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Apple Allows 'Drafts' App to Reinstate Notification Center Widget

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Earlier this month, Apple asked note-taking app Drafts to remove its Notification Center widget, which offered simple tools for opening up the Drafts app and creating a new note. At the time, the removal request seemed highly questionable, because a multitude of apps with Notification Center widgets, including other note-taking apps like Evernote, provide similar functions.

As it has done with several other overly zealous removal requests, Apple has reexamined the Drafts widget and has reversed course once more, allowing the Drafts app to retain its Notification Center widget.

In a new 4.0.6 update pointed out by MacStories, Agile Tortoise, the developer behind Drafts, has returned the widget to the app with permission from Apple.

draftsappupdate.jpg
New: Today widget. Now back with the addition of recent drafts summary. Thanks to the help of some fine folks inside Apple for sorting this out.
Click to expand...
In addition to returning the original quick note creation function to the Drafts widget, today's update also brings expanded functionality in the form of a feature that allows users to open recently created drafts. Combined with the existing functionality, the Drafts app now allows users to view recent drafts, create new drafts, view the number of stored drafts, and create new drafts from the clipboard, all very useful widget features.

The removal of the Drafts widget and its subsequent return mark just one of the policy reversals Apple has implemented over the last few months. In October, PCalc was asked to remove its calculator widget before Apple changed its mind, and just last week, file-management app Transmit was allowed to reinstate a key sharing feature that Apple had previously said was not allowed.

Apple's frequent and erratic app policy shifts suggest the company is continuing to struggle with defining just how it wants various iOS 8 features to be used. The combination of a large app review team and somewhat ambiguous guidelines have led to many contradictory removal requests of previously approved features, causing confusion and disquiet among developers.

Drafts can be downloaded from the App Store for $9.99. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Apple Allows 'Drafts' App to Reinstate Notification Center Widget
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/12/17/drafts-notification-center-widget-reinstated/
S

Sinequanon83

macrumors member
Oct 27, 2011
91
168
Who is letting these officious box-checkers at Apple exercise their pathetic modicum of power like this? It's embarrassing. The resolution path for an app that appears to be violating the app store guidelines in a way that's even mildly controversial needs to happen internally, not through wildly random edicts that change every 3 minutes. Get it together.
 
H

hlfway2anywhere

Cancelled
Jul 15, 2006
1,544
2,338
what a clusterfck. i'm not even embarrassed for apple at this point. they deserve whatever ridicule they bring onto themselves for this lack of organization or whatever it is.
 
P

posguy99

macrumors 68020
Nov 3, 2004
2,282
1,531
DipDog3 said:
Exactly, why would anyone pay $10 for a text app when Notes is free with the phone.
Click to expand...

Have you *looked* at Drafts feature set? It is NOT "Notes".

Version 3 was great, but the new one displaced *Safari* from the button bar on my devices.
 
s15119

s15119

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,856
1,714
These things happen. It's good that Apple is reasonable and willing to change a decision after looking at it more closely. Sure, it would be better to make one decision and stick with it; but in the real work, there are going to be wrong calls, the important thing is that Apple is willing to work with the developers and change when it's the right thing to do.
 
s15119

s15119

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,856
1,714
hlfway2anywhere said:
what a clusterfck. i'm not even embarrassed for apple at this point. they deserve whatever ridicule they bring onto themselves for this lack of organization or whatever it is.
Click to expand...

Ridicule? If you had the money they have in the bank, you sure wouldn't worry about a little bit of ridicule for changing a decision. You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,124
31,156
Apple really needs to get its crap together when it comes to App Store approvals. These app being rejected only to be reinstated a week or two later is embarrassing.
 
pdaholic

pdaholic

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2011
1,842
2,550
I just wish they would have reversed course on their tirade against Launch for the Notification Center. That was the best app I never got to use...
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,124
31,156
s15119 said:
Ridicule? If you had the money they have in the bank, you sure wouldn't worry about a little bit of ridicule for changing a decision. You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Click to expand...

Not really. Check Twitter or some developer blogs. Or listen to the ATP podcast. Developers aren't happy. In fact I've seen a couple say they're going to wait to develop for Watch because they don't want to put a lot of time and energy into something only for someone in app review to reject it.

----------

Marco Arment has it right:

http://www.marco.org/2014/12/16/how-broken-is-discovery-on-the-app-store

The most capricious App Store rejections stem from an idealized image of how iOS devices “should” be used, enforced by the Apple marketing division (which app review, and all of developer relations, is under). It’s hard for me to reconcile that idealized image with what we see in reality in App Store search and Top lists
Click to expand...
 
PowerBook-G5

PowerBook-G5

macrumors 65816
Jul 30, 2013
1,243
1,179
pdaholic said:
I just wish they would have reversed course on their tirade against Launch for the Notification Center. That was the best app I never got to use...
Click to expand...

