency is changing in the EU with iOS 27.2In September Apple announced a change to App Tracking Transparency in the European Union. From iOS 27.2 there is an alternative version of the system prompt, and in five countries it will be the only one. Apple has said little about it so far, so here is what is known and what to prepare.
- From our appsWhy none of our AI photo apps has a prompt boxMost AI image tools start with an empty text box. Our three photo apps, JobShot, Bite and AI Avatar, do not have one. That was a deliberate product decision, and it shaped the rest of each app.
- Apple newsApril 2027: every App Store upload will need the iOS 27 SDKApple raises the minimum SDK for App Store uploads every year. The next step comes in April 2027: iPhone and iPad apps must be built with the iOS 27 SDK or later, and target iOS 15 or later. For a well-kept app it is a routine rebuild. For an app nobody has touched in a while, it is a deadline worth planning for.
- Apple newsDoes your app have a “social media capability”? The new age rating questionSince September 2026, App Store Connect will not take a new app or an update until you say whether it has social media capabilities. The answer decides how parents’ new Time Allowances treat your app, and it can raise your age rating to 13+. Here is what counts, and what your options are.
- Apple newsSign in with Apple is moving to a new email domain. Check your allowlistsWhen someone signs in with Apple and hides their email, your app gets a relay address that forwards to their real inbox. Later this year, new relay addresses get a new domain. Existing ones keep working, but any code that checks for the old domain could start turning new users away.
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