The overwhelming majority of iOS devs make little to
nothing, documented countless times
Not true. The majority of iOS devs I know make a decent revenue stream that involves making apps for the like of Fortune 500 companies and startups. Since they walk the company through the whole process of becoming a registered Apple iOS developer, you would never know the app was ghost-coded.
In almost every case, the apps are funded by the marketing budget and are always free apps to promote the organization or company's brand. It is in essence another marketing channel. There are also cases where a non-profit gets corporate sponsorship.