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Maybe I am missing something, but iOS 14 has had beta versions out for developers for months; I had been running iOS14 and Big Sur for testing for weeks. Apple

Maybe I am missing something, but iOS 14 has had beta versions out for developers for months; I had been running iOS14 and Big Sur for testing for weeks. Apple has always had developer previews and at some point, when mostly stable, they often release public previews to get a few interested users involved in testing as well. They've been working with developers for a long time on the new App Clips functionality and that's been open for developers to start working. So I am not following what is this article is saying? It seems like they're suggesting that Apple should release iOS a few days after announcing, but, that isn't enough time for most developers to test and release updates for a major iOS update; but Apple never intended those few days to be the only time developers had.

davidwhodge 6y ago
This is specifically about the GM build which is necessary for final builds, validation, and submission. Often developers have at least a week to do final checks and submissions with this build.
selykg 6y ago
It's more being prepared to ship their product. Usually there's a period of time between announcement and when it ships, such that a developer can get the release version of Xcode (if necessary), do some final testing, then send any updates to Apple for review. With enough lead time that their updated app can be available on the App Store the same day as the iOS update being available. That isn't really possible this time around.
- zepto 6y ago
  What’s the downside of the update not being in the store today vs next week?
  - selykg 6y ago
    Several downsides Say the iOS update has brand new features. Your app can't take advantage of those fancy new features and your users don't get them until next week either. Possible marketing, usually Apple has categories in the App Store for apps that support the latest features or are ready for that iOS version. They could in theory do this next week I guess, but point is there's excitement today, and will be less next week. Possible bugs in your current app that aren't fixed but exist only in the latest iOS. If you base your entire process on past experience you planned to release bug fixes for iOS 14 with a larger update and now those updates aren't available to a majority of your userbase. Edit: removed a part that was inaccurate.
    - zepto 6y ago
      The first point doesn’t make sense to me at all. No particular date was set for when users would be able to install apps with the new features. Point two seems weak. The idea that Apple won’t promote apps with the new features when they are released makes no sense at all. You make it sound like this is unlikely, but I don’t see why you’d think that. As for excitement - what excitement are we talking about? Users will get app updates automatically as they become available. Are you suggesting that users typically buy a whole load of new apps on the one day iOS updates ship, but only if those apps have features only supported by the new OS? That would be an interesting fact if true, but it would also be supported by data, which I don’t see anywhere. I’d speculate that users more often look for new apps when they get a new phone - which is supported by the data on Christmas app installs, and isn’t affected by this. So we’re left with the possibility that the developer has bugs in the last iOS 13 version of their app that did not manifest under Beta 8, but do manifest under the GM. I agree this is not impossible, although very unlikely to affect all but the tiniest handful of apps. Beta 8 and GM are unlikely to have significant changes of the kind that might expose such bugs, but again I agree it’s not impossible. This seems like an extremely exotic case, and certainly in no way justifies Apple being called an ‘Asshole’, except by someone who has other reasons for wanting to malign them.
      - selykg 6y ago
        > No particular date was set for when users would be able to install apps with the new features. The expectation is that apps will support the new features on day one. Because that's how it has worked in the past. > what excitement are we talking about? Users will get app updates automatically as they become available. Again, historically, apps support the new features on day one. That won't be the case with this release because there's no way an App developer will be able to ship an app to App Store review in 24 hours and have the app available the same day. > Are you suggesting that users typically buy a whole load of new apps on the one day iOS updates ship, but only if those apps have features only supported by the new OS? I'm not so sure about buying new apps, I am saying that typically existing apps get updates that take advantage of new features and those are typically available on day one of an iOS update and won't be this year. I don't think iOS 14 has any major game changing features, so I don't think we'll see a massive buy in of new apps or anything. But if this trend happens again with a release that DOES have major new