🍏 Apple Ads Doesn't Care About Indian Developers — Or So It Feels

I recently launched a zympl everyday, minimalist habit tracker app, and naturally, I wanted to run some Apple Search Ads to help it reach more people. But surprise — I couldn't even get past the payment step. 😮‍💨

Turns out, Apple doesn't accept any credit or debit card issued by Indian banks for Search Ads. They literally say so in their own documentation: Apple Ads accepted payment methods

Frustrated but determined, I tried every workaround I could think of:

• Virtual cards? Nope.
  Services like Wise, Revolut, Privacy and Eversend aren't available in India.
• e.pn? Maybe — but they charge high fees just to get started, and I wasn't ready to take that risk. 🫠

At this point, my only real option seems to be asking a friend outside India to help set things up. 🤷‍♂️

I get that this is related to RBI regulations, but still — it feels like Apple could have done more to find a workaround or support Indian developers better. We're a massive app market, and there are so many indie devs here trying to build cool stuff.

Right now?
It just feels like we're being left out. 🥲
And that sucks.