Problem with App Store Today?

[gswilder]

When I go into the App Store, and click on "all applications", and then sort by release date, I am only showing apps up to September 14th.

It only shows 90 pages of apps. Last night, it up over 190 pages.

Also the following RSS feed I use to see new applications, is only showing through Sept14th.

http://webobjects.mdimension.com/iPhoneApps.rss

Anyone else seeing this today?

[Rojo]

Yep! Was just about to post the same thing. Really bizarre....

[gswilder]

Thnx

[bigm978]

i also noticed it, any explanation?

[StingerT125]

Yeah I just noticed that too, and came here to see if it was just me or not.

Wonder what's up?

[razorianfly]

any explanation?

Apple just deleted 100 applications without notice as they did not serve as flashlights or lighters. :eek:

R-Fly

[BennyK]

Apple just deleted 100 applications without notice as they did not serve as flashlights or lighters. :eek:

R-Fly

ha ha that was a good one!

[eepgonewild]

I was about to post the same thing, Now that 2.1 is stable I am always looking for more apps, except for flashlights and lighters btw :D

[det2004]

Anyone have any info on this? I see if I go to the all iphone apps page, it cuts off at September 15th. But if I go to the top paid or top free apps, sometimes I will see an app with a release date after Sep 15th.

I would be happy if it was really just Apple cleaning out some of the crappy apps and repeats from the App store, but just wondered if there was any official word from Apple as to what is going on.

[DavePurz]

Apple just deleted 100 applications without notice as they did not serve as flashlights or lighters. :eek:

R-Fly

:p Ha Ha Ha!

It’s funny ’cuz it’s true!

And everyone who’s app was deleted is forbidden, by NDA, from talking about it.

Pathetic, ’cuz it’s true!

[AHDuke99]

Has PUSH been enabled? I'm getting random AppStore update alerts on my iPhone. It seems like Apps are being released at random times. I got an update just now, one at midnight and one at 11:30.

[tongteh]

It's really strange, is there any official words about this?? it's really strage that i have 4 updates showing in App Store on my iPhone. however their date is actually update date showing 14/08/08, 1/08/08, 4/08/08, and 26/09/08. there is no chance that i have missed 4 updates, besides i was just updating 2 application from app store last night.. really strange....

[markgamber]

I'm sure the official line will be "Nothing happened and it won't happen again". No one knows what's going on here or at Apple. Roll the dice again tomorrow.

[Pring]

Yeah, it's a bit annoying. I had an app posted yesterday which now won't receive the publicity of being top of that list.

[TheZimm]

When I go into the App Store, and click on "all applications", and then sort by release date, I am only showing apps up to September 14th.

It only shows 90 pages of apps. Last night, it up over 190 pages.

Also the following RSS feed I use to see new applications, is only showing through Sept14th.

http://webobjects.mdimension.com/iPhoneApps.rss

Anyone else seeing this today?

Something else that I noticed was that when I clicked to download all updates(by the way I use a shopping cart) and went through the normal procedure, they downloaded right away; usually I have to check for purchases first then they download, it was really awesome to me

Zym

[warburg]

Can anyone tell me why when I access All iphone Applications in the itunes Store the number of pages has been reduced from 180 to 90 and the latest app is dated September 15th when sorted by release date:confused::confused::confused:

[TripleJ]

They are still there if you browse by category view. I think there's just too many pages to show them all.

[warburg]

They are still there if you browse by category view. I think there's just too many pages to show them all.

You can only browse by Name, Release Date, and Most Recent. Are you getting all the apps?

[iFerd]

You can only browse by Name, Release Date, and Most Recent. Are you getting all the apps?Actually, that's only true for the main page - when you ask to see all iPhone applications or all updated applications. If you select a category, you and then browse that category. Not very efficient, though, if you want to know all of the new and updated apps, regardless of category - you have to browse each category separately to get it all done.

[jstanier]

It's probably linked to the ability to only rate apps you've downloaded, possibly the whole store has been slowly updating and refreshing.

[neesh0]

i guess they have been fixing up some stuff

[PeteLP]

Am I mistaken or is the itunes app store missing about half of all apps?

Do this in iTunes:
1- Go to the iTunes Store home page
2- Click on App Store (New) in the upper left of store window
3- Click on all All iPhone Applications under Categories

Apps are shown sorted by release date. There are 21 apps per page. (as has been the case for at least the past month)
Two days ago there were 190 pages approaching 4000 apps

- Today there 90 pages = aprox 2000 apps (about 2000 missing)
- The most recent release date is September 15 (All apps released in the past 12 days appear to be missing)

Anyone have a clue?