features then it's a big disappointment. > So we’re left with the possibility that the developer has bugs in the last iOS 13 version of their app that did not manifest under Beta 8, but do manifest under the GM. Keep in mind that developers on iOS tend to think in terms of larger updates. So an app developer may release a new major version on the same day as iOS 14, or iOS 13, etc. These are typically 'free' updates for existing users, but they're whole version updates and come with a larger set of changes. In the past, developers had time to prepare for release. If bugs existed in version 3 of their app running on the iOS beta, they probably fixed those in version 4 (unreleased) of their app, and planned to submit and ship version 4 the same day as iOS 14. That entire process is not going to happen this year, so it's possible that bugs existing in iOS 14, but did not exist in 13, will be present in apps until those updates ship next week sometime. Edit: >and certainly in no way justifies Apple being called an ‘Asshole’ I'm not calling Apple an asshole, I'm not defending the author of the article who is calling them an asshole. I'm simply explaining how it worked when I worked on a major top 50 app in the App Store. Thank god I'm not doing it anymore, it was stressful enough doing it in previous years, it's probably even worse today.
  - apazzolini 6y ago
    The fact that some apps are broken and users with auto-update turned on are now unable to use those apps for a week?
    - zepto 6y ago
      Which apps are broken?
      - selykg 6y ago
        There's a thread for this on MacRumors: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-14-broken-buggy-apps.2242226/page-32 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-14-broken-buggy-app...
        zepto 6y ago
        Those apps were not broken between beta 8 and the GM, so this has nothing to do with Apple’s release schedule.
  - firloop 6y ago
    You need to compile your app with the new version of Xcode to target iOS 14, and you couldn't do that until the GM version of Xcode was released yesterday. Meaning that if there's any iOS 14-showstopping bugs, depending on the type of bug, you wouldn't be able to get a fix out promptly. There's also the work of e.g. verifying that your app works as advertised on the iOS 14 GM, which also was only released yesterday.
  - vorticalbox 6y ago
    If its a popular app with lots of competition, if your competitors have a working app and yours is broken then people will jump ship and once that happens hard to get people to go through the hassle of moving again. Though I'm not an mobile app developer just one of the things I can see as a downside.
    - zepto 6y ago
      This doesn’t make sense - if it’s a hassle to move, people aren’t likely to just ‘jump ship’ in the next few days.
JonathonW 6y ago
Past major iOS releases have usually given about a week between the release of the final build to developers (with app submissions opening at the same time) and the release to the general public. This gives developers time to validate their code against the final build of iOS and submit updates if needed, allowing plenty of time for App Review to do their thing. This is also the first point where Apple will accept app updates which take advantage of new features in the new iOS release, so giving devs some notice to finalize those updates is nice as well. Yes, developers should have already been working with the iOS betas and already have some confidence that things will work against the final release-- but there is no substitute for actually testing against the final release build. In this case, iOS 14 Beta 8 appears to be mostly identical to the GM Seed build (what released to devs yesterday, and what will release to the public today), but that, historically, has not always been the case-- in some cases, bugs get fixed in between the last beta build and the GM seed; in others, new bugs get introduced.
- lttlrck 6y ago
  1 week is completely arbitrary. If they had 1 week notice as usual there would most likely still be complaints because this is an unusual year...
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    Regardless, changing one week to one day is a real slap in the face to developers.
    - S_A_P 6y ago
      I can’t see it that way even if I try really hard. If you want to be ios14 ready I personally would be code complete a long time before yesterday.
      - saagarjha 6y ago
        You can't be code complete for something that dropped yesterday. Each beta build changes things.
trevor-e 6y ago
There was a three-week gap since the last Xcode update and Apple is notorious for breaking stuff between Betas. We were given a single day to get everything set up (CI/CD, signing certificates, provisioning profiles, etc), update our codebase (yes there were source changes made in the GM update), and test that everything works (three weeks worth of Xcode changes), so no it's not really how you picture it to be. Having iOS14 features ready to be in sync with the iOS14 launch is pretty crucial for apps. Even major apps like Instagram and Snapchat still have critical camera bugs on my phone right now that's running the latest iOS14Beta8 build.

