Don't fall into a fallacy: just because "no deity or supernatural abilities need to apply" doesn't mean that a deity or supernatural abilities haven't applied.
The only honest positions we can take are: I believe / I don't believe.
- basic functionalities are hidden under nested menus or keyboard shortcuts
- other functionalities are hidden on unrelated apps (scan documents is on notes app)
- spotify cannot playlists download on the background (triggers too many individual downloads, they claim it is to safe battery, I bet apple music has no issues with this)
- notification center: broken UI constantly
- wanna go back? good look: swipe right, or out of reach top-left corner small arrow button
- hard to click small buttons as icons, I have to click everything 2-3 times until I get it right
- no button to ignore incoming calls...
- dynamic island UI broken if you dare to turn the phone horizontally
It's very annoying the amount of bugs and issues I encounter on my macbook and the official apple apps that come with it.
Same for iPhone 14 and 15 (me and wife), most bugged phones I've ever used, notification center is constantly broken on both, UI is inconsistent everywhere, super weird decisions like the calculator doesn't have history or to scan a doc I have to use the notes app (wtf)
most expensive and worst software experience I've ever used
Based on your description a surgeon would also be an engineer.
The real meaning for engineer is someone who builds complex stuff that require years of learning and practice for the majority of the population.
Having a set of defined rules to follow is not engineering, is safety based on previous experience, most car drivers also do that and they are not engineers.
Pay to download or for other services: Not worth it; users can find the software somewhere else and they don't need your other services.
...
The user subscribes to a developer of their choice and in return, all developers (and everyone else who wants to) can give that user some kind of benefit, like giving them access to downloads