Ask HN: Should we open source an iOS app?
2 comments
That was my first thought: is there a reason for anyone to contribute? It's a for-profit app that I assume makes you money. Why should I volunteer my free time to work on it for you?
Without knowing anything about your product, I'd say most likely you won't get any contributions. However, many companies feel that open sourcing their product brings a lot of other benefits.
Take Artsy for example: http://artsy.github.io/open-source/
Take Artsy for example: http://artsy.github.io/open-source/
There is debate on if we should open source our iOS app because it's the most expensive thing in terms of hiring others. Without giving away too many details we integrate with a part of the iOS API that isn't very well documented and we've hired lots of people who have not added value to the product in this area and don't want to pay for people to learn this API. Posts on the Apple developer forums seem to indicate it's one of the bigger tarpits in the space. FWIW it also cannot be tested in the simulator.
The iOS and Android apps aren't part of our secret sauce, as that lives in the web service, so we aren't worried about someone "stealing" our code. However, I don't see a clear incentive they have to contribute.
Thank you!