Another day, another story of Apple’s ridiculous App Store approval policies gone awry. Joe Stump, the former lead architect for Digg who is well known in the developer community, has posted an entirely NSFW rant to his blog that condemns Apple for preventing a key update to his application from going live for over six weeks. Stump’s language is quite colorful so I’m not going to quote it extensively, but be sure to read his full blog post.
In the post, Stump outlines a problem that he had with Chess Wars, the Facebook Connect-enabled chess game that came out in July. After catching a show-stopping bug soon after the initial release, his company Blunder Move promptly issued an update. Soon thereafter they noticed another bug, which they quickly released a fix for. Unfortunately, this second update has sat in App Store purgatory for many weeks now, and Apple has gone silent on when it will be approved.
Stump also describes his efforts to get his friends inside Apple to help his cause, going on to say that they’ve been able to do basically nothing other than tell him to contact Apple’s unhelpful team of app reviewers. Even once the update is approved, the app will have to endure the 1-star reviews it has received without any way to reverse them. Here’s how Stump closes out the blog post:
To our users affected by this, I’m truly sorry. There’s absolutely nothing I can do about your horrible user experience and, as a developer who loves his users, nothing pains me more.
To Apple, please kindly extend the world class customer service I’m so accustomed to as an Apple fanboy to your developers.
Update: Stump tells us that an Apple representative called him this morning (no doubt prompted by his blog post) to say that Chess Wars features a chat interface that looks too much like the native iPhone SMS client. This, of course, is totally ridiculous, as a number of other apps feature chat interfaces that look nearly identical (below I’ve embedded screenshots of Chess Wars and Facebook’s app, which was approved last week).
Other notable developers to have criticized the App Store’s policies include Panic co-founder Steven Frank, and Joe Hewitt, who is charged with building the enormously popular Facebook iPhone app.
It’s nice to see on a weekly basis Apple continuing to shoot themselves in the foot.
This is par for the course. Difference is we’re not getting the spin fed to us from the MG Sigler/John Gruber types anymore because event they can’t deflect this kinda BS.
The person can try resubmitting as a different app. Unfortunately that will prevent current users from upgrading for free. Maybe he can try to release it as a new app for free for the first week to allow users to move to the new version.
In other news: “Top Developer Reveals Android Market’s Meager Sales”
http://bit.ly/3HdpX
Yes. Sadly, nowhere to go at the moment. But let me ask, do you suppose that Google will not ultimately get this correct? Perhaps the Android market will never surpass or approach the sales percentages seen with the Apple devices, but there are 18 coming out this fall alone.
If Apple doesn’t right the ship, you can count on many developers abandoning the platform. I just got a repsonse (yesterday) to an email from April! Grrrr.
Google will eventually get it right, when they do it will give Apple more of a reason to figure out something that works for all parties involved.
Probably faster to resubmit as a different app. Unfortunately that will prevent current users from upgrading free. Maybe he can release it as a new app for free for the first week to allow users to move to the new version.
Love katg!
Not to be a dick or anything but if you are releasing an App, i suggest doing intense QA ( Quality Assurance ) Yes Apple should response faster but still thats the developers fault for not doing a good QA run through before launching – just my 2cents….
Don’t push apps with bugs… according to reports the Fb delay was due to a defect. Granted 6 weeks lag is pretty obscene for his patch but the reality is that you get rated on what _you_ publish
That’s just dumb. You’d think that once an app was approved, updates would be easier to get through.
I just realized something. While browsing the iTunes music catalog the other day I came across some tracks marked as having explicit lyrics. Why is Apple letting those songs through?
Oh no. That would not work at all. That would leave an obscene loophole whereby rogue developers could sneak in tons of changes under the guise of a fix/update/patch.
Both parties are at fault. Apple for their slowness, and the developer for releasing two app updates in a row with “show-stopping” bugs. Where’s the QA?
