Arjun Ram

This thread was written with Sakura Latte playing in the background
I have apps that are pretty much ready to be published but right now I'm debating on having to go through the whole App Store ordeal (they did get approved on TestFlight) or just distribute via my own site where I have a bit more control and don't need to give in to the Apple Store fees if I were to make them paid.
A couple questions I have that maybe the experienced makers here can help me out with are

• Versioning: I know App Store Connect makes it really easy to update versions of your app. I don't really plan to do that many updates unless the community reports a big bug or there's high demand for a feature. How would I most efficiently do updates if I were to do self-distribution via DMG?

• Trust: By default, if it's on the App Store there's some level on trust. I personally look at packages and am okay downloading things from internet devs but I'm curious what folks here think? Would distribution hurt download chances?

• Awareness: This is pretty much the same imo other than App Store search vs SEO but curious if anyone has had negative/positive experience regarding discoverability either through App Store or self-distribution

• Payments: I would probably use something like @Superwall but am curious what the best way to introduce a "free for 7 days then pay $2 for lifetime access" kind of paywall and if the distribution method impacts this at all.