[warburg]

Apparently, this is only happening to some people. Otherwise, this thread would be flooded.

[sassenach74]

I noticed it 26hrs or so ago, came here to see if anyone had posted about it, saw nothing and figured it was a glitch with my itunes so dismissed it and went to sleep. I see it's still like it now.

Neil.

[*GG*]

I've just noticed it. There are no new apps after 15th September - they have all vanished.

[diesel]

Apparently, this is only happening to some people. Otherwise, this thread would be flooded.


i'm pretty sure it's happening to everyone (in the US at least.......), otherwise someone would have come in by now and said that the app store is still fine for them

[iPhoneDude]

i'm pretty sure it's happening to everyone (in the US at least.......), otherwise someone would have come in by now and said that the app store is still fine for them

At least, problem occurs also in Canada and in France!

[hexonxonx]

Apps are all there if you browse by categorie.

[iPhoneDude]

Apps are all there if you browse by categorie.

Yes, but no new applications since 24h. It's never happened since July 11.

[hexonxonx]

Yes, but no new applications since 24h. It's never happened since July 11.

Wrong, there are applications there from today the 27th.

[diesel]

Wrong, there are applications there from today the 27th.

only if you drill down into the individual categories...........and I don't believe they are showing ALL of the new ones unless apple has only released a couple of new apps in the past 24 hours which i doubt and also because i find software updates for my existing apps, but they don't show up in the individual categories with the updated date

[Roller]

Just noticed this too. But there are so many apps now that there needs to be a better search mechanism. At least, I'd like to be able to filter out updated apps so I can see what new ones have been added.

[iPhoneDude]

Wrong, there are applications there from today the 27th.

Perhaps some, but not 50 or 80 a day like in the past weeks

[diesel]

Just noticed this too. But there are so many apps now that there needs to be a better search mechanism. At least, I'd like to be able to filter out updated apps so I can see what new ones have been added.


not just that but i find enough apps where they've been placed into questionable categories. There are two hp 12c finanical calcs that basically do the same thing right now however one has been put into the business category and the other in the finance category. same goes for checking type apps, expense apps, tipping apps, some go into business and some are put into the finance category. utilities vs productivity examples as well and etc. etc. there doesn't seem to be any clear rules as to what dictates placement into the different categories.

[bklyn bruiser]

Wow.. I guess I should have checked this forum before I deleted and reloaded itunes and everything thinking something was wrong on my end.. Its showing the newest app was released Sept 15.

[kingballin20]

there was recently 34 pages, now there are 24 what up w. that?

[kwjohns]

I sure would like to know what new apps have come out within the past two days, Apple!

[Siriosys]

Nobody heard anything official yet?

FWIW, the problem seemed to have started for New Zealand on Friday afternoon when i was home attempting to update some apps....(Thursday in the US) and noticed that the 15th was the latest date I could get at the 'All Apps' level.

Although as stated by other forum users, drilling down does yield more results, they seem to be few and far between with very little activity from about the 24th onward. I'm aware, for example, that FaceBook had submitted their updated App over a week ago and nothing has appeared yet, although the poster did mention it may be 'as late as Oct 1st'.

Does anybody know if the iTunes store works on a 'replicated' system whereby servers in the local countries hold cached copies of the database?

The reason I ask is that we certainly don't see the number of updates that some people say are coming thru each day, and the reviews are pitiful. It would seem that a developer only needs 10 people in NZ to say their app is great and it's getting good reviews - however there might well be 200 elsewhere who think it's *****. It certainly proves that there's no real point in taking any notice of the reviews in their current incantation.


Cheers

[Mummmbles]

I think it's system-wide. Not sure if they replicate the database...probably. It's part of the search that seems to be messed up, not the database. Free Apps, IPhone Apps, and ITouch Apps search buttons should be querying the database based on their criteria. It's cut-off at Sept. 15 for some reason. Yeah, the categories work, but those three searches are broken.

They should be aware of it. BET it happened when they made some changes for voting and released ITunes 8. Anyone getting this with earlier version of ITunes? I think the App. store is the same for all versions, but ya never know. Pretty sure it's an HTML direct link to the store...

*Sigh* it's annoying to browse through more than a dozen categories looking for 'free' current apps.


Nobody heard anything official yet?

FWIW, the problem seemed to have started for New Zealand on Friday afternoon when i was home attempting to update some apps....(Thursday in the US) and noticed that the 15th was the latest date I could get at the 'All Apps' level.

