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Pebble Time iOS App in Limbo, Pebble Asks Customers for Help

I once submitted a very minor bug fix update for one of my apps. It ended up 'In Review' for 3 weeks for no obvious reason. After a week I asked if there was a problem and got a form reply saying it was still 'In Review'. Eventually it got approved just fine. I can only think the reviewer went on holiday during the review...

I wouldn't be surprised if rejecting a binary that had already been approved dumps you onto a different track with more extensive review. They're just going to have to wait this out.
 
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samh004 said:
This is how I feel too. I'm increasingly swayed by the thought of getting an Apple Watch, but I do have a Pebble Time on the way too, so I want to play with that first... then I might see the Apple Watch as the next step, a refinement. However, pressuring me to get the Apple Watch because the app for the Pebble Time isn't approved doesn't endear me to Apple... I actually feel pushed away more.

I sent an email to Tim, whether he reads it or not I have joined the battle to get the app approved. The ball is now in their court as to whether they're a big enough company to see this sort of petty behaviour has no place within them anymore.
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the review time is still with in normal times. i've got 10 apps up and been doing this for 5 years. 2-3 weeks review time is normal. you can see it was actually approved and pebble pulled it back themselves and resubmitted which restarts the review process. so they really shouldn't be pointing the finger at apple here and it's their own poor management.
 
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Watabou said:
Hang on, going by the image of the status page, it looks like it got approved by Apple, but the Pebble developers rejected it and pushed out a bug fix apparently, and they submitted that on May 22. It's June 3 now. Basically, it's still within Apple's iOS average review time, if only a little above average.

So what's the problem?
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Pebble will cheer and declare a victory when Apple inevitably approves the app, claiming that crying on social media worked, but instead it will be approved seeing seeing as how we aren't that far from the average amount of time it takes Apple to approve apps, and they just approved it like usual. /ugh/
 
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I once wrote an app that had to interface with additional hardware over wifi.

During the review process, I had to go to a lot of depth about the functionality, in the end providing videos. This was because Apple could not test the full functionality of the app as it did not have access to the hardware.

Additional updates always took longer because I assume they had to review the past approvals etc...
 
We want special treatment just cause? The app review process normally takes this long, throwing toys around and trying to get customers to spam Apple? lol they're lucky they have Tim in charge now, if Steve was still around he'd personally delete the submission and say they submitted it wrong.
 
mistersandman said:
As a Pebble watch owner and an Apple watch owner, we should all be pushing for Apple to release this app. Competition benefits the consumer. If Pebble can even remotely challenge Apple's watch, it would push Apple to continue to develop and improve their product to remain competitive (or to maintain their margin of dominance), so to speak. In my opinion, this benefits all of us.
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Apple just released their product which competes directly with Pebble. "IF" and only if Apple's watch had been out a couple of years then your argument would make sense.
 
Dagless said:
Apple's behaviour on stuff like this makes me just want to scrap getting an Apple Watch. It's not very becoming of them.
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Right and if the table were turned and it was Apple that wanted to put their software on Android device to compete directly with Samsung then I have a great feeling that you would be saying Apple is trying to be greedy.
 
mistersandman said:
It's a watch that interfaces with the iPhone and is cheaper. It's a competitor. The fact that many consumers are on the fence between the 2 makes it a competitor. In some ways it's better. I have both so I can speak with some credibility on this matter.
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Well as a person that owns neither one I would say I'm more on the level part of the fence when I say if Pebble wants their product out there then they need to make it work independently from the iPhone. That's their job.
 
Sounds like Pebble's going to go bye bye...shame, honestly. Competition is always good, but I never really saw what Pebble had going for it.
 
JarScott said:
Sounds like Pebble's going to go bye bye...shame, honestly. Competition is always good, but I never really saw what Pebble had going for it.
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Sorry - you never saw was Pebble had going for it? What a bizarre comment to read.
 
wesk702 said:
So Pebble,
Let me get this straight. You guys openly mock Apple and the watch through several ads, copy their style and color pairing(red gold I'm looking at you), now suddenly you need Apple to kindly open up the gates to their walled garden so your business can even exist? Not to mention blaming Apple for the late submission and crying about it when Apple, your competitor, won't expedite your platform on their home court. Good luck, you guys are definitely going to need it. Imagine if your business actually succeeds and takes off more than the AW. Apple can shut you out with a click of the mouse.

