Ask HN: I've finished developing an iPhone application. How do I protect myself?

No, right?

Then why do you think you're going to be targeted by anybody for a lawsuit of any description? It's generally a bad idea to sue poor people.

Put your app out and see what happens. This seems like the silliest possible reason to avoid doing so.

An LLC will protect you from most liabilities and is probably the easiest way to protect yourself in this case. Worst case scenario they sue the company and get all $0 worth of assets from it (assuming no sales).

Applying for an LLC is fairly simple and straight forward. Most states allow you to create one online for less than $100. It honestly takes less than an hour to set them up. Beware the tax implications of doing so, it's a pass-through entity meaning profits and losses are passed directly to your personal income. This is usually not a big deal and most tax software makes this very simple to document at tax time, just keep a record of all profits and expenses.

This is just from experience so take it with a grain of salt. Hopefully this gets you started with some further research.

It sure sounds like you think the LLC provides more protection against this particular problem than it actually does. Sadly, I don't think it does nearly enough to make your concerns go away. IANAL and AFAIU, the LLC will protect your personal money if you get sued if you are not found by the judge to be personally negligent, and if you are not found by the judge to be merely an alter ego of the LLC (and thus s/he would pierce the corporate veil, i.e., order your personal assets liable), and if you pay your lawyers up to $1 mil in legal fees to defend, etc.

It's really not as protective as any of us would hope.