Test your code with proper QA and stop wasting Apple’s time and maybe you’ll get better service. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaa….. Apple won’t approve my app… pout pout”
But he’s the “architect” of Digg. He’s infalliable and why should he be testing his app.
I agree. Ok Ill concede that perhaps Apple should implement a sort of built in forum where developers could interact with customers if need be. A way to keep people abreast (mmm) of what’s going on with any issues. A.k.a Cydia. But here’s another crazy thought: fix it before you release it. Listen developers “I don’t have your brains for ehhh Big Deals (Pantangeli)”, and Apples process is by no means perfect, but the bitching and moaning is getting tiresome. -
Sent from my Iphone
don’t release garbage. stop wasting apples time with your bunk code.
Exactly.
Seriously, everyone saying “Don’t release code with bugs” is either not a programmer or the type of pretentious jerk who thinks they’re better than everybody else. If anyone says “don’t release code with bugs” then they either haven’t released a major app/site before with a lot of inner workings and plumbing both on the front and backend, or have only done so on the types of timelines that most people do not enjoy.
Bugs happen. It’s a fact of life, and it’s often not due to sloppy coding (and I know for a fact that with Joe, “sloppy coding” is not even an option. Talk about meticulous!). Sometimes between deadlines, changes at the last minute, changes to APIs that you don’t control, or corner cases of testing that you’re unable to reproduce in a development environment, things just plain don’t work as you’d like them to. That’s why there IS an update system! For new features, bug fixes, tweaks, etc.
Everyone needs to get off their high horse and realize that this crap happens. Gonna call out Apple for having to release patches now and then to address issues in OSX? Google for having a problem one or two days every couple years with GMail’s code? The good folks at Blunder Move know what the hell they’re doing behind a terminal and in XCode. The problem in this story is not them, it’s with Apple and its ridiculous update and approval policies.
Apple has finite resources to approve apps and has setup a fair system that punishes developers who submit sloppy code.
Every game developer who writes code for Sony/Xbox/Nintendo understands this. Apple’s process is similar and the standard iphone app is MAGNITUDES less complex than the standard mainstream video game.
As a developer, your dev process should mitigate the known risks that are built into Apple’s approval process.
that’s pretty much the point – Apple has finite resources and their current Appstore approval process just doesn’t scale for them.
The have to automate their approval process and rely on developers and users to sort out bugs and flag inappropriate content post publishing, not some 40 people sitting in some cubicles that can probably evaluate at most a 100 apps and updates per day, tops.
Well said.. well said… well said..
Look dude in the context of pushing apps to the app store it’s just comon sense to spend an equivalent time testing to coding… This is a simple matter of lack of code coverage and/or lack of quality test cases. We all live with constraints and we all try to manage achievement w/ the amount of sanity we’re willing to forfeit to obtain it. Test more. Complain less.
Really well said.
I agree, you’ll never have a release bug free. However, that’s slightly aside from the point, I’ve worked in large software projects from beginning to end and no release should ever be published with “show-stopping bugs”. And to make that mistake twice is borderline careless.
Regardless, Apple should have a way for Developers to get in contact with them and 6 weeks is too long for the approval of an update.
There’s a difference between web apps and client software. Web apps can be patched immediately so therefore the bar for QA is significantly lower. This is great as it allows for quick time to market, rapid iteration and immediate customer feedback. Problem is, most app developers come from the web world instead of desktop client world. It’s a different bar when you have to ship something onto a device or desktop than out on the cloud. Go ask Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe, anybody who ships client software, how much time they spend in QA. Ask them how big their QA teams are. I would say most client developers have just as big a QA staff as they do development, and spend just as much time developing as they do testing, using both automated test tools as well as teams of manual QA analysts. If you tried to pull this off in a web development environment, people would laugh you out of the room and you would never ship anything, but it’s a different mentality because you simply cannot afford mistakes. So it’s not some high horse that people are riding. It’s recognizing a different environment and parameters and building your business processes in light of that. Yeah sure bugs slip through no matter what, but I bet you Mr. Stumps QA process looks a lot more like Digg’s than Adobe’s.
