Then how would the app appear on this new fictional appstore? Magic?
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Apple Seemingly Removing 'Outdated' Apps From the App Store
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Developer here. It makes sense to keep your app in a state where it can be rebuilt, even if you don't plan to do a new release any time soon (for those cases where a massive security hole is discovered, or a serious bug ends up getting uncovered by an OS update – which is actually pretty common). If developers do that they should be able to upload a new build of their app to the store and meet Apple's requirements. There's no excuse really.
”Just a recompile” won’t necessarily fix anything and updating a bunch of libraries to the latest versions may require more than “a quick test”. And no, 30 days is not sufficient unless the developer just happens to be sitting on their hands doing nothing - real people have other demands on their time.
If Apple require all apps to be re-built every twelve months minimum, that should be in the T&Cs from the start.
If Apple require developers to agree to new privacy conditions or something they should be upfront about it, not wrap it up in a dishonest pretext like “your application hasn’t been updated for a while”.
If Apple are singling out particular apps, they should be clear about why an app has been targeted- for one thing that will help the developer fix the problem.
If Apple want to make a big deal of how safe and secure their App Store is, they need to put in the investment to curate it properly, fairly and openly.
As I said, I‘m taking the article at its word (maybe there is another side) - but what it looks like is random “security theatre” or the results of some sort of dubious “AI” algorithm being covertly used without adequate human oversight.
As far as I understand what is written in the article the 30 day threshold is for to raise a ticket as a developer that you do not want to get your app removed and doing the required actions to upload a new version.
So technically: open a ticket and publish your revamped app for review, until Apple holds previous version and once your new version approved, it can stay in the App Store.
Am I wrong?
So technically: open a ticket and publish your revamped app for review, until Apple holds previous version and once your new version approved, it can stay in the App Store.
Am I wrong?
On one hand this is a positive move for new customers. There are loads of games on iOS that do not run properly on modern hardware but are still for sale. Its worth noting that this update removes the app from sale rather than your purchased list. You can still redownload the app for older devices even if its delisted.
On the other hand I can understand why devs are pissed. If you have a free passion project that is complete and runs on the iPhone 8 or later without issue why should you have to put work into recompiling, retesting and resubmiting an app that makes no money?
Of course this wouldn't be a bother if Apple gave us the option of sideloading. Enterprising devs and users would put together an archive of older, delisted apps you could install at leisure.
On the other hand I can understand why devs are pissed. If you have a free passion project that is complete and runs on the iPhone 8 or later without issue why should you have to put work into recompiling, retesting and resubmiting an app that makes no money?
Of course this wouldn't be a bother if Apple gave us the option of sideloading. Enterprising devs and users would put together an archive of older, delisted apps you could install at leisure.
Many applications did not survive the big purge when they left only 64 bits in the market. Many great games also disappeared forever for other reasons. For example, does anyone remember Lost Winds 1-2?
What does that even mean in this context? It's their work, their job, potentially their income.. what is more important for 'real people' with regards to what we're talking about?
Personally, it doesn't matter how busy I am with anything; if something that is part of my livelihood, or my reputation, or due to someone other third party situation beyond my control but effects me directly, I deal with it immediately. That's just that. That's what 'real people' do.
Serious people move with the times. Whether the app in question is stable on the first release and somehow manages to remain stable after X amount of years without any form of nurturing, it still needs to be updated to work properly with newer paradigms, and newer technology.
I think a better way to do this would be to encourage developers to periodically test and make sure their app still works with the latest iOS version.
Apple could send out this notice. And a developer can respond with a verification that their app still works and if so that’s good to go.
If Apple sees violators (ie someone lying) which is generally obvious from reviews but can also be determined with random audits, the app gets banned. Maybe the developer is locked out of the App Store for X amount of time as punishment.
Better yet, if Apple had some automated way to verify with app users that an app was still working that might also be a way to differentiate abandonware that’s still in use vs abandonware that is indeed broken.
Apple could send out this notice. And a developer can respond with a verification that their app still works and if so that’s good to go.
If Apple sees violators (ie someone lying) which is generally obvious from reviews but can also be determined with random audits, the app gets banned. Maybe the developer is locked out of the App Store for X amount of time as punishment.
Better yet, if Apple had some automated way to verify with app users that an app was still working that might also be a way to differentiate abandonware that’s still in use vs abandonware that is indeed broken.
Usually problem is that game is based on some middleware that is not updated, or if it is updated, user of that middleware have to update the game as well. That might be a lot of work. And if the game is not producing enought income to pay for that work, it is not going to be updated. And some middleware was not updated at all when 64bit requirement came. Generally any external dependency in the long run is a problem. I get what developers want. They want their game to live forever. I also get what Apple wants. Less crap on store, so they can safely remove old APIs. And Apple is quite aggressive with that. It always been. I wonder if it is prequel to removing OpenGL from iOS devices. Its been deprecated for long time. I would say it is time to say goodbye.
…and busy people have other things to do that are equally - if not more - important to their job and income than supporting what may be one very small part of their work. There’s a limit to how much support you can reasonably expect for an application that costs a couple of bucks, one off, and sell in tiny quantities. If we’re talking iOS Apps here, the store is the only route for distributing software - so there will be apps aimed at very niche markets, sometimes written by hobbyists for hobbyists, or linked with old but perfectly usable hardware. Not everything makes enough money to keep a developer on call ready to drop everything to accommodate Apple’s whims.