davidwhodge 6y ago

This is specifically about the GM build which is necessary for final builds, validation, and submission. Often developers have at least a week to do final checks and submissions with this build.

selykg 6y ago

It's more being prepared to ship their product. Usually there's a period of time between announcement and when it ships, such that a developer can get the release version of Xcode (if necessary), do some final testing, then send any updates to Apple for review. With enough lead time that their updated app can be available on the App Store the same day as the iOS update being available. That isn't really possible this time around.

zepto 6y ago
What’s the downside of the update not being in the store today vs next week?
- selykg 6y ago
  Several downsides Say the iOS update has brand new features. Your app can't take advantage of those fancy new features and your users don't get them until next week either. Possible marketing, usually Apple has categories in the App Store for apps that support the latest features or are ready for that iOS version. They could in theory do this next week I guess, but point is there's excitement today, and will be less next week. Possible bugs in your current app that aren't fixed but exist only in the latest iOS. If you base your entire process on past experience you planned to release bug fixes for iOS 14 with a larger update and now those updates aren't available to a majority of your userbase. Edit: removed a part that was inaccurate.
  - zepto 6y ago
    The first point doesn’t make sense to me at all. No particular date was set for when users would be able to install apps with the new features. Point two seems weak. The idea that Apple won’t promote apps with the new features when they are released makes no sense at all. You make it sound like this is unlikely, but I don’t see why you’d think that. As for excitement - what excitement are we talking about? Users will get app updates automatically as they become available. Are you suggesting that users typically buy a whole load of new apps on the one day iOS updates ship, but only if those apps have features only supported by the new OS? That would be an interesting fact if true, but it would also be supported by data, which I don’t see anywhere. I’d speculate that users more often look for new apps when they get a new phone - which is supported by the data on Christmas app installs, and isn’t affected by this. So we’re left with the possibility that the developer has bugs in the last iOS 13 version of their app that did not manifest under Beta 8, but do manifest under the GM. I agree this is not impossible, although very unlikely to affect all but the tiniest handful of apps. Beta 8 and GM are unlikely to have significant changes of the kind that might expose such bugs, but again I agree it’s not impossible. This seems like an extremely exotic case, and certainly in no way justifies Apple being called an ‘Asshole’, except by someone who has other reasons for wanting to malign them.
    - selykg 6y ago
      > No particular date was set for when users would be able to install apps with the new features. The expectation is that apps will support the new features on day one. Because that's how it has worked in the past. > what excitement are we talking about? Users will get app updates automatically as they become available. Again, historically, apps support the new features on day one. That won't be the case with this release because there's no way an App developer will be able to ship an app to App Store review in 24 hours and have the app available the same day. > Are you suggesting that users typically buy a whole load of new apps on the one day iOS updates ship, but only if those apps have features only supported by the new OS? I'm not so sure about buying new apps, I am saying that typically existing apps get updates that take advantage of new features and those are typically available on day one of an iOS update and won't be this year. I don't think iOS 14 has any major game changing features, so I don't think we'll see a massive buy in of new apps or anything. But if this trend happens again with a release that DOES have major new features then it's a big disappointment. > So we’re left with the possibility that the developer has bugs in the last iOS 13 version of their app that did not manifest under Beta 8, but do manifest under the GM. Keep in mind that developers on iOS tend to think in terms of larger updates. So an app developer may release a new major version on the same day as iOS 14, or iOS 13, etc. These are typically 'free' updates for existing users, but they're whole version updates and come with a larger set of changes. In the past, developers had time to prepare for release. If bugs existed in version 3 of their app running on the iOS beta, they probably fixed those in version 4 (unreleased) of their app, and planned to submit and ship version 4 the same day as iOS 14. That entire process is not going to happen this year, so it's possible that bugs existing in iOS 14, but did not exist in 13, will be present in apps until those updates ship next week sometime. Edit: >and certainly in no way justifies Apple being called an ‘Asshole’ I'm not calling Apple an asshole, I'm not defending the author of the article who is calling them an asshole. I'm simply explaining how it worked when I worked on a major top 50 app in the App Store. Thank god I'm not doing it anymore, it was stressful enough doing it in previous years, it's probably even worse today.
- apazzolini 6y ago
  The fact that some apps are broken and users with auto-update turned on are now unable to use those apps for a week?
  - zepto 6y ago
    Which apps are broken?
    - selykg 6y ago
      There's a thread for this on MacRumors: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-14-broken-buggy-apps.2242226/page-32 https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-14-broken-buggy-app...
      - zepto 6y ago
        Those apps were not broken between beta 8 and the GM, so this has nothing to do with Apple’s release schedule.
- firloop 6y ago
  You need to compile your app with the new version of Xcode to target iOS 14, and you couldn't do that until the GM version of Xcode was released yesterday. Meaning that if there's any iOS 14-showstopping bugs, depending on the type of bug, you wouldn't be able to get a fix out promptly. There's also the work of e.g. verifying that your app works as advertised on the iOS 14 GM, which also was only released yesterday.
- vorticalbox 6y ago
  If its a popular app with lots of competition, if your competitors have a working app and yours is broken then people will jump ship and once that happens hard to get people to go through the hassle of moving again. Though I'm not an mobile app developer just one of the things I can see as a downside.
  - zepto 6y ago
    This doesn’t make sense - if it’s a hassle to move, people aren’t likely to just ‘jump ship’ in the next few days.

JonathonW 6y ago

Past major iOS releases have usually given about a week between the release of the final build to developers (with app submissions opening at the same time) and the release to the general public. This gives developers time to validate their code against the final build of iOS and submit updates if needed, allowing plenty of time for App Review to do their thing. This is also the first point where Apple will accept app updates which take advantage of new features in the new iOS release, so giving devs some notice to finalize those updates is nice as well. Yes, developers should have already been working with the iOS betas and already have some confidence that things will work against the final release-- but there is no substitute for actually testing against the final release build. In this case, iOS 14 Beta 8 appears to be mostly identical to the GM Seed build (what released to devs yesterday, and what will release to the public today), but that, historically, has not always been the case-- in some cases, bugs get fixed in between the last beta build and the GM seed; in others, new bugs get introduced.

lttlrck 6y ago
1 week is completely arbitrary. If they had 1 week notice as usual there would most likely still be complaints because this is an unusual year...
- saagarjha 6y ago
  Regardless, changing one week to one day is a real slap in the face to developers.
  - S_A_P 6y ago
    I can’t see it that way even if I try really hard. If you want to be ios14 ready I personally would be code complete a long time before yesterday.
    - saagarjha 6y ago
      You can't be code complete for something that dropped yesterday. Each beta build changes things.

trevor-e 6y ago

There was a three-week gap since the last Xcode update and Apple is notorious for breaking stuff between Betas. We were given a single day to get everything set up (CI/CD, signing certificates, provisioning profiles, etc), update our codebase (yes there were source changes made in the GM update), and test that everything works (three weeks worth of Xcode changes), so no it's not really how you picture it to be. Having iOS14 features ready to be in sync with the iOS14 launch is pretty crucial for apps. Even major apps like Instagram and Snapchat still have critical camera bugs on my phone right now that's running the latest iOS14Beta8 build.