Six weeks to approve an update???? That’s really dumb.
As for doing better QA on a product. Sure. Sounds great. It’s the ideal of any developer shop to able to do so.
Still doesn’t excuse Apple’s mediocre handling of the developers on its platform. Very unprofessional for such a big company to not be able to address such a fundamental problem.
Releasing software for the iPhone is not like pushing code to your little webserver. Get it right the first (or second) time. If you can’t do that, make a webapp so you can push code at will.
Pushing code to the iPhone is against the TOS.
This guy develops an app that sucks, like 90% of the other apps, and what’s more – it’s bug ridden.
Then the developer cries about it and blames it on Apple – and you guys think it’s news.
Developer FAIL + TechCrunch FAIL.
m4life (I presume you meant m4life you are a fucking tool) there is plenty of code out there that does not get approved because of Apples fucked up approval process.
Here is a thing that Techcrunch has not covered; music!
i.e. Madonna or U2, have to agree not to publish their games/apps that includes that music to any other platforms:
Copied from their SDK T&C’s:
“In addition, if Your Application will be distributed outside of the United States, any master recordings and musical compositions embodied in Your Application (a) must not fall within the repertoire of any mechanical or performing/communication rights collecting or licensing organization now or in the future and (b) if licensed, must be exclusively licensed to You for Your Application by each applicable copyright owner.”
I would love for some fucker to actually report on this topic for the simple reason that this is a complete restriction of trade……………wait isn’t that illegal?
Just wondering……..
I like this..wondering when would nokia get these kind of apps
The real question is when is the iPhone going to support Flash.
You really named your company FUPA?
He indeed did!
Harry “that is too funny” Wang
As a photographer contributing photos to stock image sites I have been on Stump’s side of the review process enough times to understand the frustration. It sucks when your hard work get’s tossed to the sidelines without much regard, so I do have sympathy for him. On the flip side, I have also witnessed many photographers crying in the forums about unfair practices set by the establishment, crying about their rejections. Often times the files being rejected were just not that good, and I can see why they were rejected in the first place. What I find most interesting is the willingness of other users to jump in behind these photogs and cry foul for no other reason than to support one of their own kind. I get it. There is some sort of comradery between you and the person being rejected. Call it compassion, empathy or whatever. Is that what is going to happen here? A developer crys fowl, and his bros at apple can’t pull some strings, and suddenly all the other developers and jumping in to back him up?
If I were an app developer I would be upset. Especially if my app was taking longer to get approved because other people are submitting broken software. I am sure apple reviews a boat load of apps. Having to triple check developers software it’s a waste of time.
If Mr. Stump had not been in such a rush to release his software, or done more testing he might not have seen himself fall into this predicament in the first place. Hey, maybe it was out of his control? I will give him the benefit of the doubt. But then to follow up with a new release that had bugs, followed up by yet another release… You have to think for a moment that this guy is wasting reviewers time, keeping them away from approving apps that actually do work.
Apple may be making mistakes in their review process, and I am not coming to their defense on the issue, but I have to wonder if all this crying about un-approved apps is an utter waste of time.
Take your lumps and learn a lesson. Develop apps that work and work well that people really want and you will be successful. Throw together a quick app in hopes of generating some extra income and you are asking to get rejected. Good I hope Apple is keeping the crap out of their store. I don’t want to pay $.99 for an app that doesn’t work. If you whine like a baby when it gets one star and your ego is tarnished and your bros at apple cannot bail you out then it’s just deserves. Stop making crap apps. Just because Stump is some sort of developer rockstar doesn’t mean he should get a free pass.
Next!
I bet you Apple is just slammed with work due to their success. It is a good problem for them to have. Sure, with heavy success, probably comes with heavy delays, but that’s the price we’ll have to pay . . . or develop an android app .. . I’d choose App Store any day
http://www.trad...spx?symbol=aapl
All apps have some bugs but a “show stopping bug” just shouldn’t make it through – Bad developer (doesn’t mean shit he was at Digg) and he can bitch all he wants and not get my sympathy.
