r/iosdev

Hi guys, there is option in iOS -> Settings -> Privacy & Security -> App Privacy Report

You can disable or enable it. Something interesting happens when you enable it, Instagram is immediately sending something (3-4 IPs), is that some type of ping addresses, what is it about?

I want to mention that I have literally 0 apps opened while performing "ON" for this App Privacy Report. Thank you.

EDIT: When you turn it OFF and wait some seconds, and Enable again - your Data report list will be empty. But even if you are not on WIFI/Internet data, Instagram will again do something in background; even if "Background app refresh" is disabled:)

I was facing problems with adding safety hooks for iOS and Android app submission as they were getting rejected. So, I built an app compliance auditor. https://github.com/atharvnaik1/ipaship-audit

But later on I thought ohh!! Why not create a cli tool, claude skill (ipaship-audit) and a mcp connector which can make every person's llm with safety hooks not just for apps but for every code its written.

You can access it at \~ npm i @async-atharv/ipaship

I have also added kimi and gemini keys with default options.

This audit for secure code, appstore policy compliance, bug fixes and give back REMEDIATION PLAN to your llm agent itself and your llm agent can work on it rapidly on that prompt itself. So no more leaving your IDE or claude code all things handled within the environment you loved 😍 !! ..

Helps you answer: "Does my app look good in search results?".

So you can optimize your icon, screenshot font size, etc. accordingly. And improve conversion.

Try it here: https://ezscreenshots.com/tools/app-store-search-preview

Hope it's useful!

I tried a bunch of apps to clean up my camera roll recently because mine was completely out of control. Thought they’d all be pretty similar, but they actually feel very different once you use them for a bit.

Pikondo
This one honestly surprised me the most. It doesn’t feel like a typical cleaner app at all. It’s more like you jump in, do a quick 5-minute session, and you’re done. I’ve been using it in short bursts and it actually makes a dent without feeling overwhelming.
Also everything runs completely on-device, which I like way more than apps that upload or process stuff somewhere else.

SwipeWipe
Super basic. You just go photo by photo and swipe to delete or keep. It works, but it gets repetitive fast if you have a big library. After a while it just feels like work. Also pretty expensive for what it is, which didn’t really make sense to me.

Cleanup: Phone Storage Cleaner
More about speed. It throws a ton of suggestions at you right away, which is nice if you just want to free space quickly. But yeah, I definitely double-checked a lot of stuff before deleting.

Photos (default app)
It’s okay. Has some smart categories, but it’s pretty limited. I wouldn’t rely on it if your library is messy.

I built ViewBuddy because movie/show discovery still feels oddly disconnected from the people you actually watch things with.

The app is for:

- seeing what friends are watching, rating, and reviewing

- comparing taste before you trust a recommendation

- building watchlists and playlists

- browsing as a guest before deciding whether to create an account

I'm the developer, and I'm looking for practical feedback from people who try a lot of mobile apps:

1. Is the purpose clear in the first minute?

2. Does the feed feel useful before you have a lot of friends on it?

3. What would make you invite one friend?

4. Does anything feel confusing, slow, or unnecessary?

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/viewbuddy-rate-review/id6759533775

No pressure to be nice. Specific criticism is much more useful than generic encouragement.

Got this mail from apple and my heart bpm skyrocketed, i know it is still only a possibility but even getting this mail was a significant step for me. Right know i am working on artwork they wanted from me. Anyone with experience on this? I would love to hear stories and advices from you guys.

Hi, I have just l launched my first app but struggling to get any volume of downloads, how are people managing their projects any tips will be greatly appreciated. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/trekt-travel-tracker-budget/id6762569699 check it out. Thanks in advance.

Apple approved my app on the first submission. No rejections. Here's everything I did including surviving 3 days of Screen Time API hell.

Just shipped Mindbrake, it blocks your apps and makes you solve a math, physics, or coding challenge before you can open them. Earn minutes by answering correctly. Miss it, stay out.

First submission. Zero rejections. I think a few things made the difference.