According to the article, the only reason given by Apple for this action was the elapsed time since the last update. If they were seeking out expensive apps with a festering list of bugs and bad reviews in the comments, or were scanning Apps for security holes, that could be different - but it sounds like the lazy party here is the trillion dollar company relying on simplistic bots to curate their money-spinning App Store.
Might cause some to be updated now! Always good to have updated apps.
Good. I hope my website's app gets removed in this purge. It was created and managed by a third party who abandoned the service and the app continues to live on the App Store five years later without functionality. It is a ding to my site's reputation.
Developers have far better things to do than develop, don’t you understand??
They can’t seriously be expected to waste up to 40 hours a week doing something that brings in money. Code is like ART! And sure, there hasn’t been a zero-day exploit against Michelangelo’s David YET, but if there is, I BET no one’s going to expect anyone to update David!!!
This was something I hadn’t even considered, but this IS a big positive for you (especially since you weren’t even in a position to remove the app as it wasn’t your account).
So if I read this sentiment right, the developers who expect customers to pay money for their apps are also (indirectly) telling us that they can't be bothered to keep those apps updated?
Kinda getting mixed signals here.
I see it as Apple’s doing them a favor! Taking this little pesky demand of their time off their hands! Thanks, Apple!
Agree completely -- but the concerns seem to be coming from people with apps updated as recently as 3 years ago, which still work properly and are used by people every day.
It sounds like rather than Apple going through and pruning only older software that's broken on newer equipment and iOS releases, they're just dumping anything that's a few years old or older that isn't getting a lot of downloads?
Not being bothered to update an app that is free is bad enough, one that cost anything (a couple of quid or whatever) is a developer I would avoid at all costs. It’s just not good work ethic, regardless of your excuses, and regardless of any other metric. You should take pride in your work whether you do it for free, for a few quid or make millions.
Leaving something to fester on someone else’s shelves isn’t the way to garner any favours.
So how many years of updates do you expect for the price of a coffee, or even free? The developer has already spent hours developing the app, paid for equipment, paid the ongoing annual developer fees etc. and if they're a small-fry developer they'll be very lucky if they ever recoup that cost, let alone have an income stream to cover re-builds and testing.
Had a look on the app store and one of the games mentioned is free (and no mention of IAPs - even so, if it's buggy or incompatible out of the gate you're not going to rack up IAPs) - with 1 good (but brief) review and 5 mostly positive ratings, so sounds like it's OK but certainly not the new "Flappy Bird". The developer has 3 other games selling at a princely £2.49 each - some of which are old, some of which are clearly being actively updated - again with typically < 50 (mostly good) ratings so it doesn't look like this guy is going to be the next Bill Gates. Pretty clear which is the latest game, that is still being actively developed, and presumably the priority for development effort.
No idea whether the games are any good, but they're not expensive - free, apparently - and it looks awfully like the developer is a one-man-band. There's certainly no evidence on the app store page that they're broken in any way. Based on the article, the only issue Apple have given for the threatened withdrawal is the "significant period without updates" (which is probably doubletalk for "we want to force updated T&Cs on you and hope you'll just tick the box without reading them").
> So how many years of updates do you expect for the price of a coffee, or even free? The developer has already spent hours developing the app, paid for equipment, paid the ongoing annual developer fees etc. and if they're a small-fry developer they'll be very lucky if they ever recoup that cost, let alone have an income stream to cover re-builds and testing.
Here's an idea: if the developer is completely done and totally "over it" when it comes to their app, release it as open source. Let others take up the effort instead of letting the app die and fade away into obscurity as abandonware.
Here's an idea: if the developer is completely done and totally "over it" when it comes to their app, release it as open source. Let others take up the effort instead of letting the app die and fade away into obscurity as abandonware.
I don't know about the OP, but if it's available I expect it to be to the current standards of the most recent devices. Don't you? Or you would be happy with paying even 99p - or even nothing, for an app that was sized for an iPhone 4 displayed on your iPhone 13 max? More power to you if so, but I doubt this is really what you would like.
Apple being Apple again!
Apple appears to be removing a large number of apps from the App Store that have not been updated for "a significant amount of time" (via The Verge).
According to an "App Improvement Notice" email sent to affected developers, Apple is removing apps that have "not been updated in a significant amount of time" unless developers issue an update within 30 days: The notice has been met with concern from some developers, such as Protopop Games developer Robert Kabwe. Kabwe says on Twitter that Apple is threatening to his game, "Motivoto," since it has not been updated since March 2019. Kosta Eleftheriou, the developer of the FlickType Apple Watch keyboard, highlighted that while Apple took down a version of his app because it has not been updated in two years, the once-popular game "Pocket God" remains available despite it not being updated since 2015.
The sense of concern has been echoed by several other developers on Twitter who have also received App Improvement Notices, with developers highlighting that they simply have not had enough time to update their apps and that some apps exist as "completed objects," and therefore do not require "updates or a live service model."
Apple's App Store Improvements page states:
Apple has been known to remove apps that have not been updated for some time from the App Store before, but it is not clear if this policy has been continuously or consistently enforced. It is also unknown what exactly Apple determines "a significant amount of time" to be, and whether it relates to compatibility with the latest version of iOS or time elapsed since the last update.
Article Link: Apple Seemingly Removing 'Outdated' Apps From the App Store
Why the hell should developers update their apps if they run well and customers are happy with what they have?? I have a number of apps that are updated frequently and to be frank, most of the updates are a tremedous let down. The apps become less streamlined, more bloted, slower and occupy more space on my phone and ipad (actually, maybe thats a good thing for Apple). In many cases, I would much rather use some apps from 5 or 6 years ago than their newer versions.
Newer and updated is not necessarily better!!!