Apple is enforcing an old App Store rule against a new kind of software

Apple’s crackdown on AI coding apps has turned into a deliciously messy comment-section brawl. The basic drama: apps like Replit let people build software with simple prompts, but Apple says an old App Store rule means apps must be fully checked in advance and can’t secretly become something new later. Replit has reportedly been frozen on the same iPhone version since January, while another app, Anything, was kicked off the store entirely even after trying multiple fixes. That’s the kind of plot twist that sends the internet straight into “here we go again” mode.

And wow, the crowd came ready. One camp is basically shrugging and saying, what did you expect? As one commenter put it, the rules were always there, so acting shocked now is a little rich. Another went even harder, saying Apple’s store rules were never friendly to developer tools in the first place, and that Replit existing on iPhones at all was already a miracle. Then came the anti-walled-garden brigade, who treated this like proof that letting one company control distribution was always a bad bargain. Their vibe: why build on someone else’s land and then act surprised when the landlord changes the locks?

The spiciest twist is the fear factor. Some commenters think Apple isn’t just being stubborn — it’s being terrified. If an AI-made app does something shady and headlines scream “iPhone app causes scandal,” Apple gets roasted in public, whether it approved the exact behavior or not. So the comments split into two loud factions: Team “rules are rules” and Team “this is why people hate locked-down platforms.” Either way, everyone agrees on one thing: the old app-review playbook looks wildly outmatched by software that can change on the fly.