25 ms·

Talk about it. I just got a rejection today for a major bugfix on my last update. The only change in the update is to use utf-8 encoding---one tiny change on

by joecode 17y ago

Talk about it. I just got a rejection today for a major bugfix on my last update. The only change in the update is to use utf-8 encoding---one tiny change on one line of code. After 2 weeks, they tell me they can't approve the update because I'm using undocumented APIs in a couple places. Sure, OK, looks like I was using some methods that went from deprecated to undocumented... but that's exactly what's in the store right now... ugh. Meanwhile, users are, rightfully, pissed-off. I'd say about 50% of the time my submissions get rejected, and always for a stupid reason like this; this is one of the better ones, actually. Will I stop developing? Probably not, because it's good money. But am I seriously considering moving to Android? You bet.

jorgem 17y ago
I had similar one line fix... I have a simple "free" app in the iPhone App Store. It lets users browse "available" Web domains. One feature is a BUY button that forwards them to Godaddy.com, if they want to buy the domain. I don't make any money from Godaddy. The app has been approved for a while, but I wanted to patch one little bug, so I submitted a patch. ... And waited two weeks. Apple's testers found a bug that was in the original approved app, and asked me to re-submit. ... And I waited three weeks. This is classic: Apple rejects my app again because they want to test the domain "buying" feature on Godaddy. It's a website! Not even my app! Not even a new feature. Please kill me.
- hristov 17y ago
  What they really want is to figure out if there is a way for them to make money off of it. Even if you personally are not getting kickbacks from godaddy, there is a lot of money in selling domains. There is got to be, somebody has to pay for those awful superball ads.
akamaka 17y ago
I think it's worth pointing out that even Apple's own developers don't get the luxury of being able to push out bug fixes whenever they want. Point releases of the iPhone OS are often months apart, so good testing is not optional for them.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- tumult 17y ago
  Apple employees have the advantage of being paid by Apple to work that way.
khangtoh 17y ago
Same thing here. We just got an update rejected for a line of code that calls an undocumented API within a function that was no where called in the program, dead code and they rejected the update that had an important bug fix that we emailed them about for an expedited review. The expedited review request was accepted but in the end took 14 days to come back and got rejected for a piece of code that was never ran and has been there since day 1. Talk about frustration, hell yeah. But as everyone does, after getting over the anger and back to reality and business sense, what else CAN I do but only to resubmit since there lies a never seen before first of it kinds, an easy software distribution and payment system that many other platforms did not provide to small independent developers a year ago. It's not about just supporting one SINGLE platform, that has never been the case. Just like making web apps run nicely in IE, Safari, Firefox, etc or even Windows, MacOS, Linux. As a developer, what matter is that I support the platform that has massive adoption/users. I will not drop iPhone and go Android, or any other platform. The only decision I will make is if there's enough users on the platform that I do care about to invest and develop for that platform. One day Android might be there and I see the possibility of developing for both Android and the iPhone.
nearestneighbor 17y ago
Does Apple examine your source code?! I thought iPhone devs kept the source to themselves.
- eelco 17y ago
  No, just the symbol table in the binaries. You can easily do it yourself with the 'nm' command. It seems that they are using a tool that matches the 'nm' output with a list of private APIs since about a month or so, meaning that a lot of updates suddenly get rejected like this. What really annoys me as a developer though, is that they should be able to automate this check and give feedback instantly. (It's not like they will give feedback on more than one 'problem' anyway.) Instead you'll still have to sit out the 2 week waiting period.
  - khangtoh 17y ago
    Seriously if they are so hung up on undocumented API calls, they should just implement that check as part of the binary upload process. Run the binary through an automated flagging system. This will not only benefit developers but also cut their review time plus reduce the number of update submission indirectly.
    - rbanffy 17y ago
      This lack seems a symptom of what pg is describing - they are no longer getting the best and brightest programmers around.
  - brunoc 17y ago
    Or simply give you the list so you can check your binaries yourself! Of course the list might change frequently but it would save everyone time and grief.
    - jodrellblank 17y ago
      They document what you can do. If you are stepping outside those boundaries, why do you blame Apple for your grief and wasted time? You agreed not to do that when signing up in the first place.

by joecode 17y ago

jorgem 17y ago

I had similar one line fix... I have a simple "free" app in the iPhone App Store. It lets users browse "available" Web domains. One feature is a BUY button that forwards them to Godaddy.com, if they want to buy the domain. I don't make any money from Godaddy. The app has been approved for a while, but I wanted to patch one little bug, so I submitted a patch. ... And waited two weeks. Apple's testers found a bug that was in the original approved app, and asked me to re-submit. ... And I waited three weeks. This is classic: Apple rejects my app again because they want to test the domain "buying" feature on Godaddy. It's a website! Not even my app! Not even a new feature. Please kill me.

hristov 17y ago
What they really want is to figure out if there is a way for them to make money off of it. Even if you personally are not getting kickbacks from godaddy, there is a lot of money in selling domains. There is got to be, somebody has to pay for those awful superball ads.

akamaka 17y ago

I think it's worth pointing out that even Apple's own developers don't get the luxury of being able to push out bug fixes whenever they want. Point releases of the iPhone OS are often months apart, so good testing is not optional for them.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
tumult 17y ago
Apple employees have the advantage of being paid by Apple to work that way.

khangtoh 17y ago

Same thing here. We just got an update rejected for a line of code that calls an undocumented API within a function that was no where called in the program, dead code and they rejected the update that had an important bug fix that we emailed them about for an expedited review. The expedited review request was accepted but in the end took 14 days to come back and got rejected for a piece of code that was never ran and has been there since day 1. Talk about frustration, hell yeah. But as everyone does, after getting over the anger and back to reality and business sense, what else CAN I do but only to resubmit since there lies a never seen before first of it kinds, an easy software distribution and payment system that many other platforms did not provide to small independent developers a year ago. It's not about just supporting one SINGLE platform, that has never been the case. Just like making web apps run nicely in IE, Safari, Firefox, etc or even Windows, MacOS, Linux. As a developer, what matter is that I support the platform that has massive adoption/users. I will not drop iPhone and go Android, or any other platform. The only decision I will make is if there's enough users on the platform that I do care about to invest and develop for that platform. One day Android might be there and I see the possibility of developing for both Android and the iPhone.

nearestneighbor 17y ago

Does Apple examine your source code?! I thought iPhone devs kept the source to themselves.

eelco 17y ago
No, just the symbol table in the binaries. You can easily do it yourself with the 'nm' command. It seems that they are using a tool that matches the 'nm' output with a list of private APIs since about a month or so, meaning that a lot of updates suddenly get rejected like this. What really annoys me as a developer though, is that they should be able to automate this check and give feedback instantly. (It's not like they will give feedback on more than one 'problem' anyway.) Instead you'll still have to sit out the 2 week waiting period.
- khangtoh 17y ago
  Seriously if they are so hung up on undocumented API calls, they should just implement that check as part of the binary upload process. Run the binary through an automated flagging system. This will not only benefit developers but also cut their review time plus reduce the number of update submission indirectly.
  - rbanffy 17y ago
    This lack seems a symptom of what pg is describing - they are no longer getting the best and brightest programmers around.
- brunoc 17y ago
  Or simply give you the list so you can check your binaries yourself! Of course the list might change frequently but it would save everyone time and grief.
  - jodrellblank 17y ago
    They document what you can do. If you are stepping outside those boundaries, why do you blame Apple for your grief and wasted time? You agreed not to do that when signing up in the first place.