
App Store Improvements - jefflinwood
https://developer.apple.com/support/app-store-improvements/
======
MBCook
This has been so desperately needed for years, but the conventional wisdom was
Apple cared more about being able to claim that they had 12 million apps (or
whatever) than 2 million _decent_ apps.

I've searched in the last few months and found apps that had screenshots that
were clearly from iOS 4 or 5.

David Smith said he had been working on a piece before this was announced (1)
and believed about 50% of apps never got updated.

Also the fixes to stop things from being named "Candy Soul Saga Crush Game
Match Three Slots For The Win Pokemon Insurance Dating Fun Free Time" is a
serious improvement too.

Random idea based on other stuff I saw app developers talking about on Twitter
the other day: is this the first steps in going 64-bit only next year? If the
apps haven't been updated they can be pulled before iOS 11 comes out and then
OS update wouldn't get blamed.

1)
[https://twitter.com/_DavidSmith/status/771405838607089665](https://twitter.com/_DavidSmith/status/771405838607089665)

~~~
jobu
There are still apps in the store I made years ago for a company that no
longer exists. They still kinda work, but not very well since the company's
servers went offline.

It seems like these things might resolve themselves in a lot of cases if Apple
charged something small like a $1 every year to keep an app in the store.

~~~
rbritton
I thought they were pulled from the App Store if the developer account hosting
them was not renewed? Or did that change?

~~~
oddevan
They are. It's pretty much the only reason I keep renewing my certificate.

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kccqzy
It might be an unpopular opinion but I still have apps from iOS 4 that works
perfectly fine on my iPhone running iOS 9. To me this is a testament of the
great engineering that allows this iOS 4 app to be binary compatible with iOS
9. Sure the apps won't use the latest APIs and they look a little blurry
(because screens have gotten larger) but they still work fine and I don't want
apple to kill them, making a cloud backup restore impossible.

~~~
jads
But if the developer has, for whatever reason, chosen not to update the app to
support retina displays, larger screens, and anything else that would benefit
the user, isn't that an indication that the app is abandoned? Even if the
functionality doesn't fundamentally change, it's not a good sign if the look
of the app has been neglected.

I'm sure the vast majority of apps this affects are mostly rotting away with
broken functionality. Worse still, there are many apps that could definitely
benefit from newer APIs. There's no doubt that this new ruling is going to
have some edge cases where old, but perfectly functional, apps are lost - but
there is a grace period that developers of these older apps can work in to
update them and keep them listed.

This is a good compromise - Apple issues a store-wide ultimatum to developers
and any that are still interested in keeping their apps listed will update
them. Those that aren't will need to do nothing. If any of your apps
disappear, it stands to reason the developer has abandoned it.

~~~
eeeeeeeeeeeee
Maybe they should keep the app in the store, but de-list it and don't include
it in search? Require a direct URL or invite for those. It would remove the
clutter, but still allow people to get legacy apps that still function, but
that you don't want showing up randomly to app store users.

~~~
MBCook
That's almost what they're doing. If you already have it you'll still be able
to download it after it's de-listed (as has always been the case), but no new
users will be able to find/buy it even with a special URL.

If the developers don't want to do basic updates every few years, I'm not sure
Apple should bother giving them special magic URLs for the 2 new people each
year who might want it.

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BinaryIdiot
This is great and is something that should be done to the Play store (or maybe
it is but it's ineffective?). I can't tell you how many times I redownload an
app I had on an old phone and apparently it hasn't been updated since like
2012 and it simply crashes on start on the newer versions of Android and yet
it still let's me download and install it. Very frustrating.

~~~
duskwuff
FWIW, the same situation would exist on iOS, at least to some degree. The
removed apps will no longer show up in the store, but will still be available
to users who had previously downloaded them.

~~~
BinaryIdiot
Really? I was under the impression once an app was removed from the iOS App
Store it was unavailable for download even to those who previously had it.

~~~
MBCook
No, except in extraordinary circumstances users can get it if they had it.

What used to happen is someone would sneak a GameBoy emulator into and app and
people would RUSH to download it, because it would be pulled in hours. Maybe
they didn't want a GameBoy emulator but if they ever did they'd be able to
download it later.

There are a few cases where Apple has pulled an app TOTALLY so even existing
users can't get it, but I don't think it's ever been done more than once or
twice.

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bpicolo
My favorite guitar tuner app no longer works, sadly, as of this or last
version.

I paid for it originally, which is not -really- a sore spot, but also sort of
a quirky thing. Paying for something that just doesn't work at some point in
software because of how upgrade cycles work is interesting.

Do wish I could find a simple guitar tuner that doesn't spam me with ads these
days though. =(

~~~
nodamage
> Paying for something that just doesn't work at some point in software
> because of how upgrade cycles work is interesting.

Isn't this just the nature of software though? I mean, my DOS and Win 3.1
software no longer works either...

~~~
toyg
Let me introduce you to this thing called DOSBOX, it's quite awesome:
[https://www.dosbox.com/](https://www.dosbox.com/)

The sad thing is that, the way the appstore works, we will likely never get a
"iosbox".