Yeah, coming from Digg is probably a handicap. “What I can’t push a fix to my crap code at any time? You mean I have to test?! WTF?!”
Thankfully his past work only runs a website and not cars or airplanes.
Mobile applications, like websites, should be available in a free platform, like the Internet, so they can be run on any device.
That’s the solution to these problems and that’s where the next money is at…
Suck it up. Don’t write bunk code.
He didn’t I seen it.
Who does this guy think he is? because he has a history his app should get approved right away, on command? screw this guy. Apple probably making him wait on purpose hahahah
why didn’t this guy QA his app? He f**** himself hard for not doing good QA. Don’t blame apple for that one.
I agree, better QA routine would prevent the problem in the first place. Taking users as the QA is bad practice in my oppinion.
If I read Joe Stump blog, Apple did some test too and the bug isn’t noticed (that’s the function of Apple’s approval right?)
Sometimes when developing app there’s bug that only show at live machine.
I think this guy has done Q.A., unless in one phases: Releasing App through AppStore.
When developing an iPhone app, you can test on a simulator or a real device. You can also push a “copy” of the code as a package of sorts for installation on a real device outside the app store but it requires device specific information to create the package.
The developer had plenty of opportunity to discover the two “show stopping” errors. This mostly falls in his court although the Apple approval process does have its flaws.
Harry “digg that developer down” Wang
Apple is not responsible for QA, dood.
I like this..wondering when would nokia get these kind of apps. All new Apps have some kinda bug but it doenot mean that it is bad.
Why can’t you just sue Apple???
Gather 1000 ass fucked developers and sue the living shit out of Apple.
“But they have money and power…” (read the quote like Barney Rubble) Fuck that!
They have shit and with the FCC oiling their asses they don’t stand a chance. FUCK them, fuck them hard and don’t stop fucking Apple until they have a gap that can fit 100 Mac Book Airs… Well, they are small
Is Apple listening? The App developers efforts are left unrecognized. Public and App developers lose trust on Apple. The approval process, the services provided are becoming an issue everyday. Apple loses the best App developers. If Apple continues this then this would be Apple’s initiative to decline itself.
I can’t really sympathize with this developer as much. In fact it is commendable that Apple won’t give preference to Digg.
He should not have published a bug the second time. He should have been extra careful.
Apple offers a one time exception for a bug fix to everyone including me. Digg got one too.
It’s a Chess app on a phone-grow up and get over it you whining babies.
Sounds like a blunder move.
“Develop apps that work” and don’t gripe? Rather harsh, and rather like saying, “Hey, Apple, develop an OS that works, and don’t sell computers or iPhones or whine until it does!”
Stuff and nonsense. Updates happen. There needs to be a quick approval path for updates to existing, already-approved apps.
Meanwhile, I *eagerly* await a public, full, and *logical* explanation of both AAPL’s convoluted approval process (e.g. why is some porn rejected while some is not?) plus an ardent explanation of the low population of AAPL’s approval personnel (~40 staff members working 2 at a time per app to review each of the vast horde of incoming apps).
You tell ‘em Steve Dave.
We have about 50 beta testers and exhaustively test the application before pushing the binary. In addition to that the application has around 200 unit tests.
The two problems were edge cases that effect only users who had nobody who were friends with the application installed.
You’d be surprised what bugs users will find when you give them your software.
That sounds like a case your tests should have caught. You should have 201 unit tests now.
So there’s a bug with an edge case and this warrants a profanity-laden blog post against Apple for not getting your app out pronto?
Something doesn’t seem right here. Upon reading your blog post (again), you said it affects all the new users. That does not sound like an edge case to me.
Being stuck in Apple limbo sucks, but I have to say that your QA process is really lacking. If you hadn’t tested the new user process, that’s a big miss on your part.
