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macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 28, 2012
28
1
Bristol
I'm surprised we haven't seen many (if any!?) third party apps update to the new screen sizes yet. The old apps are beginning to look really fugly and do make my the iphone look like a phone for old people.

i understand some apps are more complicated than others - and i have no idea of the submission process - but get a wriggle on - because apps designed for the screen look beautiful! :)
 
Some already have for me .... plenty in fact ... but many of those are still pretty crashy ... seeing lots of repeat app updates for 'iOS8 bug fixes'

I think there are also plenty of API issues

This is always an issue though with new OS / screen res... We went through this with iPhone4 retina, iPhone 5 screen and now iPhone 6 screens

Some were never updated or still have iOS6 look/keyboards
 
I'm a bit surprised they aren't rolling in faster as well.

I am also finding this to be the worst iOS release I've seen. Countless bugs on both my 6+ and my rMini. Hopefully Apple tackles the lion share of them quickly.
 
It's going to take some time. Developers have not had enough time to optimize and test for the larger screens. I wouldn't expect to see frequent updates start rolling in for about another week or two.
 
Yep either the developers are asleep this time or Apple approval is asleep. Relatively few have updated to iOS 8 or the bigger screens.

To some it might seem many apps have updated. That's why I said RELATIVELY few. There are so many apps need updating that the numbers that have been updated so far have been VERY few.
 
I'm a bit surprised they aren't rolling in faster as well.

I am also finding this to be the worst iOS release I've seen. Countless bugs on both my 6+ and my rMini. Hopefully Apple tackles the lion share of them quickly.

I'm having issues too, but hardly with the Apple apps or the processing. It's mostly the non-updated apps that are very crashy and buggy.

It's a shame that even apps like Facebook have yet to utilized the Plus screen... it looks so bad. It might be a long time before we get full app support, maybe even months.
 
There's apparently a very long (>1 week) delay on approvals at the moment due to the sheer volume of submissions.

Also the app developers were only given the final spec of the screen details, the scaling and how it all works less than 2 weeks ago.

These things take time and lots of work.
 
It isnt economical for most devs to produce 3 versions (ihpone, plus, ipad). Big ones (like Facebook) will eventually. Then again, devs may be unsure if this resolution will be the one Apple sticks with.
 
It isnt economical for most devs to produce 3 versions (ihpone, plus, ipad). Big ones (like Facebook) will eventually. Then again, devs may be unsure if this resolution will be the one Apple sticks with.

They only need 2 versions - iPhone and iPad.

The iPhone 6 will just scale down the iPhone 6+ version.
 
They only need 2 versions - iPhone and iPad.

The iPhone 6 will just scale down the iPhone 6+ version.

There's a pretty large installed base of 4's and 5's and iPads. Iphone 6 plus is the most niche and requires customization. I think premium apps will make it but for many developers, including myself, making a special 6+ version isnt economical yet.
 
Yep either the developers are asleep this time or Apple approval is asleep. Relatively few have updated to iOS 8 or the bigger screens.

To some it might seem many apps have updated. That's why I said RELATIVELY few. There are so many apps need updating that the numbers that have been updated so far have been VERY few.

I'm with you. From all the 3rd party apps I use, maybe on or two have updated their apps for the larger screens.

I guess we'll see a lot of updates over the next few weeks. Developers had a lot to take in (widgets, share extensions, other new APIs and now screen resolution) and Apple will have loads of updates to approve. I think some delay is to be expected.
 
...and do make my the iphone look like a phone for old people.

*sigh* Sadly, this is a positive for me.

Edit: oh yeah, I meant to respond to the question...
1. There just hasn't been much time. To really take advantage of the space, app UIs have to be redesigned a little, and that takes a little time.
2. Also, many developers may want to get their hands on the physical device before releasing an update, and that's not easy right now for the 6+. The simulator's great but with the bigger phones I think you really need to consider reachability issues in your design. Until designers get a hang of the new sizes, I think they'll want to explore that with a physical device.

It's would be relatively fast and easy to simply blow up the current interface... but that's not really much better than what you have now.

The app updates will come, and soon.
 
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There's a pretty large installed base of 4's and 5's and iPads. Iphone 6 plus is the most niche and requires customization. I think premium apps will make it but for many developers, including myself, making a special 6+ version isnt economical yet.

And developers invested into the platform already made their apps for the 4/5.

you don't make an app for the 4/5, 6, 6+, AND iPad. You make an app for the iPhone, and the iPad. Apps aren't seperated between the 6 and 6+. Enhancements made to the app for the 6 apply to the 6+ and vice versa.

There's no CNN app optimized for the 6, and then one optimized for 6+. It's not split four ways.

Or for example, look at the Twitter and tumblr apps. They've been optimized for the 6/6+, but they don't add any new features or layout. All they did was just update it for the resolution, something that you can do in Xcode very easily.

Most developers are most likely updating their apps to provide more information on the screen, I.e. like CNN has. Some are simply just updating their apps for the resolution (Twitter, Tumblr, Alien Blue).

