When will Apple crack down on generic app release notes?

[Brookzy]

I can't be the only one to find vague release notes grinding. It seems as soon as your company achieves market floatation you are exempt from writing precise release notes. It's endemic:

Amazon:


Facebook:


Microsoft Word:


Instagram:


Messenger:


And Spotify, Netflix, eBay... pretty much everything!

Why is this acceptable?

The worst part is some of these apps are so egomaniacal that they thrust an infomercial in your face on first launch listing the new features. They've time to make a little animated PowerPoint, but not to type a couple of lines of release notes...

And who wants an infomercial? People launch the app to use it, not to watch a presentation.

And today, I read on MacRumors this story, about Uber allowing you to change your pickup location. A useful feature! But their release notes?



No mention of it at all. Wonderful - I have to learn about these new features from MacRumors stories now.

So, why doesn't Apple reject these apps? Well, unbelievably, there are no app review guidelines (that I can see) relating to the content of release notes.

Please Apple: add a guideline to require that release notes contain release notes.

What is everyone else's take on the issue? It would be interesting to hear especially from developers who disagree with me.

 

[BeefCake 15]

It is really annoying as if they don't care....Glad I'm not the only one!

 

[CTHarrryH]

I also find bug fixes almost always increases the number and complexity of advertising. I guess they don't want to tell us that the app will become more annoying
Not very honest

 

[flyinmac]

Yes, it would be nice if the notes were not so vague.

 

[Howl's Castle]

I do find it annoying, but I can see why some of the bigger apps do it. If Google fixed a problem they found that replaced one server link that only Google has access to, the general consumer wouldn't care. (Remember most consumers expect things to just work)

 

[ayetta]

Really good point you brought up here for consideration.

 

[mojolicious]

Apple themselves aren't much better, are they?

 

[Spink10]

Apple themselves aren't much better, are they?

Apple does that exact same thing. Annoying.

 

[BeefCake 15]

Apple does that exact same thing. Annoying.

Apple is so secretive with their work that even release notes makes them cringe to write up...How many times did MR users find new features that were never even mentioned in release notes or by Apple in events!

 

[Brookzy]

Apple themselves aren't much better, are they?

Apple does that exact same thing. Annoying.

To be fair, after a quick glance at Apple's release notes on the App Store, most of their apps have proper, detailed notes. And their product software updates always highlight the main new features of the update, and provide a link to a page to view the finer details.

 

[Spink10]

To be fair, after a quick glance at Apple's release notes on the App Store, most of their apps have proper, detailed notes. And their product software updates always highlight the main new features of the update, and provide a link to a page to view the finer details.

Bummer. Apple TV Remote was my recent update...general message.

 

[zone23]

I agree its total BS.

 

[Brookzy]

We have a new winner!

 

[steve62388]

TripAdvisor sucks too, never any notes. They are on a two week release cycle and I suspect half the time they just roll the version number with no other changes. This is going to come into play when Apple brings in the ban of only asking for a review once per version release (because TA nags).

 

[The Doctor11]

I hate it too! Generic release notes just doesn't make any sense after you've put work into something. Heres a good example from just yesterday. Apples own TestFlight. It just says "performance and usability improvements". However this TestFlight update brings the feature that developers have been asking for since Apple launched it, multiple builds being tested at once! How do you not mention something like that?

 

[BeefCake 15]

Uber is another one with a generic statement about updating their app.

Yelp makes cheesy jokes and no notes too.