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Comment by 0x3f | Hacker News Reader

If you don't want your name, address, phone number on public display you need to either set up a company or set up some forwarding. If you set up a company, you'll need to get a DUNS number. If you haven't done it before and don't know about the secret shortcut way to do that, it is very annoying to get one.

Anyway, I don't see a problem with getting it out the door. People can just choose not to install it if they don't like it. I mean that's the whole idea of being early anyway, isn't it? Don't like a crappy bodged together UI? Don't like a lack of support? Don't like an unsigned app? You can wait until it has those things according to your preferences. In the meantime, the creator gets real users and feedback ASAP.

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Thank you for saying this! As stated on the website, this is a pre-release. Those who are not sure, absolutely do not have to install this and can wait for the official, notarized release. In the meantime, the app gets tested in the real world.

It's free so why not just publish it on github then so that people could read the code and compile it themselves.

Right now it's closed source binary with a big fat "DOWNLOAD FOR FREE" button and instructions casually telling you to disable the last barrier between your system and persistent malware. Nobody should recommend this to anybody

Well, depends what the author's plans are for the future. Maybe it's not always going to be free as in beer, either.

You don't need to do any of that to sign and notarize an app that you are distributing yourself.

You do if you don't want your legal name in there, as I said.

Still unbelievable that they require a DUNS number and not a simple EIN, that fact alone set our app launch back weeks.

It’s a one time inconvenience that filters out most mid level scammers. It’s a small price to pay for a reasonably clean App Marketplace.

"don't know about the secret shortcut way to do that, it is very annoying to get one"

Is that a US thing? Because in the UK you just get one for free - Companies House sends the info over to them, and a couple of days later it is available to search

Secret shortcut?!?

I don't know how obvious it is these days, but the default path through D&B's website is the terrible one. They will try to extract money from you and harass you forever. You had to find Apple's own embedded form for it by using their search and going through some flow.

I’ve done it! I’ve gone through the D&B website years ago and i remember it sucking. Don’t know when I’ll need to do it again but this is good to know. Thank you!

This article[0] provides some details. Basically if you go through the lookup process on Apple's website and you don't have an existing D-U-N-S number, you can request one from D&B for free via Apple.

[0] https://support.pushpay.com/s/article/Acquire-your-D-U-N-S-n...

I just recently did all of this but the experience was not as bad as you are describing here. I got my DUNS number in 10 minutes. The only challenging part was using a Google Voice number for the account because there was an issue with the way I had created the business Apple account.

don't want your name, address, phone number on public display

Where are these displayed?

when you sign an app with your personal dev account.

The way I read that question was: where can other people see this information about me once I’ve published the app? i.e. say I just published an app, where would you navigate to find this info?

If you sign an app your legal name gets embedded into the .app bundle. You can use e.g. `codesign` in the terminal to read it back, or if you publish to the App Store it will be in the UI, along with the others.

I've seen individual developer's names in the App Store, but the parent comment is also claiming that Address and Phone number is published. I've done a bit of digging, and can't seem to confirm this.

In Europe’s App Store I see my address and phone number in the apps I published there - under the “provider” section.

Interesting. Looks like this is EU specific.

What's the secret shortcut way to set up a company in your jurisdiction?

>secret shortcut

I see vagueposting has found its way into HN.

I haven't done it in a while, so didn't want to give out possibly wrong directions, but:

> I don't know how obvious it is these days, but the default path through D&B's website is the terrible one. They will try to extract money from you and harass you forever. You had to find Apple's own embedded form for it by using their search and going through some flow.

I think your information is very much outdated. You apply for DUNS number with Apple. I didn't have to go to D&B's website nor I had to pay anything to anyone for it.

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