Yes, on both platforms.

Not only that; You have to pay for updates too. Supposedly it’s because Apple takes time to verify that the app is legit and not going to do nefarious things. So they don’t want a bad actor to get a legit app on the store, then later push an update that infects everyone with a virus.

But apparently a company did a study and realized that app testing rarely made it past the main page, with testers spending ~15-20 seconds per app. They’d basically open it and if it looked like it did what it said, they didn’t bother digging any deeper.

Why do you think they set those up? To not make money?

Yes. It's actually rather tragic I strive to run my business NOT using big tech. But we need an app for our users. On Apple this means you simply MUST pay apple. 100/year is not a lot. I just don't want to give them my business.

You have to pay for a license to be able to publish apps to the store, yes. This isn't a bad thing, mainly just for the fact that it stops a lot of trash from being put on there.