~~~
nodamage
While DOSBox is indeed neat, I think the underlying point is that it's
probably not reasonable to expect a piece of software written in a particular
era for a particular operating system to be supported indefinitely.

~~~
toyg
Supported =/= working. A 1956 car is obviously not "supported" by the
manufacturer or even by road laws of most countries, but it can still work if
you make an effort. With iOs apps you don't even get the chance.

~~~
nodamage
Sure you do. If you want to run an iOS app written for iOS 5 you can go dig up
your old iPhone out of the closet (or eBay), put iOS 5 on it, and run it
again.

If you want to run that same app on iOS 10 on your iPhone 7, well, that's an
entirely different set of expectations.

~~~
toyg
_> you can go dig up your old iPhone out of the closet_

Yeah, but the point is, I don't have to do that with old DOS programs. I get
an emulator, whip out my old binaries, and it runs on my shiny new PC.

On iOS, strictly speaking, there is no such option -- you will have to go to a
non-iOS device to run an emulator - and this assuming either Apple is still
hosting iOS5 apps (which probably won't be the case for long), or I have some
backup (again on non-iOS) that I can somehow leverage.

It would be _very_ kind of Our Betters At Apple to allow some sort of iOS-on-
iOS emulator, if they're at all serious with the "iPad for work" concept.
Companies already struggle with Microsoft upgrade policies that are much more
conservative...

~~~
mod
> On iOS, strictly speaking, there is no such option

And more importantly, apple would shut down such an option.

------
WayneBro
I would like A flag that tells me whether the app contains ads or not.

It really sucks to download and install an app just to find out that it
displays ads. I don't use apps that have ads.

~~~
tobltobs
Isn't it a bit displaced to bitch about ads in apps in a thread which is about
a topic which is about how developers need time and effort just to keep apps
in the store.

If you have so much problem with ads than just use only apps which cost money.
The free ones are to 99% funded by ads or by using your personal data. There
is nothing like a free lunch in a store.

~~~
WayneBro
Well, the thread is about "App Store Improvements". That's the title of the
post. Also, I AM a mobile developer... I mostly browse the web on my iPad. I
use very few premium apps. Procreate was the last one that I purchased.

Anyway - please explain to me why should I pay $4.99 for a simple network
utility that lets me do PING, NSLOOKUP, TRACEROUTE, etc? Do you really have a
problem if I spend my time searching for a free app that doesn't have ads
before I decide to buy one? And why do you think I should be responsible for
supporting developers who spent a whole week building some low-hanging-fruit
app?

As a matter of fact, I know how to build both native and hybrid iOS apps, so
sometimes if I can't find an app I just build it myself. I can't imagine
anyone having a problem with that.

Well, except for Apple. I don't like Apple very much so I avoid giving them
any money at all if I can. I always buy used or refurbished Apple hardware
from Amazon, Ebay and other places and I think long and hard before purchasing
any iOS app since Apple gets 30%.

------
incongruity
In some ways, it's actually an improvement to the _offerings_ of the App Store
and less a direct improvement to the App Store itself, from the consumer's
perspective.

It's a good step, but the store experience is still a bit busted, IMHO.

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e28eta
The email announcement also said they're restricting app names to 50
characters.

Nice to see some changes.

------
pkamb
> don’t follow current review guidelines

Will this culling apply to the Mac App Store? What's going to happen to the
many grandfathered non-sandboxed Mac apps?

~~~
hn_user2
Can't say for sure, but if they follow their past patterns, then I would guess
that they will continue to work fine. And if you delete and want to re-install
they will be available under Previous Purchases. But of course would not be
available to you on a different apple id which had not downloaded it prior to
it being pulled from the store.

~~~
pkamb
Yeah, I'm wondering if they're now going to be pulled from the store for
"violating" the sandbox guideline (despite previously being grandfathered in).

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longsangstan
There are 2 million apps on the App Store... they are going to review every
single app? From my experience the app review team is very inefficient and
dealing with them is a very unpleasant experience.

~~~
eric_h
I would imagine that crash on launch culling can be completely automated.

~~~
MBCook
They can run them in simulators for that, easily search their metadata for
those that haven't been updated since date X or were compiled for iOS 6 or 7
or some other OS that they decide to use as a cutoff point.

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SmellTheGlove
I wonder if this had anything to do with the jailbreak app recently going live
on the App Store for a few hours. There might be some renewed emphasis on
store content after that slipped through.

~~~
ChristianGeek
Unlikely...a jailbreak app makes it to the store at least once or twice a
year.

~~~
illnewsthat
Do you have any source for that? I believe this was the first occurrence of a
jailbreaking app that was available from the App Store itself.

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lalos
Does Apple have metrics on which apps are used and how frequently or they only
have metrics on installations and updates? That would be an easy way to filter
which apps deserve another review.

~~~
MBCook
I'm almost positive they have those metrics if you opt-in, they may have basic
versions of it if you don't.

At a minimum they know what you purchased and when updates are made to apps.
Plus they have some sorts of automated testing they could run.

