This post documents a stressful, reflective few days so you get a concrete feel for what indie developer life looks like—and perhaps provide a helpful reference for anyone running into the same trap.

Last Thursday: Morning

Right after launching our “Share Your Experience to Earn Membership” campaign, our app vanished from the App Store. My immediate panic: Did Apple find some campaign rule violation and take us down on the spot?

I rushed to Apple Developer. No red violation banners. Instead, our one-year Apple Developer Program membership had come up for renewal, and the automatic renewal had quietly failed.

I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking I could simply pay the renewal fee manually.

I quickly discovered things were far from simple: following Apple’s official documentation, there was no renewal button anywhere on the page.

No error messages, no hints—just an empty space where the documentation insisted a payment button should be.

I searched every corner of the internet with no luck; almost everyone had to rely on Apple Support. So I fired off an urgent ticket to Apple right away.

(Meanwhile, because of the new campaign, new visitors were pouring in, alongside messages asking: “I bought this just a few days ago, why can’t I find the app on the App Store anymore?”)

Right after sending the email, I refreshed my inbox every sixty seconds so as not to lose a single moment. Over the next few hours, I lost count of how many times I hit refresh.

Last Thursday: Night

Before going to bed, I held onto hope that because it was still Thursday in the US, support might resolve it while I slept.

Last Friday: Morning

I woke up groggily at 5 AM and checked my inbox. Still 0 unread emails.

Last Friday: Night

Dread crept in. Regardless of a developer’s emergency, Apple staff have weekends off.

I comforted myself thinking that with time zone differences, a reply might arrive by Saturday morning.

Last Saturday: Morning

Still 0 unread emails.

My hopes of getting it sorted before Monday vanished.

I even started entertaining worst-case scenarios: what backup plan would we need if this account issue became permanently unresolvable?

The Weekend

My family and I took the opportunity to go out for a trip.

Did I enjoy it? Pretending not to feel anxious would be a lie.

It was an odd sensation: as if stripped of my developer identity and returned to being just an ordinary person. Usually, even while traveling, ideas for app design details bubble up in my head. Now, I had to actively force myself not to think about them, because every thought triggered anxiety.

I tried scrolling through short videos for distraction, but downtime is only recharging when stolen in between busy work. Endless idle time during a crisis only drains your battery.

Sunday: Night

By Sunday night, I returned to my development rhythm.

Working on an app that wasn’t even live felt bittersweet.

In that moment, your apps feel like loyal pets: usually running proud and visible to the world, but right now huddled quietly inside my laptop.

To calm my nerves, I designed and coded a “Rain” ambience for PlanCoach.

Users had long asked for rain and natural white noise, but I had never found a design I felt proud of. My rule has always been: if I’m not genuinely proud of a design, I won’t ship it. So the feature remained on hold.

Fortunately, design inspiration arrived at the exact moment I truly needed it myself…

Late Sunday night, the gentle patter of raindrops, the delicate visual ripple effect, and the satisfaction of building it lifted my spirits immensely. (As I write this post, I am listening to this very Rain ambience. Rain has no temperature or emotions, yet strangely it brings peace).

Looking back, I had sent five emails to Apple over the weekend, pleading from every angle that this was an urgent emergency impacting our livelihood and reputation.

Monday: Morning

Around 10 AM, a reply from Apple Support arrived. First, an apology explaining that a surge in support volume had caused delays. Then, instructions on what to do.

To my despair, the support agent had clearly not read my ticket. They simply pasted links to the standard documentation I had already combed through a dozen times.

I fired back an immediate reply, hoping to catch them before they closed the browser tab. Naturally, no immediate response.

I remembered a forum post from another developer dealing with the same nightmare: “It shouldn’t be this hard to give Apple money.”

Monday: Afternoon

A thought struck me: could it be an issue with the Apple ID payment method tied to the developer account?

I logged into the Apple Account management page. Sure enough, while the payment card was on file, it required a manual payment method verification!

Once verified, the renewal button still did not appear on the developer portal. But at least we had made a step forward.

Then I recalled another obscure forum comment mentioning that renewal sometimes appears under the App Store subscriptions menu on iOS rather than inside the Apple Developer app. I checked: the renewal button actually appeared in my iOS Subscriptions list! (I had checked it earlier, but because payment verification was pending, it hadn’t shown up).

I tapped to pay immediately.

After paying, I refreshed the App Store. Still no app.

I went back to App Store Connect, and several agreements that were previously grayed out were now ready for review and acceptance.

I agreed to the terms, waited a few minutes, and refreshed the App Store once more… and there it was. Live again. I was so relieved I almost shouted out loud.

Epilogue

As of Wednesday evening, Apple Support has still not sent a second reply. You really have to be your own lifeline.

On our message board, a user wrote: “I bought the lifetime pass just a week ago and saw it was gone—please hang in there!” That touched me deeply. I wish I could show every user who took a leap of faith on us how deeply committed we are to the long run. But actions speak louder than words; time will prove it.

Another realization: you only truly appreciate a capability when it is abruptly taken away. During those quiet days when I couldn’t ship updates, I missed the rhythm of continuous delivery so intensely. Withdrawal + anxiety + pent-up creative energy = thinking if only I could ship right now, I would release a flood of new features.

Now that the gates are open, I’m ready to roll out new features at full speed. Stay tuned!