
Turning the iPhone 6s Into a Digital Scale - huntleydavis
https://medium.com/swlh/turning-the-iphone-6s-into-a-digital-scale-f2197dc2b6e7#.yven3rw7c
======
w4
That's a shame. Gravity looks like a clever app, and the UX in the reviewer
video was pretty slick. The spoon + quarter calibration is great!

This sort of thing is why I'm increasingly disinterested in developing for iOS
for fun (and why most of my recent side project work has been on web apps).
App review is effectively a black box since the rules are applied so
inconsistently, and working for weeks or months on something only to find out
the Apple doesn't like it is a constant concern. Add in the the real and
psychological barriers app review imposes when making bug fixes or updates,
and it makes going back to the web rather attractive. It'd be nice to see
Apple make some changes to the process.

(I know I could move over to Android dev, but since I use an iPhone it's not
terribly interesting for side projects - though that's my problem, not
Androids's.)

~~~
WildUtah
_App review is effectively a black box since the rules are applied so
inconsistently, and working for weeks or months on something only to find out
the Apple doesn 't like it is a constant concern._

Unless you're Facebook which has recently been caught abusing silent
notifications to start up in the background and continue running permanently
by streaming music at zero-volume while draining battery.

Apple responds decently when developers have big media presence notice their
abusive process and rolls over passively when powerful players like Facebook
have them over a barrel. It's a stormy ocean when you're independent. Best to
be careful.

 _increasingly disinterested in_

You mean 'uninterested,' not 'disinterested.'

~~~
w4
> _You mean 'uninterested,' not 'disinterested.'_

Uninterested may have been better, but disinterested works fine - see the
usage notes (desktop only for some reason):
[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disinterested](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disinterested)

~~~
WildUtah
Popular incorrect use of a word doesn't make it acceptable usage, especially
when it occludes an important distinction.

~~~
mchahn
That depends. The Oxford English Dictionary would agree with you. They are an
"authoritative" dictionary that tells the reader what is right and what isn't.
However, Webster's wouldn't. They document the common usage.

It's a matter of philosophy. In any case, the common usage will always win.
People don't consult the OED when talking, or even writing blogs. So language
changes.

Did you know that even the OED now includes the awful non-literal meaning of
"literally"? Oh the horror ...

------
Mikushi
Clever idea and use of technology, not surprised to see Apple reject as they
want nothing to do with either concepts.

As a developer I will never develop for, support, condone or recommend Apple
products to anyone I know because of such behaviour, they want a wall garden,
good for them, but I'll have no active part in it.

~~~
cguess
Really really obvious reason they did this.

People are dumb.

Someone, probably very soon, and probably more than one or even ten people,
would overload the weight and crack their screen. At which point they would
show up at the Apple Store DEMANDING a brand new phone.

When they didn't get the repair because they're too stupid to understand how
glass works they would contact CNN or HuffPo or whatever and there'd be a
flurry about "glassgate" or something. Same way that putting a thin phone in
your back pocket, SITTING on it and then complaining it bent set off a huge
issue and tons of news coverage.

There is a walled garden, this is not an example of Apple overreaching though.

~~~
oxide
the only thing I can imagine cracking the screen is trying to weigh a person.

is that really something Apple would have to pay for? seems like something
like that would fall well in "your fault" territory from my perspective.

my first thought was drugs, might be handy to have a scale in my pocket
sometimes.

~~~
CaptSpify
Just because it's the user's fault, doesn't mean the user won't waste apple's
time trying to fight for a new phone.

~~~
oxide
I don't know about you, but if that's the only reason, it sounds an awful lot
like a clear cut case of overreach.

------
skaevola
Really cool app, and a shame Apple rejected it. Using a spoon was a very
clever idea.

Why did you choose to display weight in grams to 3 decimal points when the
measurements are only accurate to within 3g? It would be better to not display
the values after the decimal point, so you don't give your users a false sense
of accuracy.

~~~
ryanmcleod
(Sorry for the slow response!) I'm really glad you called this out! You're
totally right. The demo video was shot with an earlier version of the app
before this was fixed :)

Here's a more recent video
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3S95b9gAC8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3S95b9gAC8)
One decimal place (in grams) was kept since precision != accuracy.

------
gabemart
A minor point, but the app was rejected rather than "shut down".

It's a shame, it seems like a neat application and I can totally imagine using
an app like this to weigh spices or coffee beans.

~~~
gitah
My guess is that Apple didn't want their customers ruining their phone screens
by putting heavy objects on it.

By accepting the app, Apple is implicitly allowing the use case of using the
phone as a scale.

~~~
dragonwriter
> By accepting the app, Apple is implicitly allowing the use case of using the
> phone as a scale.

This may be a bigger issue than just concern that customers might ruin their
screens (and blame Apple.)

Scales (for commercial use) are regulated, and devices marketed as scales but
intended for only non-commercial use are explicitly labeled "not for us in
trade"; Apple probably doesn't want to be seen as marketing or endorsing the
iPhone as a scale, even implicitly.

------
tsotha
>Apple has a moral and ethical onus to make the right choices be it related to
the confederate flag, changing drug laws, or using emoji to fight bullying,
and we respect that.

I can't decide if he _really_ respects that or if he's still hoping to get his
app approved. Companies should not be in the business of trying to enforce
(clearly unenforceable) laws by removing features that do perfectly legal
things.

