# Apple Developer Program 22 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Developer Program and 109 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 12 years (4 owners). **Verdict:** Needed to sign and distribute Apple apps past the seven-day limit, and people say it works reliably; common caveats are the $99 yearly fee and opaque support. ## Why people recommend it - Reliable signing and distribution for apps (4 comments): "I ended up purchasing a dev account because it works for all the Apple devices in my home." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797742)) "Works wonderfully for macOS, and users of my app have had no issues with it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080932)) "You won’t have any issues with enrollment or distribution that way." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47917806)) - Support and enrollment resolve issues quickly (2 comments): "I am able to interact with actual humans to have the issue resolved." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45812448)) "took with Apple 1 hour with registration and then one phone call" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50213707)) - Worth the fee for what it enables (2 comments): "that feels worth about $100 considering how badly documented their APIs are" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080026)) "it was worth it even back then" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50279142)) ## What people warn about - Opaque support and review processes (4 comments): "the problems we had with our dev certificate a few years back absolutely had the same "actual state is hidden behind an opaque wall of process" characteristic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46837473)) "multiple back and forths with the reviewer got me nowhere, they just copy pasted the same response not addressing my messages at all" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47583156)) "the situation is getting ridiculous, I'm at the point where I'm honestly not sure what special set of magical incantations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46920555)) - Fee charged even for personal use (4 comments): "Apple not even allowing devs to run their own app without periodically resigning the app every 7 days ( without paying 99$ to Apple)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49232833)) "I find it hard to believe that charging people is the only way to stop people people from making multiple/spam accounts." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45915934)) "being unable to run then for longer than a week on my own hardware without paying $99 a year is especially frustrating" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48339631)) - Tight control and security restrictions (4 comments): "My bigger complaint about Apple is how overboard they've gone with the security stuff, making it it that much harder to develop software for their systems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49130904)) "I dislike apple and all these big tech providers for their abusive control/power and at the same time vast layers and levels of incompetence." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47159614)) "Its just more of Apple financially gate keeping their ecosystem so they make more money in as many channels as they possibly can." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46933690)) - Strict identity checks and ID requirements (3 comments): "anecdotally the overwhelming share of failed checks followed by "piss off we're not talking to you any longer" occurs with non-US IDs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49854719)) "subscription-based (and government ID requiring) developer program membership which is the only way to get such signatures" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46735435)) "going through the steps for that process would result in the name on my account being changed to the legal name" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47506284)) ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://developer.apple.com/programs/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Developer Program", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-developer-program/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).