Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by Matt Galligan, CEO of CrashCorp, a company working on a product called SimpleGeo providing “location as a service” as well as an Augmented Reality SDK for app developers. (We covered their founding here.) As such, Galligan clearly has a stake in the AR game, but he was genuinely surprised by the revelation of the AR element to the Yelp app update yesterday. You can follow Matt on Twitter here.
Yelp has had no shortage of hullabaloo surrounding the most recent improvement to its iPhone app. Rightfully so, it added an Augmented Reality view for its restaurant reviews. Using the AR view, users of the Yelp app can pan around using their camera, and see information overlaid, presumably, on top of the restaurant of their query, garnering review information. While this functionality is certainly useful, and nothing short of excellent eye candy, could there be a thorn with this rose?
Augmented Reality has been all the rage with app developers recently, originally employing unreleased SDK features to build the technology. However, in recent months, it was discovered that the new iPhone OS 3.1 upgrade changed the camera functionality in a way that would enable app developers to build their Augmented Reality views in a more sanctioned environment. This development has been a shot in the arm for AR developers, and there seems to be many implementations being built. However, it was understood that the world would have to wait for AR on the iPhone, at least until iPhone OS 3.1 was released. That was, until, Yelp’s most recent iPhone app got approved in the store with an easter egg that, after shaking the device three times, enabled an Augmented Reality view.
Call it sneaky, call it clever, but I call it deceit. Apple has put forth specific guidelines, and “rules” around their app development, and while I don’t always agree, it’s the reality of how we must work with them for now. Yelp hid their easter egg behind shaking the device, which isn’t always the most intuitive action to take on an app that contains some maps and lists. As a result, the unsanctioned Augmented Reality view was gone from Apple’s radar. The same would seem to be true with a couple other applications that snuck in AR features as updates to their apps. As recently as last month, Apple was telling developers making AR apps that they would have to wait for iPhone 3.1. It was only after approval, that Yelp announced that the functionality existed. There was palpable excitement around the Yelp’s announcement (and the other apps), having been the first AR apps to be approved, but something smelled afoul.
My concern is that Yelp has set an awful precedent by this act. Now, every app developer will likely undergo even more scrutiny. Accessing private API’s goes against the agreement every iPhone developer has to abide by when submitting applications to the App Store. By subverting this agreement through an “easter egg”, Yelp could very well cause the approval process to become more draconian. Whereas before, Apple was primarily looking for trademark violations, “correct” usage of their Human Interface Guidelines, and show-stopping bugs, they’ll now have to go over each app with fine-toothed comb to make sure no feature that is likely to be unsanctioned will be released. Now granted, this may also be seen as a big cry for openness in the App Store, but so long as the App Store approval process remains in the status quo, deceitful acts like this won’t continue to go unnoticed by them.
The implications are simple: a longer wait time for apps to be approved, longer time for bug fixes and overall, a poorer experience for developers and users both. While I hope for a less strict App Store, so long as that’s not the case, I hope more that developers stick to more of the straight and narrow (read: not so shady tactics) so they don’t ruin it for the rest of us.
If Apple is asking the reviewers to look at every API call, then apps will never get approved. Surely, Apple has a tool that can parse the code and find disallowed API calls.
The point of this process is full disclosure of functionality, even intentional easter eggs. Policies are in place to protect the iPhone community of users and the developers who build apps.
If Yelp did not have permission from Apple to build an AR app then it can definitely be viewed as a damaging act.
Easter eggs are not uncommon, as we have found with the Google Mobile App. Hidden easter eggs are meant for the end user, but must be disclosed to those responsible for its distribution (this especially includes Apple).
What’s next, easter egg porn in the app?
I know apple’s rules are a bit too hard and they take forever to approve some apps, event a simple update.
BUT,
I think apple should PULL the Yelp app out! If apple let’s this case go, it will open the door for more developers adding easter eggs to their apps and throws out the whole review process.
