Has anyone ever had an app approved that writes files outside of its sandbox? I'm asking this because I have a good idea for an app where the user downloads content, and my app writes that content to another apps sandbox. The content is documents that are usable in that other app, it is not cheating in a game or anything. Would something like this have any chance of being approved?
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iOS Writing outside of Sandbox
- Thread starter Ides
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Obviously this is possible somehow. Any file opened in Dropbox can be transferred to Google Drive. I believe it has something to do with apps declaring that it can receive certain mime types via its info.plist.
If app a says it can receive text files, and app b shares text files, then app b can send its text files to app a.
If app a says it can receive text files, and app b shares text files, then app b can send its text files to app a.
Ok, so lets say there's a game (I'm not saying which right now because this project is confidential, for now 
) and it doesn't do that thing where it declares that it can receive files. In the game users can make their own levels to play on. What if I made an app that let's people download levels for that game, and to install the levels it simply writes the levels to that games doc directory? Over the line or not?
) and it doesn't do that thing where it declares that it can receive files. In the game users can make their own levels to play on. What if I made an app that let's people download levels for that game, and to install the levels it simply writes the levels to that games doc directory? Over the line or not?Ok, so lets say there's a game (I'm not saying which right now because this project is confidential, for now
If I were the author of "that game" I might decide that it is, and have a whinge.
No, you can't make your own Bad Piggies level sharing app; that's Rovio's app. Unless they decide to make the app capable of opening level files.
(Am I incorrect in my guess for what game you wanted to share levels for?)
Edit: It might be possible to do this from a desktop app. I'm not quite sure how apps like iExplorer work, or how Bad Piggies stores its levels, but you might be able to transfer files in and out of the app bundle from a desktop app. I seriously doubt apple would allow it on the Mac App Store, but you can get a developer signature from Apple and distribute your app some other way.
(Am I incorrect in my guess for what game you wanted to share levels for?)
Edit: It might be possible to do this from a desktop app. I'm not quite sure how apps like iExplorer work, or how Bad Piggies stores its levels, but you might be able to transfer files in and out of the app bundle from a desktop app. I seriously doubt apple would allow it on the Mac App Store, but you can get a developer signature from Apple and distribute your app some other way.
Given that Apple wont let you write outside your app's sandbox, I'd say you have your answer.