Hey everyone,
I'll keep this honest. I lost my job a month ago and money is tight. Been working on a side project for the last 20 days — a bilingual movie and anime discovery app, running as a PWA. Spanish + English, free, already deployed.
Now I'm staring at the $99 Apple Developer fee and trying to decide if it's smart or a waste right now.
What's pulling me toward yes: \- The "Add to Home Screen" experience on iOS is rough. Most people don't do it \- Real push notifications would unlock things the PWA can't do well on iOS \- App Store presence as a trust signal — friends keep asking "is it on the App Store?" before they'll try it
What's pulling me toward no: \- $99 is real money I don't have spare right now \- App Store discovery seems mostly dead in 2026 for small apps without ASO budget \- Even with Capacitor (the fastest path), it's still 2-3 weeks of work plus rejection cycles before approval \- The PWA already works. Maybe my time is better spent making that better — or finding a job
Genuine questions:
- When you were strapped for cash, did you pay the $99? Did you regret it either way?
- Is App Store presence actually worth the friction for a small consumer app — or is it vanity in 2026?
- Anyone use Capacitor for this? What did Apple actually reject you for?
Screenshots of the current PWA below. Site is at ratd.pro if anyone wants to poke around before answering.