Basically, if you’re honest you’re app might get rejected, but if you sneaky and hide a feature in there you’ll get approved and if apple doesn’t act, then other developers start breaking the rule.
PULL OUT THE YELP APP AND DON’T PLAY FAVORITISM, APPLE!
Apple was correct in their ideas about Yelp. Apple was primarily looking for trademark violations, “correct” usage of their Human Interface Guidelines, and show-stopping bugs..
The impressionable point of this process is full disclosure of functionality, even intentional easter eggs. Policies are in place to protect the iPhone community of users and the developers who build apps
I think you’re misplacing the blame here.
There’s nothing unethical about doing everything you can to break unjust rules. You’re blaming the peaceful protesters instead of the unjust system behind it.
Sorry for the hyperbolic example, but it’s like a drunk father who comes home to beat his kids…and when the kids fight back you’re telling them “stop! we don’t want to upset him”.
If Apple is going to make a draconian approval process, they deserve everything they get.
I don’t think you get the point. Sure, Apple has some draconian policies. But this is like the mouthy recruit at bootcamp who lips off and makes the whole platoon get in trouble. (remember that scene from Stripes?)
Hey I love being “piratical” and tricking “the man”. And I really admire Yelp for their creativity. But I also see how this is bad for other developers. And it pretty much cements the App approval process in place forever. If professional developers from well known companies will try and slip one by, imagine what real black hat hackers might slip by.
Apple was primarily looking for trademark violations, “correct” usage of their Human Interface Guidelines, and show-stopping bugs, they’ll now have to go over each app with fine-toothed comb to make sure no feature that is likely to be unsanctioned will be released.
>>>>>>
Of course, this is impossible. If Apple sets these more requirements in it’s approval process, then, no apps will be approved in future.
An interesting argument to be sure; I wonder if more dangerous payloads could be included in this manner–but I suppose that question depends largely on the means Apple is using to approve applications. Are they sifting through source code? Or are they just testing the application as it’s delivered? (I don’t know enough about the process to know one way or another.)
The fact that Apple feels the need to approve each and every app is interested to me also. Clearly the devise is powerful and the API might have certain hooks that could allow a clever dev to brick a phone; they don’t want to be responsible for selling software that bricks their devices, for myriad reasons.
But if the worst an app could do is freeze the phone on launch, and succumb to a hard-reset, wouldn’t the market bury it on its own if it were particularly buggy? What’s the party line on the merit of their stringent approval process? Is it just to maintain a certain standard of quality?
I gotta say, good on Yelp. They snuck one past the Apple review process, so I say they deserve the functionality they got!
I say good on the people who made the harmful radio receiver that is against the guidelines of the FCC! They snuck it past the FCC review process, so I say they deserve the functionality they got!
I’ve read about the easter egg.. and downloaded the latest version of the Yelp app specifically to try it out. I shake it three times and nothing happens. No amount of shaking seems to activate this easter egg on my 3GS. Sucks, was interested in seeing it in action.
it does work, but it is hard to activate. try shaking several more times, and hard.
I found the best way to be not shaking and twisting the iphone in your hand back-n-forth.
shake up and down
that’s what she said
Shake it too hard and instead of an Easter egg, you’ll get a previously hidden floating island dessert.
What is unfortunate about this post is that it has an undercurrent of being afraid of Apple and their policies. This is exactly why an open platform is needed and necessary.
Yelp did something great for users. Apple is going to be draconian at the expense of its users and developers live in fear of its arbitrary policies — THAT is the really unfortunate part of the whole Yelp app story.
Instead of living in fear of what the big, bad Apple approvers may do, do something good for the world and take their power away entirely: focus on building apps to support a healthy alternative like Android.
While I truly believe that the app store needs not have an approval process, while that process still exists, tactics like this ruin the experience for the rest of us.