Joe,
First of all, my native language is Portuguese and my English is a little bit rusty now, but I would like to give you my impressions.
You are a famous web developer, but a newbie in the iPhone and I believe in client applications. You can deploy new versions of web applications any time, but in the client world the process is complex and you don’t control the App Store delivery time. Your tests have to cover all possible conditions including edge cases.
Apple has problems with the approval process? Yes, it is true. But you knew this upfront and didn’t plan to minimize the impact of the approval process in your application lifecycle. Instead of ensuring the quality of your application you tried to use your fame and friends to get shortcuts in the approval process. I think the approval team doesn’t like this kind of pressure.
If every user is using the edge cases you have a design problem. It’s better to rethink your whole application instead of submitting patches.
You are complaining about the 1 star rating of your application, but don’t blame Apple, it is your fault. Change your mindset from web to the client. Learn from your errors.
Again, you are a famous web developer, but in the iPhone you are the famous developer of a faulty application.
Famous?????? You gotta be freaking kidding me.
It’s easy– submit a functioning app. Don’t submit one with show stopping bugs! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
No one app should get preference over another when being approved, and I think each update submitted should be treated as a new app. It might be time consuming, but th success rate of apps should skyrocket and the number of buggy, useless apps should drop immensely. Seems worth it to me! Besides, if Apple were to pick preferences, a chess app would be damn close to the bottom, so he really needs to stop whining.
And only in a Eutopic society would giving preference to trusted apps and their updates work. Imagine the creator of the Facebook app, for example. If he got preference, he could do virtually anything he wanted with his app, and the odds of Apple missing it would increase. Everyone should be equal with their apps, especially those with friends in high places.
Shut up an put the time you’re using to whine into finding those show stopping bugs that keep sneaking by your indignant face.
I think “popular developer” is a bit of a stretch.
Yah, commenters, you tell him. The crappy developer should be fined or shot or shot then fined. How dare he release an app with a bug, potentially befouling my perfect, pristine phone. Doesn’t he know only apple is allowed to release buggy software that needs constant updates!
Like iTunes genius — totally broken for me for the first 10 month, but, OMG, it looked so pretty sitting their all useless. Deep down, I knew it was my fault for having songs in the first pace. Please forgive me Apple, I love you soooooo much!!!!!!!!!!
No one is saying he can’t release software with bugs in it – just don’t blame Apple and complain to the world about it.
Agreed. And if it’s that buggy, then pull it and wait until the update gets approved.
There is no doubt that the AppStore approval process has problems but isn’t criticizing it just becoming another play in the iPhone developer marketing handbook?
The guy who wrote Tweety said it really helped his sales out when he went on a rant.
Maybe if Blunder Move had an app in the store that people could use it might have worked but sadly it just advertises the fact that they write buggy code.
Bugs happen, but this guy should focus more on improving his QA processes before pointing fingers.
Yes, Apple needs to work on their process too. But this kind of ranting and blaming is unprofessional.
> 6 weeks to approve an update is unacceptable.
Too funny, seems this cry for attention backfired on the developer somewhat.
The approval process is fine, usually 2 weeks or less for approval and no, updates/bug-fixes should NOT be given a pass.
This isn’t the web-release early and often don’t apply. This is an embedded system and you should treat it as such.
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that cannot be real.
i just read the other post about apple and their love for shiny bubble interface and not wanting no one else to be like them, so i think it’s official that the app reviewer joe stump spoke with is a shill. apple has gone over to the other side. it’s sad that they’re using both orfices to speak.
1: Stump’s blog post link gives me a 404 error.
2: Looks like the “popular developer” has only one application at the App Store.
3: If he needs to contact the users why not use the Blunder Move website?
4: 50 beta testers, 200 testing scripts and 2 show stoppers errors?
joe,
who the fuck are you? lose that imagination of yours before you give yourself a headache!
here, have an apple.