@themcewens03c Thanks for the detailed feedback Charlie.
So, it sounds like you’re using our legacy platform, “Thunkable Classic” which has been scheduled for retirement since last year.
As it happens, our founders and a number of our past and present staff were involved with the AI2 project back in their MIT and Google days and we’re still all good friends to this day.
The “jigsaw” pieces that both platforms use are part of another open-source project called Blockly which is used by a lot of low-code and learn-to-code platforms such as Scratch and micro:bit.
At the moment, our focus is on our cross-platform product, Thunkable X. This allows you to design a single project, use Blockly to add the logic, and export as an iOS, Android or Web App.
As you mentioned, the $99/year fee for an Apple developer account might be put to better use, but if you went down the web app route then a Web App can run on pretty much any device with a web browser (including iOS devices)
The only bad news I have for you is that unfortunately the older .aia files (which are Android only) are not compatible with the Thunkable X platform, because it supports Android, iOS and Mobile Web simultaneously.