I’m certainly not afraid of Apple and their policies, because as a developer, I steer on the right side of the road.
What Yelp did for their users was a temporary thing, when in the long term, it might mean serious damage to the app store.
Let’s hope I’m wrong.
+1 to what Steven Sacks said below.
Developers should have the freedom to innovate because that is ultimately great for users and that is what will make developers the most money (and theoretically Apple as well).
Apple is free to run its business as it sees fit and developers are free to choose which platform they develop on. But I hope developers realize that having (seemingly) arbitrary rules and being punished for a clever, useful user experience are not in their best interest…
To your point in the post — I do hope this results in more calls for openness and more support for open platforms.
I think you’ve got it backwards.
Let’s face it, the App Store approval pains are important to developers, but the general public doesn’t care or know much about it. It’s a niche issue.
The Google Voice debacle was a more public, and the AT&T network issues are definitely gaining more traction in the public eye, but these are just the beginnings of inroads for real change
Things won’t change until more iPhone customers become aware of Apple’s draconian policies (and I honestly think they outsource the app approval process to other countries like India – the recent Obama image debacle proved that).
I think the Yelp guys were brilliant. Put the functionality in and spread the word how to unlock it after the app is already distributed. People talk a bunch about it. If Apple pulls the app, lots of people are going to talk more about it and complain about Apple, not Yelp. This is bad for Apple.
Apple needs to allow developers to do what they do: develop. I’m a Flash developer, and there are a lot of undocumented APIs in Actionscript that Adobe doesn’t “want” people using, but people in the know do because they want to leverage as much of the platform as they can.
When Apple stops treating the developer community like criminals guilty before proven innocent, everyone from developer to consumer will benefit.
I really need to proofread my longer comments.
What is this a church?
Everyday technology people become more vanilla. Pretty soon the smarter malcontents are going to have to become criminals.
Somebody quick make an easter egg that shows off Job’s old liver… it’ll sell like hotcakes.
No wonder you Apple people all voted for Obama.
you’re right. why don’t you get lost?
Good for Yelp and sour grapes for CrashCorp.
That’s what I thought too. While it may not be Matt’s intention at all, articles does come across as sour grapes, and jealous of Yelp.
Sorry that it seems to come off as sour grapes, it’s more of a complaint. I’m certainly not sour about anything. My company’s goal isn’t to dominate the market with our SDK, nor is it to build our own killer AR apps. This is simply an observation by someone that’s had close ties to what’s going on in this field.
In our defense, we voted for mac-aim…
I doubt you can really change the app approval process to find this kind of stuff, since the only real way to find it would be to go digging into the app’s code, and we all know that’s not happening.
One thing I wish Apple would do is ask developers to point out the specific things that should be tested in their app. The app approval process is NOT a place for QA testing, since there just isn’t enough time for that (especially with only 40 reviewers). Things need to be streamlined, that much is obvious.
I think this has set a bad precedent for other iPhone developers.
We can all agree that Apple’s approval process is messed up but that it’s still their policies.
If Apple now wants to take even longer to approve apps, it’s their call and the people that get screwed is other iPhone devs.
What a whiner. Dont hate on yelp because they made a bold play and were first to market.
The first time I read this post, I thought I might be on drugs. Is the author really suggesting that Yelp would be responsible if Apple (read, Apple) tightens App Store restrictions on apps using undocumented functions that Apple includes in their API? Undocumented functions that Apple doesn’t allow developers to use in the first place? Seriously, did you even think about this before you wrote it?
Can’t say I ever stated “undocumented” in the article at all. What I was referring to were the hacks that they used to produce this. The “unsanctioned” methods, if you will. Hacking around an SDK isn’t the same as simply using a function that is “unsupported”, it’s blatantly going against what’s “ok”.
Sure, blame the developers for trying to subvert an archaic grip on platform control.
In the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm: “Life will find a way.”
all you puny little developers – be very afraid of what I can do to you. no more f..ing easter eggs or bunnies in my phone!
