Developers Frustrated at Apple for Just One Day's Notice to Submit Apps Ahead of iOS 14 Release Today

[MacRumors]

During its "Time Flies" event yesterday, Apple announced that iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14 will be widely released today, providing developers with just one day's notice to submit their optimized apps for review.

While developers have had access to beta versions of the software updates since June, many were caught off guard by Apple's much shorter notice of the final releases. By comparison, Apple started accepting apps built for iOS 13 on September 10 last year, over one week before the software update was released on September 19.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305930775666323459

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305934894036647941

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305942991870341122

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305931006046867462

https://twitter.com/x/status/1305930330273009664

https://twitter.com/x/status/1306204784207294473

iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14 should be released to the public around 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time today. We've shared a list of compatible devices for each software update here. Note that Apple has yet to announce a release date for macOS Big Sur.

In an email to developers, Apple said that all iOS and iPadOS apps submitted to the App Store will need to be built with Xcode 12 and the iOS 14 SDK starting in April 2021. Likewise, Apple said all watchOS apps submitted to the App Store will need to be built with Xcode 12 and the watchOS 7 SDK starting in April 2021.

Article Link: Developers Frustrated at Apple for Just One Day's Notice to Submit Apps Ahead of iOS 14 Release Today

 

[japanime]

"Time flies," indeed! 🤣

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

You developers had whole summer to update your apps! Stop finding an excuse to bash at Apple.

Focus on 14.1 that will be dropping soon.

Update: Dang complaining developers! because of you now iOS 14 is slightly delayed

Update x2: OMG! You got to be kidding me. This is ridiculous.

 

[tavsingh]

Just Curious. Can't they submit a week later?

 

[dlewis23]

You developers had whole summer to update your apps! Stop finding an excuse to bash at Apple.

Focus on 14.1 that will be dropping soon.

Except it doesn't work that way. We always had a week to 10 days to test our apps with the final build.

You also can't be submitting to the store with beta builds of Xcode. We only got the final version of Xcode yesterday and when this happens review times always go way up. So if our app does not work on iOS 14 it could be days to over a week before we can submit a build with iOS 14 that corrects those issues.

 

[SpiritSoul1008]

Not feeling a lot of sympathy. They had quite some time to get it together. Boo Hoo

 

[Seanm87]

I smell bugs...

 

[Kylo83]

They had 3 months of betas to get it ready, they wait till last min and say this
[automerge]1600265084[/automerge]
The whole beta testing is for apps to get it ready they should all be updated on launch but it always takes months that’s coz the developers can act lazy like Facebook with dark mode

 

[chrono1081]

You developers had whole summer to update your apps! Stop finding an excuse to bash at Apple.

Focus on 14.1 that will be dropping soon.

/s I assume? If so ignore the rest of my post, if not just know that's not how it works. Developers can test reliably only against the GM seed which literally dropped yesterday. Also Apples approval process isn't instant, so many apps won't work on day one.

 

[J___o___h___n]

Moaners much?

 

[leman]

Someone in the Apple executive team deserves a slap on the head for this. This is really respect-less and inconsiderate. Also, not the best move from Apple PR-wise, with all the ongoing App Store policy discussions.

 

[Trik]

I understand the frustration behind not knowing the *exact* date... but when we hit Public Beta 8, did they not think... oh man, this is coming soon, I should get my iOS 14 apps submitted.

The apps also have to be compatible with iOS 13, so it isn't a mutually exclusive situation right?

UPDATE: After hearing from some Devs and understanding the process, I've reconsidered this response: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...of-ios-14-release-today.2254598/post-28898145

 

[TechieGeek]

They had 3 months of betas to get it ready, they wait till last min and say this

The final version of XCode wasn’t even ready till yesterday, and Apple wasn’t taking submissions.

This means that people will download iOS 14 today and won’t be able to add Widgets from their favorite apps (as an example). They’ll have to wait for the app update to come through, then go back and add widgets.

 

[AppleTO]

The GM is probably very similar (if not the same) as the last beta (even with a different build number). Meaning they have had a week.