~~~
msbarnett
> Companies should not be in the business of trying to enforce (clearly
> unenforceable) laws by removing features that do perfectly legal things.

Dragon-dick dildos are _legal_ , but that hardly means Wal-Mart is under any
obligation to stock them for sale if that's not something they want their
brand associated with.

If Apple doesn't want their brand to be associated with racist apps, or
pornography, or pony apps, or whatever they choose, why would it not be their
right to do the same as Wal-Mart?

As consumers, we can choose where to shop based on what stores do and do not
stock. If you don't like what Apple stocks, don't shop in its store, and don't
buy their devices.

~~~
smokeyj
Then why allow safari? There's so many scary things online, why would they
endorse such things?

~~~
msbarnett
Because Dateline can't build a concern-trolling episode around "Are iPhones
Youth-Corrupting Pornography Machines" when everything and your toaster has a
web browser. Every criticism would equally apply to Android and your laptop.
It's water off the brand's back.

But if Apple is literally taking money and distributing pornography, a news
unit is shooting that story tomorrow.

Nintendo faces many of the same problems, e.g.)
[http://www.examiner.com/article/pedophiles-could-take-
advant...](http://www.examiner.com/article/pedophiles-could-take-advantage-of-
wii-u-s-video-chat-service)

~~~
smokeyj
Explain to simpletons like myself how pornography distribution is like
measuring weight. I'd love to draw the connection but I'm afraid logic
prevails.

Furthermore, if Dateline is an influencing force in Apple product decisions -
remind me to smash my iPhone into a million proprietary pieces.

~~~
msbarnett
> Explain to simpletons like myself how pornography distribution is like
> measuring weight. I'd love to draw the connection but I'm afraid logic
> prevails.

Reread thread. This grew out of discussion about Apple forbidding apps with
confederate flags etc. Inflammatory, controversial content.

Y'know, like pornography.

The weight thing is obviously much simpler: Apple doesn't want to be the
punchline on a lolpiece on the 6 o'clock news about "Are people breaking their
iPhones with controversial new 'scale' apps? Find out after news and weather
with chuckles the rain stooge"

> Furthermore, if Dateline is an influencing force in Apple product decisions
> - remind me to smash my iPhone into a million proprietary pieces.

 _News Organizations_ are _absolutely_ an influencing force in any major
brand's decision making processes. All brands live in _utter terror_ of being
on the wrong side of a "won't somebody please think of the children??" shit-
storm.

You're kidding yourself if you think otherwise.

~~~
smokeyj
"Child installs eBay app to purchase dildos - news at 9."

I understand PR is an influencing factor in corporate decision making - but if
Apple is choosing to cater to the Dateline crowd rather than satisfy their
core audience, Tim might as well purchase dragon dildos for the entire staff.

Allowing or banning an App is PR worthy. Damned if I do or don't type thing.
But a developer wasted time from his life that'll never be returned.
Responsible adults who wish to use this functionality aren't able to. The
proprietary nature of Apple's wall gardened is coming into question. That's
the PR Apple should worry about, and this is a gross miscalculation.

------
mindslight
And this is precisely the problem with centralization. It forces a Yes or No
when the appropriate answer is Wu.

------
cromwellian
>Apple has a moral and ethical onus to make the right choices be it related to
the confederate flag, changing drug laws, or using emoji to fight bullying,
and we respect that.

Do you, or do you fear retaliation from Apple if you bad mouth them?

------
croddin
There is a Force Touch Javascript api that can be used in Safari, right? Could
this app be rewritten as a web page?

~~~
art0rz
[https://github.com/freinbichler/3d-touch](https://github.com/freinbichler/3d-touch)

------
nosuchthing
A year or two ago some developer [0] figured out how to code some sort of
pseudo pressure sensitivity into a music making app, which seemed to work well
from what I heard. Apple eventually banned the app from their store citing
improper use of the code base.

[0] trying to search for it, seems lost to the memory hole

~~~
nosuchthing
The app was called "Orphion", and it had several methods for detecting
gestures/articulations: a gentle finger tip touch, a tap, and a push down.
Apple cited forbidden private API use.

[http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/06/hands-off-apple-
wants-...](http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/06/hands-off-apple-wants-to-
pull-orphion-music-app-over-touch-apis/)

    
    
      Apple just called me to nicely tell me I use a private 
      API function to sense the area of the screen which is 
      covered by the finger for its articulation gesture ([CDM] 
      wrote about it). This is crazy – thousands of users love 
      it for this and it makes Orphion so expressive.
    
    
      The app will be removed from the App Store in two weeks 
      if I don’t submit a new version without it – and I 
      currently can’t think of Orphion without this gesture.
    
    
      So what I can recommend is
    
    
      1. Everyone who wants to have the “original” Orphion get 
      it NOW from the app store (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app
      /orphion/id495465097), it will be only be there for a few 
      more days
    
      2. Backup the current version to keep it. (Michael Tyson 
      from Audiobus made this great tutorial)
    
      3. Tell Apple to make this great function officially 
      usable in apps (Any ideas how to do that?)
    
      So far… let’s see if this is really the end of Orphion.
    
    

...looks like the petition worked and Orphion was allowed to keep the gesture
functionality;
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/orphion/id495465097](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/orphion/id495465097)

------
LeoPanthera
Apple now allows you to sideload apps from source without paying the developer
fee, so it can still be distributed in source format for anyone to install.