And one more thing – yelp app rocks!
Steve Jobs,
Apple Inc
I’ve been writing about the iphone for over a year now and believe me, I’m not a fan boy and have wrote my fair share of on the Apple store. However, i have to agree here. As a dev, I would hate to see the approval process get even more random, silly and take too long.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
College boy, they taught you in college that it was the Germans that bombed Pearl Harbor? You should ask for a tuition fee refund.
That’s a quote from Family Guy, I believe.
no, it was over when the sudanese eliminated south dakotans
Simple, Apple should just remove Yelp from the App Store for deceit.
Thus Apple sets a precedent, not Yelp.
First I would say nice read and probably very true to the point.
But this one struck me hard.
Civil Disobedience! I hope we get so much of this on the app store that they have no choice but to accept defeat to Openness and its next round of “innovations” is about opening the device more.
Apple is not being a good steward of the “technology delivery mechanism” that is the iphone. This is not good for innovation in any society. Imagine if all JavaScript needed to be approved by Netscape, or all Flash by Macromedia. You can argue, it is Apples product, but that is Apple’s Argument, not the people’s argument.
Business must learn that if your product in any way allows people to be creative especially creative for monetary reasons that 1. It’s probably going to succeed and 2. If you hinder the process, a competitor will push you off your pedestal simply by opening the process.
There is a balance here, how much people are willing to take to have access to something good.
I will wait in line for 2 hours, because the food Apple’s Eatery is great! Well the food isn’t so good anymore, I can get the same food at android’s diner, and I don’t have to drive on Route AT&T to get there.
Civil Disobedience!
You are 100% correct here. Apple has the biggest share of this market, but other companies are opening their own app stores. How long until we see a repeat of the Mac vs. PC battle all over again on smart phones? Apple isn’t learning from their mistakes.
Maybe they don’t like all the attention from virus writers that comes with being in first place? Maybe they like being a distant second so they can claim they are more secure.
Don’t get me wrong, I have an iPhone and an MacBook Pro. I am not anti-Apple. I just don’t see them managing their assets well and we all lose as a result.
Why is nobody else concerned about this Apple approval bullshit? Why cant i be the one that decides which apps go on the phone that i bought? Personally it makes my blood boil that apple has this power. What if microsoft started to approve which programs the consumers can and cannot install on their pcs? I can guarantee you that there would be public outrage and they wouldnt get away with it. Apple is setting a terrible precedent for the future and the consumers are letting them get away with it.
It looks like about 30-40% of the posts here agree with you, you ain’t the only one.
Stop bitching and jailbreak your iPhone. It’s not that hard once you get your lazy ass in gear, dude.
Jailbreak my iPhone? The day I support Apple by buying their “made for retards” products is the day pigs begin to fly.
From what I’ve heard, you lose the ability to receive push notifications. In any case, not everyone wants to jailbreak their phone. For whatever reason.
Where to start? There are so many things wrong with the basic facts in this opinion piece.
- Apple reviewers have always looked for indications of closed API’s being used, and even of standard API’s being used in unconventional ways. For instance, several camera-related apps were rejected for using legit API’s to traverse the display stack and add overlays to the camera view. While trademark issues may have been on their checklist, that was never the main focus of app approval.
- Apple never looked for “show stopping bugs.” Plenty of apps have been approved when they simply didn’t work, or crashed after a few minutes’ usage.
- If the author wants to argue unintended consequences, it’s more likely that this will prompt Apple to create automated tools to look at API usage, and that that will *speed* app approval
On the whole, this opinion piece relies on incorrect assumptions, follows with bad logic, and basically can be summarized as “Yelp is bad because they bent the rules.” That may be a valid point, but ouch, the handwringing and bogus “facts” actually weaken the argument.
