This resonates from the dev side. I made an offline photo search app a while back — you search your library in plain language ("a boy and a girl by the river"), CLIP embeddings all computed on device. It needs full photo access but I deliberately requested zero network permission. Was kind of proud of that.
Problem is there's no way for users to actually know that. iOS has no "this app can't reach the internet" indicator, so the whole guarantee is invisible. I even had people assume the opposite — app reads your whole library, therefore it must be uploading it somewhere. Exactly backwards.
You might want to check out https://whispernotes.app - it's a one-time purchase, no subscription. For offline apps with no ongoing server costs, I think buy-once should at least be an option alongside subscriptions.
My AirPods Pro often fail to connect properly, appearing connected but music still plays on cellphone.
As an introvert, I don't like to bother people. When I'm in a quiet coffee shop or library, I turn down my phone volume, select a white noise track in Apple Music, and put my ear near the bottom of the phone.
So, I created the simplest app of my life: open the app, and it plays the sound of waves. If your phone is in silent mode, it won't play anything when the connection fails, even if the volume is high.
I posted it on the web, and many people didn't understand its purpose, thinking it was just another white noise app. It received very few downloads. However, it's the only app I made that I use every day.
https://mazzzystar.com