The review notes were a full test script. Not a cover letter. A step-by-step walkthrough: how to get past the paywall with a sandbox account, how to trigger the Screen Time shield, what happens if they don't want to grant FamilyControls authorization (the app has a full mock mode so there's no dead end). Reviewers are humans reviewing dozens of apps a day — I made their job easy.

The mock fallback saved me. If the reviewer didn't want to deal with real Screen Time permissions, they could still see the entire core loop working: pick an app, get a challenge, earn minutes, get unlocked. No feature behind a wall they couldn't test.

Clean privacy story, no ambiguity. No accounts, no data leaving the device. The apps you block are an opaque iOS token — Mindbrake never knows which specific apps you picked. I spelled that out explicitly because FamilyControls apps get extra scrutiny.

The hard part wasn't the review — it was getting to submission.

Screen Time took me 3 days to stop breaking. The bug loop was: blocking works, unlock doesn't. Fix unlock, re-blocking breaks. Fix that, the same app won't re-lock after multiple sessions in a row. The root issue was that my app and its 3 extensions were each talking to different ManagedSettingsStore instances.

App is live with a 7-day free trial:

https://apps.apple.com/app/mindbrake/id6766659926

Happy to answer anything about Screen Time, the extension architecture, review notes, or the LATAM payments setup.

I recently shipped my first mobile app built with React Native + Expo, and it’s now live on both the App Store and Google Play.
This was actually my first time properly touching React Native.

My background is mostly frontend React/Next.js, so a lot felt familiar at first — components, state, props, hooks — but I quickly realized mobile has its own learning curve.

Things that were new to me:
EAS builds
iOS certificates and provisioning profiles
TestFlight
Google Play testing/release tracks
native-feeling gestures
offline-first behavior
in-app purchases
testing on real devices
app store review/submission

I also leaned heavily on Claude/Codex while building, especially when understanding mobile-specific setup and debugging things I hadn’t dealt with before as a web developer.

Expo made the transition from web to mobile much less intimidating, but the whole release process still taught me a lot.

The app itself is called Kumustahan — a conversation card app — but the main milestone for me was going from “I only know React for web” to actually shipping a React Native app cross-platform.

For other frontend React devs here who are thinking about trying Expo: it’s very approachable, but expect the store/distribution side to be a separate learning curve.

Happy to share what I learned if anyone is going through the same path.

If you want to see, visit kumustahan.app

You have AirPods Pro 3 and want to them to track your heart rate all the time? I made it possible! Here is my story.

It all startet with Apples September Event in 2025 where they presented the AirPods Pro 3 with their ability to track the heart rate.

Since I don‘t own an Apple Watch yet and was already considering buying new headphones this seemed to be a perfect fit. 

What I didn‘t knew until I bought them was, that I have to start a workout to make them actually track my heart rate. 

That means:
unlock phone → open app → start workout

And it also tracks calories, even when you’re just sitting in the office. After a few days it completely messed up my calorie tracking and honestly made the feature feel pointless for everyday use. And also the manual steps I couldn’t get rid off really annoyed me. 

I thought there must be an App for that, but I couldn’t find one. So I just accepted it… until February 2026 where there still wasn‘t an App to fix this issue. I really wanted this functionality so I started experimenting with it by myself. 

I‘m a Data Engineer as my main job so App building isn‘t my main discipline but I already had some previous experience with building small Flutter Apps for myself. So I used Flutter… which turns out is not the best idea when you want something like shortcuts and LiveActivity or even the AudioRoute handling. But it works, even in Flutter.

I posted the first prototype on Reddit to see if other people wanted this feature too:
https://www.reddit.com/r/airpods/s/tplWlNZxwk

Turns out a lot of people did.

So I kept improving my small prototype and turned it into a real app. 

Now heart rate tracking starts automatically when you put your AirPods in. A Live Activity shows your current heart rate directly on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, including a graph of previous values.

You can also configure audio feedback for heart rate zones and use quick actions directly from the Live Activity without opening the app. And you can even define locations where the tracking should not start at all.

And the best thing, no calories are being tracked! So you can also track your heart rate in the office or when you are simply at your phone

The app is live now for about 1,5 months and the feedback is amazing. Here is the Link if you want to try it

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/airpulse/id6760625679

I'm happy for any kind of feedback :)