Apple and the Walled Garden
I started app development back in 2013. I may be a bit nostalgic, but around that time the App Store was the place for the newest and well-designed software. It was before size classes, responsive design, and having the expectation to ship to all platforms if you wanted to appease your audience. Over time, expectations from customers as well as tech giants have increased. You now need syncing services, responsive design, notifications, and apps for all different platforms just to name a few. For the last decade, I’ve tried to adhere and play along.
When it comes to side projects and building startups, it has just become too much to keep up with. My specialty is not iOS apps and UI design, but I have a love for both. I also don’t like leaving whole platforms left out, like Android or Windows just because they cannot run iOS apps. Now that a lot, if not all, tech giants are trying to claw every cent from users and their developers, I wanted to focus on more sustainable technologies and break out of the grasp of these corporations.
Bills io has always been a bit of a passion project, but I think it deserves a bit more than that. For the last 5 years, it has been on the App Store and optimized for almost all of the platforms under Apple’s control (sorry visionOS & watchOS). I believe that time has run its course, and I’m ready to try something new. I wanted to build something that was completely in my control and against some of the norms that we’ve grown accustomed to during the enshittification of technology. Notification and App Overload
Nowadays, every store, company, and service all try to get you to install their app on your device. I wanted to challenge myself and make up a new system for delivering alerts and notifying the user:
- Notifications ➡️ Subscription to existing .ics feeds for importing into a calendar. The user now is in control of having alerts or not, offline access to the schedule, and can see everything on any system that can run a calendar application.
- Mobile App ➡️ Completely online hosted service. Bills io is now just a website thanks to allowing for existing protocols like calendar subscriptions, even in the case of offline use, the user can still see the general schedule for when bills are due. Emails also get sent out to show monthly and weekly snapshots to inform the user on upcoming obligations. Any device with email set up can receive these.
- Access Sharing ➡️ Varied levels of sharing will be supported. For instance, want to share just the calendar events? Just give the .ics link to your partner or friend and they can see the shared bills even without creating an account. If they want more visibility or control, group sharing is supported with their own account.
I love technology, and I didn’t want to lose access to my own app if I am on a Linux desktop or Android phone. These are very capable systems but locking everything into iCloud can be limiting.
Limitations of the App Store
I will just start this off by saying App Review and that process is too restrictive and potentially business breaking. This has been talked about extensively and Apple has been sued multiple times for various reasons for limiting and fighting developers. I just want to say, it is 2026, and it should not take up to days for builds to be blessed by Apple before rolling out. The time I have spent in this process over the years has been too much. I like the freedom of just uploading code as soon as it is ready. This should be the expectation in the App Store too. The final complaint will have to be the review process and the potential it has to ruin ideas. At the end of the day, Apple has full control over the App Store and its processes. If they deem your app unworthy, that is essentially it. If you are basing your product launch on the App Store, I would say have an alternative method to bring your app to market. As an engineer, having backups and alternatives is always a good idea.
Closing Thoughts
I’m going to close off with this. I do not know if these changes and bucking the existing systems will work out, but I think it is at least something I want to try. I think going back to accepted protocols and simpler means of delivering information to users will go a long way. With the introduction and forced acceptance of AI in every device we own now, having information in “traditional” means allows the local AI models to use it. For instance, I do not have to build an AI chatbot into Bills io because the system one already can look into your calendar or email for info. Maybe it will be the best way or maybe customers will never use the app like that. Either way, Bills io will try to adopt as many standard protocols in order to exist on any platform.
Check out Bills io now over at billsio.app while it's being built!