Although as stated by other forum users, drilling down does yield more results, they seem to be few and far between with very little activity from about the 24th onward. I'm aware, for example, that FaceBook had submitted their updated App over a week ago and nothing has appeared yet, although the poster did mention it may be 'as late as Oct 1st'.

Does anybody know if the iTunes store works on a 'replicated' system whereby servers in the local countries hold cached copies of the database?

The reason I ask is that we certainly don't see the number of updates that some people say are coming thru each day, and the reviews are pitiful. It would seem that a developer only needs 10 people in NZ to say their app is great and it's getting good reviews - however there might well be 200 elsewhere who think it's *****. It certainly proves that there's no real point in taking any notice of the reviews in their current incantation.


Cheers

[StingerT125]

not just that but i find enough apps where they've been placed into questionable categories. There are two hp 12c finanical calcs that basically do the same thing right now however one has been put into the business category and the other in the finance category. same goes for checking type apps, expense apps, tipping apps, some go into business and some are put into the finance category. utilities vs productivity examples as well and etc. etc. there doesn't seem to be any clear rules as to what dictates placement into the different categories.

I think the developer decides what category to put in the App in.

[Nonnus3G]

i was not even aware of this !
i always use the categories to track my own apps

i have an app released on the 26 th
PowerKeys

it shows in utilities category so i think categories are working ok,
maybe they are just narrowing down releases

i can confirm categories are set by developers,
i would guess approval process checks if it is awfully wrong but wont bet on it

[iPhoneDude]

Even by categories, I have just a few applications for September 27th (4 or 5 max) and nothing for September 28th!!
I'm really surprised today that this problem is not more published...

[warburg]

Even by categories, I have just a few applications for September 27th (4 or 5 max) and nothing for September 28th!!
I'm really surprised today that this problem is not more plublished...

It's not published or posted anywhere on the web except on this site, which is what makes me think it's confined. This has been going on for almost three days, and if it were a general problem, Apple and the developers would be losing a fortune. It would certainly be noticed on sites like Touch Arcade.

Has anyone downloaded an updated app in the past two days?

[Pring]

An app of mine that that updated yesterday is only available through search and not at all in the category listing now :(


EDIT: Ah it IS there but it's listed under the original submission date, not the update date!

[admanimal]

It appears that the three "All...Applications" categories have disappeared.

[diesel]

It appears that the three "All...Applications" categories have disappeared.


yeah i can confirm that this is the case with me as well.............wtf

1 step forward (with allowing reviews for purchasers only) but 2 steps back (with the f-ed up app store right now)

[superstrikertwo]

Yup it's gone. :(

[eepgonewild]

I sure hope they bring it back, I enjoy looking to see what was added on a daily basis, much easier to find new stuff. If they don't put it back, they will get a lot of negative feedback from customers, I know I will complain if it is gone.

[Pring]

I'd guess they know it's broken but the people who can fix it aren't back at work till Monday. They've probably just taken it down till then.

[swim4life9]

I'd guess they know it's broken but the people who can fix it aren't back at work till Monday. They've probably just taken it down till then.

that actually makes sense... i just saw the all free apps category was gone and i was just about to post something about it

[Inukami]

It seems Apple have pulled the three application lists:


All iPhone Applications
All Free Applications
All iPod touch Applications


... Offline, to presumably fix this emerging problem. :cool:

R-Fly

[razorianfly]

It seems Apple have pulled the three application lists:


All iPhone Applications
All Free Applications
All iPod touch Applications


... Offline, to presumably fix this emerging problem. :cool:

R-Fly

[mcdj]

the pinchmedia RSS feeds have not been updated since 9/24

[warburg]

I'd guess they know it's broken but the people who can fix it aren't back at work till Monday. They've probably just taken it down till then.

No, that's not how the computer business works. The technicians don't go home on weekends, when most sales are made:rolleyes: It's 24/7. What has happened is that they have removed the "See All Apps" option. You now have to search by categories.:eek:

[Pring]

No, that's not how the computer business works. The technicians don't go home on weekends, when most sales are made:rolleyes: It's 24/7. What has happened is that they have removed the "See All Apps" option. You now have to search by categories.:eek:

They likely have 'keep it up and running' technicians on call. They won't have the actual engineers who implemented the store working weekends though. If it really is an unintended side effect of the update they made to stop people reviewing apps they didn't purchase then they will quite likely have to wait for the actual engineers to come back.

It makes no sense for them to have removed the option to view only Free apps. It'll come back once they've ironed out the issue.

