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Developers Frustrated at Apple for Just One Day's Notice to Submit Apps Ahead of iOS 14 Release Today
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2020 is also full of people who have no idea what they're talking about feeling more confident in their ignorant positions then ever.
FR24 may have identified bugs in iOS 14 and fixed the issue using the iOS 13 SDK and submitted it last week. But i guarantee you that FR24 does not use any new iOS 14 APIs. For any apps that want to use iOS 14 APIs like the new Widgets, you were not able to submit your update for approval until last night.
Genuine question: what is the problem with the short notice?
Surely, older apps won’t just stop working, I guess?
Or is it more that the devs want to be the first to release an app supporting new features?
EDIT:
Looked into it quickly.
At least one reason is the new iOS potentially breaking things and very little time to fix things - which might mean losing users, losing income, lots of angry emails.
Perfectly understandable to be upset, imo.
Surely, older apps won’t just stop working, I guess?
Or is it more that the devs want to be the first to release an app supporting new features?
EDIT:
Looked into it quickly.
At least one reason is the new iOS potentially breaking things and very little time to fix things - which might mean losing users, losing income, lots of angry emails.
Perfectly understandable to be upset, imo.
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Apple knew about Covid-19 since 2019! How could they have not released the iPhone 12 on time?!
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iOS 13 was released on September 19th and hit 50% adoption roughly a month later. It's not like developers don't have some wiggle room here.
I can understand the frustration. During the last WWDC Apple announced that iOS 14, iPadOS 14, etc. would be available sometime in the Fall.
Autumn does not officially start until next week.
Autumn does not officially start until next week.
Can someone clarify this for me (a non-developer)...could developers have begun modifying their apps as each iOS 14 beta was released so that once the gold master was released, the app was already close to ready? Or were developers unable to start modifying their apps so that they work with iOS 14 until yesterday/today?
Just bringing this forward since most people on this thread do not seem to understand how software development works.
There have been quite a few replies answering your exact question. It comes down to the vetting time Apple needs to have the apps approved and posted on the App Store. Devs can't release apps on iOS 14 framework before the OS is released. And actually, in some cases, things do break on a new OS release which is bad news for both the app devs, as well as a potential stability issue with iOS itself.
In most cases, older apps will work fine, but that is not always the case with a new version of iOS.
I know my banking app won't work, but the rest I'm willing to deal with if they've updated within the past month.
It's kind of sad though when you read those comments and see how many likes they have.
That user is always accused of being a bot because they post the second any new article appears. Assuming the user is a real user, wouldn't surprise me that they don't take the time to actually read the story and comprehend it before yelling "developers suck" (paraphrased) to show their allegiance to Tim
So now you can still test and submit along with everyone else. Seems a bit inconvenient but how are you put at a disadvantage when everyone is in the same boat?
So wait...is the problem that Devs did not have enough time to modify their apps so that they work with iOS 14 on the date of the public release or is the problem that Apple's vetting process is too long and now apps won't be updated for iOS 14 until days after the public iOS 14 release?
I'm a developer too. I don't have apps that need to be updated right now to feature new API like Widget, so I'm not in a rush. But some indie developers have a set of loyal customers who expect their apps to be ready at day one, and dropping the GM so close to the public release is a problem. 3-4 days notice would have been enough to quickly correct some bugs and submit the update. The important thing was releasing 14 just in time for the Watch to be delivered to customers, so they could have waited until tomorrow or Friday.
Could the recent changes that Apple made to the vetting process factor into their decision per the release?
Here’s an appropriate analogy related to people blaming the developers here. Imagine if a construction company was building a house over the summer, then a real estate company sells the house in mid September. Then the day before the owner moves in the house, a giant storm floods the house and they have to do more work on it. The owner then complains that they had the entire summer to get the house ready before sale.
That’s kinda what’s going on here, developers had the entire summer to make their apps, but have barely any notice to address any issues or curveballs in the final build.
That’s kinda what’s going on here, developers had the entire summer to make their apps, but have barely any notice to address any issues or curveballs in the final build.
Every couch developer on this post with an ignorant and uninformed opinion on developer complaints surrounding Apple's decision should take five minutes out of their day to read the *actual* replies from *actual* developers in this thread so they can actually understand why their opinion is straight up misinformation.
TL;DR:
1. Developers were not allowed to advance their applications for iOS 14 submission until *YESTERDAY*.
2. Under most circumstances apps that have only been tested under experimental beta stages but not under the final GM version are typically not reliable enough to release to the public; this is especially true if you're a software/app developer for a company because you will without a doubt be fired for releasing an app that was submitted for final submission with only early beta version testing. GM testing is essential, people.
TL;DR:
1. Developers were not allowed to advance their applications for iOS 14 submission until *YESTERDAY*.
2. Under most circumstances apps that have only been tested under experimental beta stages but not under the final GM version are typically not reliable enough to release to the public; this is especially true if you're a software/app developer for a company because you will without a doubt be fired for releasing an app that was submitted for final submission with only early beta version testing. GM testing is essential, people.
ARE YOU NUTS?
You have to build with the new Xcode, which came up yesterday! So right now I have to:
- download new version of Xcode
- build my app, test is everything works etc.
- send the new builds to app store
- wait for review
and hello - the review takes some time!
You can only submit with the newest Xcode, which came out last night.
You don't know why? It's pretty simple.
1)They saw a situation where to parties were involved, Apple & literally anyone else in the world.
2)They then adopted their default position of accepting Apple is in the right, and trying to do the mental gymnastics on how the other party is in the wrong (this is usually accompanied by a healthy amount of being completely ignorant on the specific topic they're talking about).
For the most part developers apps are going to work fine day one of iOS 14, so this is just a load of moaning on their part. If they have been working on their apps over the last few months then they should be in a prime position to update Xcode and do their submission. This is no different for developers, ship it and patch it later. Also, they will KNOW if their app doesn’t work with iOS 14 and could have patched it in iOS 13 to work with 14 on release, like many other developers have already done.