Ask HN: iOS app portfolio, is it legal/ethical? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: iOS app portfolio, is it legal/ethical?

I have built many iOS applications as a full time employee of a development company. I am going freelance this year. Is it legal and/or ethical for me to include links to these apps in the AppStore as part of an online portfolio. If not, what about screen shots? What about in a private meeting? Thanks in advance.

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It would be better that you were able to get permission from your soon-to-be former employer, but it seems like this is something that they or you are not willing to discuss. You are not asserting any ownership rights over the apps; you are simply stating the facts. As these are (presumably) App Store downloadable - there is no case that these are proprietary. The ideal situation is that you leave on good terms with your soon-to-be former company but I think it is perfectly ethical to state which apps you worked on, as long as you clarify that you only did part of the app (assuming you did). It's not like you are stealing their entire Git repository. As for legal, think of yourself as a producer or director. What company would have the right mind to sue someone for claiming that they worked on a film. So this is not legal advice but logical: it should be fine to tell people online what you worked on and be sure to include a backlink. The bigger problem for you in my mind is them asserting ownership of what apps you may have started while still working their, on your own time.

If you provide the link, accurately describe your role in their delivery and to clearly list the company which developed them (Font at least as big as the one describing your role).

As you develop your own works, pull this stuff out.

Does your employer advertise which apps they've built? Some companies build apps for clients with an agreement to keep the identity of the dev shop private. If your employer does this, neither the clients or your employer will be happy with you telling the world what they agreed to keep confidential.

Good point. If this is the case (not that likely as how would an iOS dev shop market itself if it could not market itself?!), then either a) paint broad outlines of the specific coding you did (e.g. Live updating and synchronization of CoreData store over carrier pigeon network) or b) start building your own apps and marketing them.

I think as long as you correctly state that it was project at company you were an employee at, and no NDA's it should be fine.

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