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> This problem is not a bug, it's a fundamental problem with the culture of software development apple curates. An equally annoying "Apple policy enforcement"

> This problem is not a bug, it's a fundamental problem with the culture of software development apple curates. An equally annoying "Apple policy enforcement" is you cannot downgrade apps on iOS; So you're using some app and an important part of your daily workflow is based on using this app, and all of a sudden out of nowhere Apple or the Developer decides to radically change/update the app and now your workflow is broken. No way to go back to your previous workflow. So frustrating... we do not own our devices anymore. Apple enforces what we may and may not do with our devices.

raverbashing 6y ago
> is you cannot downgrade apps on iOS That is very annoying. There should be at least the possibility of "return to previous good old version" Non-hypotetical example: Latest app update breaks in some weird way on older iPhones/iPads. While developers need to figure that out, users are left unable to use their apps.
- m463 6y ago
  I had two apps that radically changed their business model through updates with no recourse. I had an app called gas cubby, which let me locally - on the phone - keep track of all my vehicles. I could enter detailed information about each car such as year, make, model, vin, insurance policy, gas purchases, oil changes and the like. It would tell you gas mileage and remind you of upcoming maintenance. One day, the app was updated and all my local data was uploaded to the cloud. Another app I had was camscanner from tencent that basically did the same thing. Think of all the PDFs you scan going to their cloud.
  - DennisP 6y ago
    I had an app that did nothing but try to identify plants from photos of them, and they updated it to require a social media login. Another app that let you take a photo of a wine bottle and show you reviews of the wine. They added a social media login too. My list of favorite wines was gone unless I logged in. I don't use those apps anymore.
- ojii 6y ago
  > While developers need to figure that out, users are left unable to use their apps. Or worse, the developers get stuck in App Review Hell for over a week and are unable to release their fix to their users. This happened to me when the reviewer took umbrage with our screenshots (which have passed numerous previous reviews) and kept rejecting our update. Meanwhile the app was bricked in some configurations with nothing anyone could do about it.
robin_reala 6y ago
…or you just choose not to update it?
- Someone 6y ago
  You may not know the new version is worse for you without upgrading first.
- dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
  Updating is important. There might be security updates. However, if once in a while an update itself causes a bigger problem (e.g. is unusable), it's logical you shoudl be able to downgrade. A defensive attitude ("I better not upgrade as it can break something") is definitely an option and many people are doing that, but it's not the right way to approach the whole issue.
  - DavideNL 6y ago
    ...plus, it becomes very cumbersome to manually update 'some apps' but not 'other apps'. The UI interface makes it nearly impossible to manage this because you can't click "update all apps" anymore; So, you'd then have to manually click like 100 apps individually/one by one to update them.
    - Silhouette 6y ago
      I have long argued that what we really need to fix this kind of problem is a very clear separation between essential updates for things like security fixes, where something in the original software was not working as intended, and any other updates that might change behaviour or look and feel in arbitrary (and possibly unwanted by the user) ways. IMHO, it would then be very beneficial from the user's perspective to have a system-wide default policy for updates along the lines of "install nothing without asking", "install essential updates automatically, ask about others" and "install all updates automatically". Of course, this would require software developers to actually fix older versions of the software they sold when it was broken, as they used to, instead of trying to make it the user's problem as the developers move on to whatever they want to do next, which has become a popular business model as we've moved to online updates being widely accessible and to web and mobile apps where "latest" is often the only version available to users. So it's obvious why developers aren't so keen. What's less obvious to me is why, given the damage caused by the more recent model, the rest of society tolerates that behaviour instead of holding developers accountable for their earlier mistakes like anyone else who sells us a defective product.

raverbashing 6y ago

> is you cannot downgrade apps on iOS That is very annoying. There should be at least the possibility of "return to previous good old version" Non-hypotetical example: Latest app update breaks in some weird way on older iPhones/iPads. While developers need to figure that out, users are left unable to use their apps.

m463 6y ago
I had two apps that radically changed their business model through updates with no recourse. I had an app called gas cubby, which let me locally - on the phone - keep track of all my vehicles. I could enter detailed information about each car such as year, make, model, vin, insurance policy, gas purchases, oil changes and the like. It would tell you gas mileage and remind you of upcoming maintenance. One day, the app was updated and all my local data was uploaded to the cloud. Another app I had was camscanner from tencent that basically did the same thing. Think of all the PDFs you scan going to their cloud.
- DennisP 6y ago
  I had an app that did nothing but try to identify plants from photos of them, and they updated it to require a social media login. Another app that let you take a photo of a wine bottle and show you reviews of the wine. They added a social media login too. My list of favorite wines was gone unless I logged in. I don't use those apps anymore.
ojii 6y ago
> While developers need to figure that out, users are left unable to use their apps. Or worse, the developers get stuck in App Review Hell for over a week and are unable to release their fix to their users. This happened to me when the reviewer took umbrage with our screenshots (which have passed numerous previous reviews) and kept rejecting our update. Meanwhile the app was bricked in some configurations with nothing anyone could do about it.

robin_reala 6y ago

…or you just choose not to update it?

Someone 6y ago
You may not know the new version is worse for you without upgrading first.
dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
Updating is important. There might be security updates. However, if once in a while an update itself causes a bigger problem (e.g. is unusable), it's logical you shoudl be able to downgrade. A defensive attitude ("I better not upgrade as it can break something") is definitely an option and many people are doing that, but it's not the right way to approach the whole issue.
- DavideNL 6y ago
  ...plus, it becomes very cumbersome to manually update 'some apps' but not 'other apps'. The UI interface makes it nearly impossible to manage this because you can't click "update all apps" anymore; So, you'd then have to manually click like 100 apps individually/one by one to update them.
  - Silhouette 6y ago
    I have long argued that what we really need to fix this kind of problem is a very clear separation between essential updates for things like security fixes, where something in the original software was not working as intended, and any other updates that might change behaviour or look and feel in arbitrary (and possibly unwanted by the user) ways. IMHO, it would then be very beneficial from the user's perspective to have a system-wide default policy for updates along the lines of "install nothing without asking", "install essential updates automatically, ask about others" and "install all updates automatically". Of course, this would require software developers to actually fix older versions of the software they sold when it was broken, as they used to, instead of trying to make it the user's problem as the developers move on to whatever they want to do next, which has become a popular business model as we've moved to online updates being widely accessible and to web and mobile apps where "latest" is often the only version available to users. So it's obvious why developers aren't so keen. What's less obvious to me is why, given the damage caused by the more recent model, the rest of society tolerates that behaviour instead of holding developers accountable for their earlier mistakes like anyone else who sells us a defective product.