You make money because your app is tied to a real-world useful product. Looking at my own usage, the only apps I have installed and use on any regular basis that didn't come preinstalled with iOS are Signal, Authy, Bitwarden, Amazon, and my banking app. Amazon and the bank provide me a service I can access other ways and mobile is just one of those ways. Signal is a non-profit and receives donations and Authy is owned by Twilio, which sells backend services to other software developers. I just pay Bitwarden.
Of these, Amazon also serves ads. Opening the app, three items on the home page are marked sponsored. One for some k-cup coffee pod product, one for dog food, and one for cat food. These are clearly targeted (I have bought cat food and coffee very recently from Amazon and Whole Foods). But to be perfectly honest, I'm fairly comfortable with a company I buy stuff from keeping a record and making suggestions based on it through their own storefront. That's just good customer relations. I'm not comfortable with my activity being tracked everywhere across all applications I ever interact with to create a grand unified profile of all my synthesized purchasing, viewing, reading, and searching habits that can be sold to all advertisers advertising anywhere. That's a panopticon.
Of these, Amazon also serves ads. Opening the app, three items on the home page are marked sponsored. One for some k-cup coffee pod product, one for dog food, and one for cat food. These are clearly targeted (I have bought cat food and coffee very recently from Amazon and Whole Foods). But to be perfectly honest, I'm fairly comfortable with a company I buy stuff from keeping a record and making suggestions based on it through their own storefront. That's just good customer relations. I'm not comfortable with my activity being tracked everywhere across all applications I ever interact with to create a grand unified profile of all my synthesized purchasing, viewing, reading, and searching habits that can be sold to all advertisers advertising anywhere. That's a panopticon.