Shopping list and recipe app AnyList has explained in a lengthy blog post no fewer than ten problems with Sign in with Apple.
It says there are five problems for users, and five for developers, and consequently the app will not be supporting the login method …
First, it says there is one common problem with any third-party login, whether it’s Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, or anything else.
But there are some specific problems with Sign in with Apple, it says – like the fact that many Apple IDs use an iCloud email address.
The Hide My Email feature in Sign in with Apple makes the problem even worse.
So people would ask for help, we’d reply, and they’d contact us again later, angry that we never replied. Our reply was going to their iCloud email account, but they didn’t see it because they only ever looked at their Gmail account, in the Gmail app.
This also makes it difficult or impossible to share lists, as this is usually done by entering their email address.
On the developer side, it adds complexity and time, and therefore costs.
One of the specific complaints isn’t correct: that Apple doesn’t properly explain how to implement the sign-in on Android. In fact, this is exactly the same as doing it on the web. Though AnyList co-founder Jeff Hunter later clarified that he was comparing the comprehensive documentation for iOS versus the rather more generic guides for other platforms.
But most of the arguments – and you can read the rest in the blog post – do make sense.
Apple doesn’t force developers to offer Sign in with Apple, but if an app offers any other third-party registration, then it must offer Apple’s version too. Apple also ‘suggests’ in its guidelines that its sign-in appears above rival ones. AnyList is addressing this by removing Facebook login, its only other third-party sign-in.