[warburg]

They likely have 'keep it up and running' technicians on call. They won't have the actual engineers who implemented the store working weekends though. If it really is an unintended side effect of the update they made to stop people reviewing apps they didn't purchase then they will quite likely have to wait for the actual engineers to come back.

It makes no sense for them to have removed the option to view only Free apps. It'll come back once they've ironed out the issue.

I worked for Dyson Electronics in Cupertino, and if they had to wait more than 15 minutes for me to come back, I was out of a job.

[razorianfly]

Also found this (http://www.apptism.com/newest?gclid=CJycmuvE_5UCFQyI1QodJhzgEw) feed, which is reporting new applications up until September 26th.

R-Fly

[Pring]

I worked for Dyson Electronics in Cupertino, and if they had to wait more than 15 minutes for me to come back, I was out of a job.

*shrug* I work for a company that supplies telecoms equipment to most of the big telecom companies. We have tier 2 support staff on call at the weekend whose job it is to attempt to get things back on track but there's often things that they cannot fix. R&D Engineers are rarely on call at weekends and sure as hell won't come in unless paid overtime. As long as there's a workaround, as there is in this case, then I daresay they wouldn't call in the R&D people to fix it.

[pubwvj]

Another problem is that in the categories there used to be a "Free Apps" section but that is gone. So now there is no way to check for new free apps. Very annoying. Apple is making the Apps store less useful.

Hi, Google...

[warburg]

*shrug* I work for a company that supplies telecoms equipment to most of the big telecom companies. We have tier 2 support staff on call at the weekend whose job it is to attempt to get things back on track but there's often things that they cannot fix. R&D Engineers are rarely on call at weekends and sure as hell won't come in unless paid overtime. As long as there's a workaround, as there is in this case, then I daresay they wouldn't call in the R&D people to fix it.

I find this truly amazing. The itunes app store has been dysfunctional around the world since Thursday evening EST. Based on past earnings, this probably cost Apple around $600,000, but their R&D engineers were not on call. If I even remotely believed this was conceivable, I would sell my Apple stock as soon as the market opened tomorrow morning.

[StingerT125]

*shrug* I work for a company that supplies telecoms equipment to most of the big telecom companies. We have tier 2 support staff on call at the weekend whose job it is to attempt to get things back on track but there's often things that they cannot fix. R&D Engineers are rarely on call at weekends and sure as hell won't come in unless paid overtime. As long as there's a workaround, as there is in this case, then I daresay they wouldn't call in the R&D people to fix it.

I work for a very large international chemical company and anybody that has anything to do with keeping the business running is always available if there are any problems. There aren't many companys anymore that have 9-5 Monday Through Friday only hours anymore.

[notredewey]

I sure hope they bring it back, I enjoy looking to see what was added on a daily basis, much easier to find new stuff. If they don't put it back, they will get a lot of negative feedback from customers, I know I will complain if it is gone.

Exactly how I feel.

[gimikinc]

I logged a ticket with Apple regarding the missing apps and here is the response I received....instead of hiring people to provide this type of frustrating customer service they should use the $'s to get someone in to fix the problem. I really hope I receive a survey on this one!!!!

------
Dear xxxxx,

I understand that when you searched the free applications on the iTunes Store previously, there were more pages of applications than there are now. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. My name is Jayne and I would be happy to assist you with this issue.

As an iTunes Store Customer Support representative, I handle issues related to billing, downloading, customer accounts, and the items available on the iTunes Store. The question you asked falls outside of my area of specialty, but Apple does offer some resources that should help you.

Here is an article I found in Apple's knowledge base for you:

iTunes Store
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/

I tried to anticipate other questions you might have, so I'm including some frequently asked questions and additional resources for you.

Q. Where can I find answers to general questions about iTunes?

A wide variety of helpful tutorials, troubleshooting tips, and support information can be found on the iTunes support website:

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww

To find answers to general questions about iTunes, open iTunes and choose "iTunes Help" from the Help menu.

Q. Do other iTunes users experience the same issues that I do?

To post questions and read answers provided by other iTunes users, you can participate in iTunes discussions at our Discussions forum:

http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=149

Q. How do I get technical assistance and service information for my iPod?

Visit: http://www.apple.com/support/ipod

Q. Can I speak to someone for more in-depth assistance?

If you require more in-depth assistance, you may wish to call our AppleCare technical support team. A representative will be able to tell you about Apple's complimentary and fee-based support options and can help you determine which option might be most helpful in this case. To find the appropriate phone number, please visit:

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/phone_contacts.html

I hope this has been helpful! If you need further assistance, please feel free to reply to this e-mail, as I would be more than happy to help! Have a great day.