For my part, I know of four other iPhone apps that have either easter eggs or server-controlled functionality designed to present different features to Apple reviewers and end users. I imagine there are a lot than those four. Apple’s created a situation where there’s a strong incentive to be innovative and differentiate one’s app from competitors, but where there’s a strong disincentive from letting Apple see that you’re being innovative. The market’s reaction is predictable and normal, and Yelp is not at all an exception here, nor can they be blamed if it causes Apple to be even more draconian or to further lock down the platform.
Apple’s just gotta go with the flow. Rather than moderate every single tiny piece of information that goes into their app queue, they need to just “let go”. Things usually work out better that way. Everyone seems to be liking Yelp, so why not let it through?
First off, this article is in dire need of an editor who has a firm command of English. Shame on TC for running it without cleaning it up – makes the author look bad.
Second, stop whining just bc Yelp totally outfoxed you.
Third, get the hell off of the Google-jock riding, anti-Apple crusade already, Arrington. If TC wanted to, they could easily replace all of the App Store sob stories with dirt on how Goog has been greasing skids in Washington for years now. But they don’t.
Funny how TC is plastered with Google ads but we never see an Apple ad here. Go figure.
Don’t want to touch #1.
#2 – I’m not sure where Yelp outfoxed me. On one hand, I’m applauding them for getting something to market. On the other hand, I’m angry because, as an iPhone dev, this could have serious implications. If you’re implicating that I’m sad because they beat some of our tech to market, then I must correct you: it’s not my company’s concern who is first to market, last to market, etc. with their AR tech. We just want to see the tech succeed.
#3 – This post by no means was provoked by anyone at TechCrunch. I’m personally a huge Apple fanboy, and think the iPhone is fantastic. I do however, think the App Store approval process sucks, and any chance that it gets worse scares the shit out of me.
I love how the bitching has shifted from TC being Apple fanbois to now being anti-Apple trolls. Shocking that all angles would be covered, I know.
You should have put an easter egg in this post to steal his twitter name, MG.
He would have died trying.
Dave O what part of the article needs to be cleaned up? It read fine to me.
You seem to be defending the wrong party here. The app store process is absurd. As a frequently denied developer, I for one applaud yelp. An API is an API. What’s wring is Apple painting certain ones as out of bounds. Way to go Yelp.
Cupertino, tear down this wall!
Forgive me for being skeptical about your motivations. Your company is developing an Augmented Reality SDK. Yelp beat everyone out of the gate by sneaking it through as an Easter egg.
At any rate, Yelp isn’t the bad guy here. They just want to make software with cool features. Your time would be put to better use campaigning for an abolishment of the app approval process, allowing for a free market of iPhone applications.
Yep this article sounds like the author is just whining because somebody beat them at their own game.
“Waaaah Yelp is bad for sneaking in AR before we could do it.. oh by the way my company has an AR SDK you should check out!”
whiner
Boohoo! Yelp is pushing the limits of a overly strict approval policy, this is how change happens.
Sore loser.
Never ever tell someone not to innovate.
If there’s something hidden in the iphone that lets people fly using a propeller that comes out of the phone – and a third party discovers it – good on them.
And shame on Apple for telling everyone dinner’s at 6 when it’s 5 o’clock and the food’s already on the table.
Happy to read same position than the one I expressed yesterday in a comment to “The Wall Has Fallen: 3 Augmented Reality Apps Now Live in iPhone App Store” http://bit.ly/ZinOt
I think what Yelp did is very selfish.
Am the only one who thinks of Ronald Regan’s speech when it comes to businesses trying to hold back the tide of innovation? Apple’s barriers to software development on their platform appear displaced from the reality of technology innovation over the past 30 years. I say bring on the Easter eggs, the cracked OS. Let’s leverage the iPhone hardware and software to it’s fullest potential as soon as possible.
The speech:
http://www.yout...h?v=WjWDrTXMgF8
Sounds like the writer is bitter his company wasn’t first.