Exactly. I would pay $15 for Launcher, even though I am using Quick Tap currently, but it's still not as good as Launcher looked to be :(
 
W

WrQth

macrumors member
Jul 23, 2010
89
11
Rogifan said:
Apple really needs to get its crap together when it comes to App Store approvals. These app being rejected only to be reinstated a week or two later is embarrassing.
Click to expand...

Would you rather iOS app store be like the Google Play store filled with malware and scams or that Apple arrogantly stick with their first choose?

The apps technically violate Apple's policies but they [Apple] are obviously making exceptions after further review. Apple isn't the one telling the world they rejected an app it's all the tech sites wanting more clicks as well as developers so little things get blown out of proportion.
 
D

dotcomee

macrumors newbie
Oct 2, 2014
7
1
An app gets approved - then pulled off the site - then put back on.

The tech sites don't have to work very hard to make Apple look inept here.
 
zorinlynx

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,165
17,651
Florida, USA
Apple should just allow devs to use iOS features however they like. As long as they don't use undocumented APIs or otherwise break the system.

If developers do horrible things with those features, users won't want to use the apps, right? The problem should solve itself.
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,124
31,156
WrQth said:
Would you rather iOS app store be like the Google Play store filled with malware and scams or that Apple arrogantly stick with their first choose?

The apps technically violate Apple's policies but they [Apple] are obviously making exceptions after further review. Apple isn't the one telling the world they rejected an app it's all the tech sites wanting more clicks as well as developers so little things get blown out of proportion.
Click to expand...

The problem is Apple's policies are intentionally vague which is no good for anybody. And if you ever search the App Store you'll see there's plenty of garbage out there that the purists in Schiller's org think is perfectly fine. None of these rejected widgets were rejected because of security reasons so that's a bogus argument. Below is what the Launcher developer was told by App Review:

http://www.marco.org/2014/12/09/get-the-word-out

During [a conversation with someone at App Review], I also asked specifically why Launcher was removed from the App Store after 9 days when other similar apps are still available weeks later. The answer to this question was the most interesting and informative response I had ever heard from them. They basically said that Launcher was a trailblazer in uncharted territories and that they felt that they needed to make an example of it in order to get the word out to developers that its functionality is not acceptable without them having to publish new specific guidelines. And they said that the fact that they aren’t seeing hundreds of similar apps submitted every day is proof to them that taking down Launcher was successful in this regard.

This was a pretty big revelation to me. After Launcher was rejected and the press picked up on it and started writing articles which painted Apple in a bad light, I was afraid that Apple might be mad at me. But it turns out that was actually the outcome they were looking for all along. They acted swiftly and made me the sacrificial lamb. And after that, removing other apps with similar functionality became a low priority for them.
Click to expand...
 
miamialley

miamialley

macrumors 68040
Jul 28, 2008
3,505
979
California, USA
"Thanks to the help of some fine folks inside Apple for sorting this out."

Lol, yeah right. You know he was pissed as hell and swearing at Apple in his sleep!
 
H

hlfway2anywhere

Cancelled
Jul 15, 2006
1,544
2,338
s15119 said:
Ridicule? If you had the money they have in the bank, you sure wouldn't worry about a little bit of ridicule for changing a decision. You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Click to expand...

Rogifan said:
Not really. Check Twitter or some developer blogs. Or listen to the ATP podcast. Developers aren't happy. In fact I've seen a couple say they're going to wait to develop for Watch because they don't want to put a lot of time and energy into something only for someone in app review to reject it.

----------

Marco Arment has it right:

http://www.marco.org/2014/12/16/how-broken-is-discovery-on-the-app-store
Click to expand...

yeah this is what i'm talking about. developers. if i was a business or a developer, wouldn't bother making stuff for Apple devices at this point. time is money, and if i'm gonna pay someone or use my time to develop something apple might change their mind about, i'll take my efforts elsewhere.
 
P

petsounds

macrumors 65816
Jun 30, 2007
1,493
519
Disappointing. Implementing app functionality inside a notification center extension is not what it's for, and Apple's guidelines are clear about that. Apple needs more clarity in their vision for iOS, but they also need to stick to what they say. Implementing whatever people want will have iOS looking like Android. It's already heading that way with the ugly keyboards.
 
bpeeps

bpeeps

Suspended
May 6, 2011
3,678
4,629
iPhone 7 rumors please, or more race-baiting articles about Beats by Apple, anything to stop the onslaught of app store approvals and the Jobs movie articles.
 
S

shootingrubber

macrumors 6502
Mar 7, 2009
256
0
DarkWinter said:
This is getting a little embarrassing now.
Click to expand...

Do you think anyone outside of the tech community (which is like 0.1% of the population) have even heard about this? No.

The majority of Apple's consumers just use Apple's products. They don't read news about them on MacRumors like us geeks.
 
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