First, they disallowed launcher because of the ability to open an app, make text pr calls from the NC conveniently. Then, this. What's next rejecting a widget that uses location like "quickgets-geo", monitoring system status(Network status, RAM, CPU, and storage).
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Apple Disallows Previously Approved Calculator Widgets for iOS 8 Notification Center
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Notification center is turning out to be a bit of a ball buster. First they take away Launcher, now calculator functions (which I actually use--another calculator app than the one listed). What's next, take away Agenda+ because it replicates the crappy built-in today widget?
Once we get a decent iOS 8 jailbreak, I'll install LockInfo and forget about NC.
Once we get a decent iOS 8 jailbreak, I'll install LockInfo and forget about NC.
Would be curious to see how Apple executives use / want to use their phones (or if they even use iPhones)...
I think they're not saying that because it's not true. There's a Dropbox widget. You're trying to tell me that PCalc is harder for Apple to secure against than Dropbox? Not buying it.
The Dropbox widget is read-only whereas the calculator widget accepts user input. So yes, there may be more risk involved with widgets that accept input or do calculations of some kind.
Developers with that Think Different® attitude are so annoying.
Stop your creative use of the notification center and create some social media widgets that show us pictures of food! That's what notification center was made for.
/s
Stop your creative use of the notification center and create some social media widgets that show us pictures of food! That's what notification center was made for.
/s
That's not how software works. There is absolutely no risk involved with a calculator that sits in the notification center of iOS.
I actually have used Android unlike him; I'm actually looking at my N5 right now (with Lollipop latest developer build). The fact that I've used Android (and still do use it for work) as well as iOS leads your comment to make even less sense to me. I guess if your point is you like doing more work to get to the same information and that doing more work should be your choice then I guess it what you're saying would make sense. As it stands now with my calendar widget on my and clipboard management widgets on my home screen on Android it is LESS useful than the implementation of the same on iOS 8.
The reason is, there is only but so much you can fit on your default home screen... all the other stuff you have to put on the home screens to the left or to the right of the default one (the one it goes to when you hit the home soft key). So following a logical progression of keypresses and work flow on Android vs. iOS 8 would look like this:
Android-
1.) Tap home and leave the app your currently in and losing the context you are working in
2.) swipe 1, 2, 3 or even 4 (depending on your launcher) home screens to the left or right to get to the screen that has the widget you want to interact with.
3.) Interact with that widget
4.) Use the recents soft key
5.) Rolodex through your recents to find the last app
6.) Tap to go back to the app you had to leave and picking your context back up
iOS 8
1.) Swipe down notification center all while staying in your current app and not leaving the context
2.) Interact with Widget
3.) Swipe up all while still being in the context of what you were doing
There are way more steps involved and a way less efficient workflow needed on Android to the achieve the same thing, not to mention on Android you literally have to quit the app you're in to get to the home screen to use that widget. So it's more steps AND you lose the context of what you're working in.
You talk about how on Android you can instantly see this or that, but you are mistaken. You perceive it as instant because perhaps you are used to the extra steps you need to take but make no mistake about it, you are indeed doing more steps and seeing your information decidedly less instantly than on the iOS counterpart.
This has nothing to do with making sense to you or not. Whether or not it makes sense to you has no affect on the fact that one is more efficient and allows you to get to the information faster than the other. 3 steps is 3 steps and 6 steps is 6 steps to do something regardless if you agree to the rationale behind it or not. Anyhow, why Apple is being a 'bastard' and forcing you to do things quicker I don't know... but viewing it like that is like saying "I don't know why Apple is being a bastard and forcing me to use a faster LTE modem in the iPhone 6, I wanted to use the slower one because going slower made sense to me".
But alas I digress... I know I know, I should digressed paragraphs ago but I hate illogical through processes.
What is your mental model for Apple here?
(1) Ban all calculators except our own.
(2) ???
(3) Profit!
How exactly is it in Apple's interest (strategic, short term, or otherwise) to force people to use their calculator? It's not like a calculator is some sort of gateway to an important commercial sphere.
