That's splitting hairs. They do do that, exactly by imposing restrictions on distribution.
Your argument is: "You're free to write an app for yourself, but Apple isn't restricting you from using private APIs, they're restricting you from distributing it using their resources, oh and they're blocking any alternative distribution methods, too."
Your argument is: "You're free to write an app for yourself, but Apple isn't restricting you from using private APIs, they're restricting you from distributing it using their resources, oh and they're blocking any alternative distribution methods, too."