Apple's exacting review process for listing apps and extensions in its app store has been criticised by developers in the past. In a blog published on Medium, Reddit Enhancement Suite (RES) developer has expressed his first-hand experience with Apple and its sapping review process for extensions.
RES developer is strongly considering to pull the plug on its extension for Safari. Browser extensions are tools that simplify user's browsing experience by adding a button to the toolbar. RES is available on all major browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge.
Due to the tedious process involved in reviewing RES extension for Safari, users might see the end of it on Apple's browser. The developer points out that listing the RES extension on Safari's gallery costs $100 a year, while other browsers charge nothing.
In addition to the fee, RES developer says Apple's review process is "disorganised, arduous and quite frankly insulting." Developer @stevewsop noted that RES was rejected multiple times for unsound reasons.
According to a detailed blog on Medium, which talks about everything that's wrong with Apple's review process and the high maintenance for Safari, he says it isn't worth the effort, time and money to list RES on Apple's Mac App Store.
"To develop a Safari extension may eventually require Xcode, rather than whatever editor a developer prefers to use. Furthermore, it will no longer just be Javascript, CSS and HTML — it'll require the use of either Objective C or Swift for at least part of the application," Steve noted in his blog.
With such challenges, RES team is left with two options: discontinue RES support for Safari or keep working on it and charge it on app store to make up for the costs involved. Steve noted that a decision hasn't been made yet, but the team is keeping an ear to the ground.
The decision comes at a point where the RES team must renew its $100 license to continue support for Safari.