I expect the reality behind this is some combination of:
- security concerns that Apple has just become aware of (and doesn't want to publicize for obvious reasons) OR
- notification apps can burn too much power or RAM and so need to be drastically limited in their scope
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Free version has the widget too!
Be sure to disable automatic app updates in settings.
Also, you can turn off the App Store notifications in notification settings so you don't have to see the red badge of Apple stupidity ;-)
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This is a problem of Apple's own making. They include widgets in iOS, but are so stuck in their Jobs era control everything mode, that their don't allow developer to make great use of them. In some ways iOS had become a bad copy of Android. Apple will never be as open with developer as Android is, maybe they should go the other way and get rid of 3rd party widgets and notifications altogether. Keep iOS the OS that Apple controls completely.
The hell? They included a freaking calculator Notification center widget with Yosemite, yet won't even allow them in iOS?
Apple asks the developer to remove a certain feature within a couple of week, and if the developer complies the App will stay on sale. If the developer does not comply the app will be removed once the period that was granted is over.
They've always handled small violations of the guidelines like this.
If there is a security problem with widgets it would affect social media crap widgets as well. And those are obviously not banned. Having twenty buttons in a widget does not pose an increased security risk. Neither is there any risk involved with "calculations".
Another thing that is not dependent on the type of widget. A crappy programmer can easily create an acceptable widget that uses 10 times the resources of the PCalc widget. I bet if you show a single image in a widget you are using more resources than the PCalc widget. Those buttons are most likely drawn in code, which is fast and does use tiny amounts of RAM.
If they fear that widgets use to much resources they have to check that during review.
The real reason might be way simpler: Apple doesn't want those widgets.
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I can see why they're doing this.
It's a security concern. Not specifically the calculator app but launchers for other apps. You're pretty much accessing the apps via the notification centre which doesn't require any finger print identification or passwords.
Yeah its a calculator app or a launcher for social media apps. But I'm assuming the rule is there for other obvious reasons other than basic apps. If these widgets allow the user to semi-access certain apps without any type of security verification then its' going to cause issues.
I dunno, maybe I'm wrong and all this bitching and crying has some kind of bearing to it..... :/
It's a security concern. Not specifically the calculator app but launchers for other apps. You're pretty much accessing the apps via the notification centre which doesn't require any finger print identification or passwords.
Yeah its a calculator app or a launcher for social media apps. But I'm assuming the rule is there for other obvious reasons other than basic apps. If these widgets allow the user to semi-access certain apps without any type of security verification then its' going to cause issues.
I dunno, maybe I'm wrong and all this bitching and crying has some kind of bearing to it..... :/
true but some apps had required you to unlock your phone before the widget action could be fully completed. IDK I'm more inclined to believe they are about to release their own calculator widget lol.
They have to draw a line somewhere. If you allow everything, you end up with a second parallel springboard and with 'apps' launched via this that don't show up in the multi-tasking UI.
I don't know where Apple is intending to draw it or on what base it is drawing it. And I also I don't know myself where it should be drawn (in contrary to others here who seem to know exactly how things should work, mostly just based on their gut feeling). The problem with gut feelings is that they are hard to implement consistently over maybe hundreds of app reviewers.
Not that gut feelings aren't relevant, but you have to aggregate them (over lots of different apps) to extract some more general rules from them. If anybody has some good ideas, this would be a good place to discus them.
also i still don't understand the launcher exclusion when the app "quick-tap" performs such similar actions; slightly differently handled requiring slightly less from the phone but idk its the same thing from a user stand point.
At this point you're basically just opening your phone and the app itself....???
But doesn't swiping up bring you to the calculator??? Adding a calculator to notification centre is redundant isn't it? Or are there people out there who just can't swipe up???
so true; i never realized this much commotion would have been caused over math; i hate math
lmao. But it more about the fact we are working hard to produce for apple a brand new phone experience and they are like hand picking what that experience should be; i feel if you've followed the general guidelines; your app was debated; accepted; it shouldn't be then up for review all the time its like apple never trusts itself in picking apps---they need "App Tinder" lol.
So this is just like CVS removing support for ApplePay, taking away something that was once useable.
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This.
The shocking part of the story is what they were charging for the app.
For $10, a math professor better magically appear next to me when I swipe up.