You guys are screwed, one way or another. Seriously, you brought this on yourself. Good one Eric, hope you have resources to provide a good severance package for your 150+ employees...oh wait.

At least you have your night job as Seth Rogan's body double.
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You know you're not posting this directly to Pebble right?... Lots of "You" in there...
I personally do not like the Apple Watch in its current form. I'm absolutely loving my pebble and can't see any reason to make the switch right now. I hope they get that app approved so I can go ahead and upgrade to a Time.
 
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wesk702 said:
So Pebble,
Let me get this straight. You guys openly mock Apple and the watch through several ads, copy their style and color pairing(red gold I'm looking at you), now suddenly you need Apple to kindly open up the gates to their walled garden so your business can even exist? Not to mention blaming Apple for the late submission and crying about it when Apple, your competitor, won't expedite your platform on their home court. Good luck, you guys are definitely going to need it. Imagine if your business actually succeeds and takes off more than the AW. Apple can shut you out with a click of the mouse.

You guys are screwed, one way or another. Seriously, you brought this on yourself. Good one Eric, hope you have resources to provide a good severance package for your 150+ employees...oh wait.

At least you have your night job as Seth Rogan's body double.
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You read the **** out of them.
 
mungo2k said:
Maybe someone who wanted a functional smart watch that you could leave on at night, for instance to do sleep monitoring, because the battery wasn't already dead?
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I can chime in that I charge my Pebble once a week right now and it's awesome. Exactly how it should be in my opinion.
 
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mungo2k said:
Maybe someone who wanted a functional smart watch that you could leave on at night, for instance to do sleep monitoring, because the battery wasn't already dead?
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I'm sorry, but any flavour of Pebble seems to have far, far less functionality than the Apple Watch. Which probably goes some way to explain the battery life benefits of Pebble...because it doesn't do anything and the display is only e-ink.
 
JarScott said:
Yeah. It just doesn't 'do' anything and e-ink displays on anything other than e-readers are ugly. IMO.
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You don't get the appeal of a watch that lasts (easily) up to a week, that provides alerts and cost significantly less than Android Wear and the Apple Watch... and again - a device that is cross-platform.


Doesn't "do" anything?
Ok.

Consider my mind boggled.
 
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samcraig said:
a watch that lasts a week(1), that provides alerts(2)
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3.
4.
5.

So it's a watch, yes. It can tell you who just texted you and what that email you just got says. Then what? That is barely more than just a watch. Is the week-long battery life really worth it just for the alerts? A regular watch will give you battery life upwards of a year.
 
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sishaw said:
The fact is, Pebble requires a companion smartwatch app, and I wouldn't count on Apple approving a competing product. However, they may do so if they think it will prevent iPhone users who want a Pebble from switching to Android. The question is one of whether it is more valuable to keep those users, or potentially sell more Apple Watches to iPhone customers by being unfriendly to competing products.
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I think the answer is simple. Apple should allow it. It's up to apple to make a product so compelling we choose not to buy the competition and choose their own. They shouldn't force us it should be our choice. If Apple is classy, they'll approve it.
 
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JarScott said:
So it's a watch, yes. It can tell you who just texted you and what that email you just got says. Then what? That is barely more than just a watch.
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Pretty much any alert on your phone can be sent to the pebble. You can change watch faces. You can tell time. You track fitness. There are dozens upon dozens of apps.

Obviously you don't "get it" or have actually used one. Further - it appears that you don't understand that not everyone wants (or needs to spend) $250+ on a "smart" watch. Not everyone wants a computer/cell phone on their wrist.

I would also argue that aside from one or two really "useful" features - Neither Android Wear nor the Apple Watch are "smart" at this stage and all do many of the same things. Maybe a slicker UI and fancier "packaging" - but utility-wise, they all run pretty close in function.
 
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longterm said:
... which is why Androids are hacked constantly, and iPhones are not.
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Sadly this is not true. Been waiting for someone to hack my Verizon Note 4 bootloader/gain root access since October 2014. At this rate I would bet that the iPhone 6 gains a jailbreak before my Note does.
I wish all Android phones were easy to hack like in the old days.
 
cdm283813 said:
Sadly this is not true. Been waiting for someone to hack my Verizon Note 4 bootloader/gain root access since October 2014. At this rate I would bet that the iPhone 6 gains a jailbreak before my Note does.
I wish all Android phones were easy to hack like in the old days.
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IPhone 6 has already had a jailbreak on iOS 8.1.2 and earlier firmware.
 
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