Is there any evidience that yelp *didn’t* tell Apple about monacle? The giant assumption that this article is entirely based on *seems* logical, but so did blaming AT&T for the GV rejection.
I really think Yelp stepped out of line here. You want to be one of the most downloaded apps on the iPhone but refuse to play by the iPhone rules?
If Yelp really want to make a statement they should have released a ‘by the book’ app for the app store, and a ‘look what we really can do’ for jailborken iPhone.
Trying to out manuvaer apple is in the long term bad for Apple, bad for Yelp, bad for developers and for users.
why, every blog contains apple product review?
“It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.”
Kudos to Yelp for the new app — Apple needs to loosen up a bit.
And @matt: Monocle mode is cool, but it’s hardly the be-all and end-all of AR. I wouldn’t sweat it — just build something more useful, exciting and interesting, and we’ll use it, too.
So is there actual proof somewhere that Apple didn’t know about the Easter Egg?
Apple provides the API to the device. If they don’t want developers to access that portion of the API, they can mark it private or unavailable. I’m not an Objective-C dev, so I’m unsure if the language supports that feature.
And again, if the feature is available in the API, I’m not sure there’s a “problem” here.
One way that Yelp’s implementation can be gotten is by telling the iPhone it wants to take a picture, then hide the camera functionality “under” the app’s buttons. This is probably how Yelp accomplished their AR view. This method modifies an existing API, but does so in an unsanctioned way.
While the API exists to access the camera, it was not intended to be used in this fashion. It’s a hack more than anything in this regard.
Awesome this new Easter egg, never ever saw this kind of technology
more on my blog:
http://sendlink...ed-reality-app/
Here’s to the Crazy ones: http://www.yout...h?v=Dvn_Ied9t4M – go get ‘em Yelp!
…the troublemakers…
Apple isn’t great for what they make. Apple is great for what people do with what they make.
Apple woke up one morning and found that it had usurped control. That it had become Big Brother.
I’m just waiting for the NewApp Store.
Both Yelp and Apple are sneaky, unethical and jerks. They deserve each other.
The article is absurd. There is no proof that Apple did not know about this. If Apple thinks there is an API that developers should not use, just remove the API. The idea that we have this API but please dont use it is ridiculous
Even better: Apple has the right to reject unofficial apps from their own itunes store. But what about locking customers in the itunes store? Shouldn’t ordinary users be allowed to use other app stores without jailbreaking? i.e. is it even legal for apple to limit the options for its customers this way?
Oh, get a life. “protecting the community from developers?” Yeah look what’s happening in OSX, everybody got fucked over by black hat hackers’ apps. The app store policies are a joke.
If they don’t pull it then it becomes official.
Great point.
While the “sour grapes” comment is an easy one to make. Read this article twice, he absolutely has a point, and this might not be a good thing for the ecosystem.
Apple doesn’t have their bases covered here… an easter egg could also be a security problem. So all the “Apple will take longer to approve apps *sniff*” comments are pretty lackluster to me. If Apple insists on keeping the environment airtight, they’d better make damn sure that the apps are safe.
That said, I think the closed nature of the platform is an absolute joke. I’m holding out for a more open phone that isn’t unusable (G1 and co, I’m glaring at you).
Keep it safe. Keep it real. Follow the goddamn rules. I’m about to become an official developer and I can guarantee that if you want to get approved, follow the damn rules. Keeping to the rules shows responsibility and you’ll get freedom. Rebel and it shows irresponsibility and you’ll be restricted.
I’m an official developer too but trust me — it’s just about impossible to play by Apple’s rules 100% considering they have a number of unpublished rules and also change rules regularly app-to-app and reviewer-to-reviewer.
Even Google with it’s Google Voice app saw the bad end of this..
Doesn’t Apple run automated tests and code reviews that are intended to capture this sort of thing? It’s not actually just a room full of hourly-paid teenagers testing-by-clicking….