~~~
shalmanese
Anyone with access to OSX and Xcode.

------
dmckeon
Note that the 1944 90% silver Washington quarters pictured would weigh 6.25
grams each, while the 1965+ cupro-nickel sandwich quarters weigh 5.67g each.

------
adrusi
I doubt that Apple's primary concern is people breaking their screens. It
would actually be quite difficult to break your screen by putting heavy
weights onto a _spoon_.

No, Apple's concern is supporting this app to the future. They don't know if
they'll be sticking with this same kind of sensor for future models, and they
don't know that any future sensor will be backwards compatible for this app.
If people get used to using this app, suddenly they'd be under an obligation
to keep it working, thus losing options for future designs.

~~~
fpgeek
Considering how frequently and heavily Apple pushes developers for other
updates (e.g. new iOS version support, 64-bit support, etc.) I'd be shocked if
future support were any consideration in the rejection. I'd expect Apple to be
perfectly happy to deprecate and/or replace an API, allow changes in undefined
behavior in future models and so on. If the app breaks, so be it.

------
Jitle
I would happily pay money for this app, a true shame that it has been
rejected. This story makes me wish that there were easy to use sideloading
opportunities for app developers within iOS.

~~~
w4
Xcode 7 lets you compile and run apps on a device without a developer account.
It would require giving out your source code, but at least it's available.

~~~
interpol_p
You could give your code out as a compiled static library or framework if you
were concerned about that. Then the source code would just be the trivial code
required to link and present the app.

~~~
MikeTLive
Can it be coded with the users public key from their device thus limiting it
to work o my on the device with the matching private key? IDevices do use
public/private keys don't they ;)

------
pjlegato
I thought this was a great article, until the end where the author not only
gives up, but writes a meek apologietic stating that Apple is clearly and
wholly right to block people from running any software it doesn't like on
their own phones, without explanation.

Does Apple retaliate against people who complain about the App Store review
process in public or something?

------
dkonofalski
Pleasantly surprised at the developers' reaction to the rejection. It's like
they knew that there was a chance and they weren't really upset when it didn't
go their way. Kudos to them for their ingenuity despite the failure.

------
stevewilhelm
Kind of like the Plum-O-Meter

[http://flexmonkey.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/the-plum-o-meter-
we...](http://flexmonkey.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/the-plum-o-meter-weighing-
plums-using.html)

------
dang
It's against the HN guidelines to editorialize titles when submitting stories,
so please don't.

(Submitted title was "Apple shuts down app that uses 'Force Touch' to weigh
objects".)

------
tmd83
Could the heavier weight (not big enough to break the screen) could actually
damage the force touch sensor also? But probably the screen damage possibility
was the reason for the rejection.

------
Bud
Why the anti-Apple headline edit?

~~~
logicallee
How did it read before? It reads "Apple shuts down app that uses 'Force Touch'
to weigh objects " which seems objective to me?

------
sea2summit
I'd bet a beer Apple comes out with their own version next year.

------
dea74747
Drug related? An app allowing reasonably-accurate weighing of samples with
0.1g resolution has significant black market applications.

~~~
IkmoIkmo
A phone, a car, a wallet, plastic bags, lighters... they're all ubiquitously
used by the drug industry. Preventing scales because of illicit use of
weighing something is like banning cutlery because they can be used as
weapons, banning cars because they can be getaway cars, banning phones because
they can be used to setup illicit trades, etc etc. I think it's a bit silly
and I don't think it'd affect the brand any more than it already is (peruse
drug culture on social media and you'll find plenty of iphones featured, it
hasn't affected the brand at all in a negative way, it's still a luxury item
and people still view it as a phone you'd love to gift to family of any age if
money is of no concern).

------
cjensen
Using an extremely expensive ultra-thin high-resolution touch-sensitive
easily-scratched display as a scale is a pretty terrible idea. If Apple allows
the app and someone weighs tiny diamonds on the screen, whose fault is it that
the display is scratched? Ordinary people may not understand how the Mohs
hardness scale works. Ordinary people may not be accurate judges of whether or
not something is too heavy to place on a phone without damaging it. Cute hack,
but too many unintended consequences in the real world.

~~~
matt4077
RTA! Any object would have to be in a spoon (or something similar). And even
diamonds on the screen wouldn't scratch it unless you applied pressure. At
which point you don't deserve a scratch-free screen (but can buy one with
those diamonds).