Edit: Well, clearly this statement is incorrect. I only develop for the Windows platform and don’t know much about developing for Apple. I’ve been fortunate that most of my Windows apps have have not had any compatibtaity issues with Windows for years.

 

[TechieGeek]

I understand the frustration behind not knowing the *exact* date... but when we hit Public Beta 8, did they not think... oh man, this is coming soon, I should get my iOS 14 apps submitted.

The apps also have to be compatible with iOS 13, so it isn't a mutually exclusive situation right?

It is mutually exclusive. You couldn’t submit for iOS 14 until yesterday.

 

[chrono1081]

They had 3 months of betas to get it ready, they wait till last min and say this
[automerge]1600265084[/automerge]
The whole beta testing is for apps to get it ready they should all be updated on launch but it always takes months that’s coz the developers can act lazy like Facebook with dark mode

I can tell you're not a developer. Let me explain that those three months aren't reliable testing. Sure you can update some stuff, like new APIs and things but a dev can only really reliably test against the GM seed which dropped yesterday. If someones apps broke due to the GM they literally have one night to fix it, which doesn't provide enough time for reliable regression testing (if they can even fix the bug in one night.)

You also couldn't even submit apps for iOS 14 until yesterday.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The rumor is that this was so that Apple could shame developers who are tracking users.

 

[aziatiklover]

So the betas were just for fun? It's like I still seeing apps without dark mode keyboard and it has been on ios13 release last year with dark mode smh.

 

[BrandonHacks]

2020 is full of cry babies. Apple gives you the tools in June and you have that much time to get it ready for this day.

 

[arn]

I understand the frustration behind not knowing the *exact* date... but when we hit Public Beta 8, did they not think... oh man, this is coming soon, I should get my iOS 14 apps submitted.

They weren't accepting submissions before yesterday.

Why don't people buy an iPhone 12 right now, instead of complaining Apple didn't release one.

arn

 

[mrat93]

Apple in June: iOS 14 will be out this Fall

Devs: Dope

Apple, 7 days before the start of Fall: Hey guys I know it’s been a rough Summer and there’s been some drama in the dev community — but surprise! — you can release your new apps when iOS 14 comes out tomorrow.

Devs: Uh hey not cool, we weren’t ready.

MacRumors users: Awwwww boohoo poor devs.

 

[chrono1081]

The GM is probably very similar (if not the same) as the last beta (even with a different build number). Meaning they have had a week.

Two of our apps at work broke between the last beta and yesterdays GMs, so it's not accurate to claim that people have had a week.

 

[Trik]

It is mutually exclusive. You couldn’t submit for iOS 14 until yesterday.

Ok then yeah that sucks. That also explains why there are zero apps outside of Apple that support the new widgets. So much so that I was thinking, I wonder if widgets are only 1st party.

If you require the final build of Xcode to submit your iOS 14 app, AND they didn't provide that until yesterday, AND then launched iOS 14 today. That totally sucks on Apple's part.

 

[enigmatut]

I’m sympathetic to the plight of the iOS developer, and I’m sure more users will be after they enthusiastically install iOS 14 and find a few apps that don’t work (because the dev wasn’t able to submit an update until right now, sitting in a backlog to be reviewed by Apple). I guess we’ll see!

But to all the “boo hoo, you had 3 months” comments, I encourage restraint in posting when you’re ignorant to the intricacies, as was I until hearing from devs like this:

Except it doesn't work that way. We always had a week to 10 days to test our apps with the final build.

You also can't be submitting to the store with beta builds of Xcode. We only got the final version of Xcode yesterday and when this happens review times always go way up. So if our app does not work on iOS 14 it could be days to over a week before we can submit a build with iOS 14 that corrects those issues.

 

[leman]

I understand the frustration behind not knowing the *exact* date... but when we hit Public Beta 8, did they not think... oh man, this is coming soon, I should get my iOS 14 apps submitted.

It's not about the date. I am sure most devs had their app ready for iOS 14 for weeks or even months now. It's about the fact that you can't test your application on the final version. Usually there is at least a week before GM release and the public release — in this case it was less than 24 hours.