Sincerely,

Jayne
iTunes Store Customer Support

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you. You may receive an AppleCare survey email; any feedback you provide would be greatly appreciated.

[saminsocks]

I find this truly amazing. The itunes app store has been dysfunctional around the world since Thursday evening EST. Based on past earnings, this probably cost Apple around $600,000, but their R&D engineers were not on call. If I even remotely believed this was conceivable, I would sell my Apple stock as soon as the market opened tomorrow morning.Some revenue may be lost by the All iPhone Apps and All Touch Apps being down, but if you were trying to search the free apps, you hadn't planned on spending any money, anyway. And I would assume that most people who pay for apps have an idea of what they want before they pay for it. So they can find that in the categories.

[gimikinc]

Some revenue may be lost by the All iPhone Apps and All Touch Apps being down, but if you were trying to search the free apps, you hadn't planned on spending any money, anyway. And I would assume that most people who pay for apps have an idea of what they want before they pay for it. So they can find that in the categories.

On the surface your comment regarding "free apps" is a valid generalization, but many apps I've purchased (and I'm sure others too) have started as a free app - the lite version to ensure I like it first.

So, the extent of the true loss of revenue is unknown, but I'm sure having an engineer come fix the problem is much less than what will be the final tally of the loss.

Also it would have been nice if Apple would have posted something regarding the outage rather than pretending nothing is wrong. Since they were able to remove 3 links without a problem. Regardless of the revenue aspect.

[Mastidon]

Apple has done it again. I guess too many people were downloading easy to find free apps as the filter to view all free apps is now gone from the App store this morning.

[CommanderData]

Well at least you can still access the Top 100 free apps on the right in iTunes. More alarming is the fact they removed the "All iPhone Applications" link from the left column. Now you need to browse through EVERY SINGLE category one at a time every day to see if anything new appeared :mad:

I know there are third party RSS feeds, but it was fun to fire up iTunes and flip through the newest apps with my morning coffee...

[Digipimp]

my guess is still that they screwed up their database somehow when fixing the reviews and that they'll get it fixed sometime monday afternoon

[diesel]

my guess is still that they screwed up their database somehow when fixing the reviews and that they'll get it fixed sometime monday afternoon


my thought as well...........though i am surprised that they couldn't resolve it within the past 3 days when the problem first came to light

[warburg]

I find this truly amazing. The itunes app store has been dysfunctional around the world since Thursday evening EST. Based on past earnings, this probably cost Apple around $600,000, but their R&D engineers were not on call. If I even remotely believed this was conceivable, I would sell my Apple stock as soon as the market opened tomorrow morning.

What I meant by this is not that Apple couldn't run into a glitch while changing their format from the "See All Apps" to categories (after all, it isn't really practical to browse 190 pages and up) of apps. What I found howlingly funny is that Apple's R&D engineers weren't available because they don't work on Sundays:D:D:D

[CommanderData]

Actually, the more I think about it they probably got rid of the "All Free Applications" link on purpose. It's mere presence was eliminating the possibility of sales for lots of developers with good apps that actually cost money (*shudder*) :). Now that they force you to browse the individual categories with free and paid intermixed, paid app devs get more exposure. It will make my morning app browsing more time consuming, but as a developer I think I'll benefit from it in the long term.

Of course it must also be said that Apple does not make any money on free apps, and they lose money due to hosting and bandwidth. The whole app store was being pressured in a pricetag race towards zero, and this is their first step in preventing that.

[fredsarran]

Aaaah, that is annoying, I really enjoyed and found it very practical the "All free iPhone apps" filter. I hope they will put it back soon.

[darxun]

Today, I wanted to see some new free apps. But there is no more section for free apps to click on. Dou you made the same experience?

[Digipimp]

I find this truly amazing. The itunes app store has been dysfunctional around the world since Thursday evening EST. Based on past earnings, this probably cost Apple around $600,000, but their R&D engineers were not on call. If I even remotely believed this was conceivable, I would sell my Apple stock as soon as the market opened tomorrow morning.

please sell it, ive been hoping for a few weeks that it would go below 100 so i can buy some

[warburg]

please sell it, ive been hoping for a few weeks that it would go below 100 so i can buy some

Just spread the rumors that their R&D engineers don't work on Sundays or religious holidays and this may well happen:D

[Mastidon]

That release dates on some apps that have had updates put out list their release date as the original release date! So newest is not first anymore.

Oh, and searching for NEW under Games only shows PAID Apps!