Many developers may be waiting to integrate all the new APIs into their app before they update it completely for the new 6 line. Facebook for example is probably working on integrating all the new iOS features (like extensions, interactive notifications, widgets, etc.) before they push an iOS 8/iPhone 6 update on their apps.

Most developers, if the iOS platform is worth their time, are going to update for the 6/6+.
 
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Hey guys,
iOS developer here. I can tell you that unless an app is set up to play nice with variable screen sizes from day one, it can be a ton of work to update it to do so. Big apps could easily take a week or two, depending on how many resources you have available to throw at it. Add to that QA time, Apple review/approval time and all that, and yeah it can take a while to get big updates like this out.
I'm in the same boat, though - several apps I'd love to see updated for the new screens. :)
 
The funny thing is that apple hasn't even updated the Apple Store app yet. I thought apple would at least get all of their own apps up to standard before releasing the phone to public.
 
And developers invested into the platform already made their apps for the 4/5.

you don't make an app for the 4/5, 6, 6+, AND iPad. You make an app for the iPhone, and the iPad. Apps aren't separated between the 6 and 6+. Enhancements made to the app for the 6 apply to the 6+ and vice versa.

.

Didn't mean to suggest that there are separate versions of apps for those phones but taking advantage of a larger screen and adopting unique features for it (e.g. landscape) isn't one line of code. There are numerous design and UI issues that need to be taken into account. So developers have to prioritize doing so over adding features for the non plus size iPhone to take advantage of new APIs. Which is all resource dependent. Over time, depending on success and assuming Apple sticks with this form factor, devs with adequate resources can produce a version that may take fuller advantage of the larger screen. Without question I see this happening within a year given the early success of the larger model.
 
Didn't mean to suggest that there are separate versions of apps for those phones but taking advantage of a larger screen and adopting unique features for it (e.g. landscape) isn't one line of code. There are numerous design and UI issues that need to be taken into account. So developers have to prioritize doing so over adding features for the non plus size iPhone to take advantage of new APIs. Which is all resource dependent. Over time, depending on success and assuming Apple sticks with this form factor, devs with adequate resources can produce a version that may take fuller advantage of the larger screen. Without question I see this happening within a year given the early success of the larger model.

While it's true for the 6+, it's safe to assume that the 6 will stay around as the main iPhone size. Most developers are going to update for the 6 soon, even if it's just updating so the text is sharper/space is filled.
 
While it's true for the 6+, it's safe to assume that the 6 will stay around as the main iPhone size. Most developers are going to update for the 6 soon, even if it's just updating so the text is sharper/space is filled.

This. Especially when Apple is going the "compute in 3x resolution and downsclae" route. We'll probably see a 2208x1242 display sometime in the future.
 
They only need 2 versions - iPhone and iPad.

The iPhone 6 will just scale down the iPhone 6+ version.

Eh no. If you want your app to make the most of each screen size you have to code for each. So you need code for all 4 screen sizes for the iPhone.
 
Eh no. If you want your app to make the most of each screen size you have to code for each. So you need code for all 4 screen sizes for the iPhone.

There is no difference between apps on the 6 and 6+. The devices will scale accordingly. Any enhancement made for an app is applied to both. Most developers have already written for the smaller devices, and as I said before, developers don't have to enhance their app like CNN did. They can simply make the content automatically scale (something built into Xcode) to take advantage of the space (like Twitter and tumblr, which are identical to the 4/5 versions only with posts larger on the device.
 
There's apparently a very long (>1 week) delay on approvals at the moment due to the sheer volume of submissions.

Also the app developers were only given the final spec of the screen details, the scaling and how it all works less than 2 weeks ago.

These things take time and lots of work.

That's not actually true. One of my friends is a full time (and quite successful) app developer, and he submitted an app a few days ago and had it approved and pushed to the store in 3 days. Devs who are claiming approval delays are probably making excuses for not having their updated app ready.
 
There is no difference between apps on the 6 and 6+. The devices will scale accordingly. Any enhancement made for an app is applied to both. Most developers have already written for the smaller devices, and as I said before, developers don't have to enhance their app like CNN did. They can simply make the content automatically scale (something built into Xcode) to take advantage of the space (like Twitter and tumblr, which are identical to the 4/5 versions only with posts larger on the device.

I am a developer so I know that if you want to make use of each screen size you have to code for each. If you just want an app to auto scale then no you don't. A good developer will code each screen.
 
The only game I play anymore, PvZ2, crashes on boot, only on my iPhone 6+. Works great on rMini. Still waiting for that update...
 
Id expect updates to the 6/6+ apps to show more data pretty quickly.

In terms of using the 6+ screen to do more than just show more data, I dont know if id expect that for a whole lot of apps. Its probably not worth there time with the small install base.
 
I am a developer so I know that if you want to make use of each screen size you have to code for each. If you just want an app to auto scale then no you don't. A good developer will code each screen.

Then I suggest you contact Twitter, Tumblr, and Alien Blue developers because that's exactly what they did and the apps are great apps.

Also contact CNN because their iPhone 6 optimized app is identical on the 6 and 6+.
 
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