The purpose of launch images is to fake that the app is starting to give time to the app to fully load but I have this app of mine that is so fast to load that the launch image just is visible for less than 0.1 seconds. I have tested the app without the launch image and it loads fast than with a launch image.
When I submit the app to Apple without the launch image it fails validation.
This is ridiculous. Is there a way to solve that?
thanks.
The general rule of thumb is to use a launch image that looks like the first screen of your app with text removed, so it looks like a blank slate of your interface. Once your app starts rendering, it will be obvious to the user that it's reached that point.
Many times games will have a splash screen, especially since they sometimes load resources during that time. So those will usually either have a launch image that is their splash screen, where once rendering it starts it makes some animation occur, or they will sometimes start with a black launch image because the logo/splash will fade in.
As you said, the app fails validation without the launch image. Also when Apple first came out with the iPhone 5, the way you added support for the iPhone 5 screen size was by adding a launch image at that size. So in that case Apple is actually using the presence of the launch image to determine if you support the screen size or not. In other words, you need launch images, and it does help with the user experience, even if it is only visible for a split second.
There is no way to solve it - you must have a launch image.
You could use a launch image that looks a lot like your first page, so it doesn't look so jarring when it briefly flashes up.
Last I checked when you don't have a launch image for a debug build iOS uses a default image. If I remember right it is black. So you could create an all black image and use that.
Ive personally never used a launch image and have gotten all of my apps approved. Maybe you're failing validation because of something else?
you do not need a launch image. This is not causing you to fail validation
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So I am new to iOS development and I have a question about the launch screen.
My app will have an image (that loads when the app opens from the internet) this can change anytime the image is updated on the website, so what is the done thing when designing a launch screen as the image could be different to what is on the launch screen?
Thanks
In Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, they suggest that the launch screen should match the first screen of your app. In the example they give, the only parts of the launch screen are the non-dynamic parts (the UI around the web content).
Design a launch screen that’s nearly identical to the first screen of your app. If you include elements that look different when the app finishes launching, people can experience an unpleasant flash between the launch screen and the first screen of the app.
The launch screen is presented before your app loads, and it should be used for static content only.
If there are any UI elements around the image that is displayed, show those in your launch screen. If not, choose a neutral background color that works well with the theme of your app.
Omit the image. A launch image should be a bare outline of what the screen will certainly contain. It might be no more than the correctly-colored background. It is just to cover the gap between nothing and something.
Read the Guidelines: https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/graphics/launch-screen/ Look at the picture on the left. That's a launch screen — basically empty.
LaunchScreen image is always the same..
You can set it in LaunchScreen.storyboard
The launch screen is used to display something whilst your app is initialising, making network requests or whatever.
You shouldn't be looking to load dynamic content here as if a user is on a very slow connection then they wont see anything until your image has loaded. This is why it doesn't have a view controller associated with it. it should be static.
You should only really be loading your logo or something in here, you could just use the company name. it will only show for a short amount of time. then when assets change, submit the changes to store
I have some issues with the launch screen images, when the app is started. I currently using the default image set that contains the #1,2,3x images, but I figured out that there is also an Launch Image Set. This will solve also the problem of different iPhone sizes with the export for multiple screen resolutions. But after uploaded the correct images to the launch image set, I can't select them within an UIImageView in the launch storyboard. Is this even possible and if so, how can I use that in storyboards? Or is there another way to do this?
I cycle through an x amount of images that will randomly display when opening the application. So every time you open the app, it will display another image.
You can't use launch images in the rest of your storyboards. You should create a normal image set to use in the rest of your app and use constraints to get it to adjust size to whatever device the app runs on.
The launch image is shown while your app is loading ("launched", loaded to memory). So you can not run any code at this time.
As the launch time is not that long, a common approach is to initially show a view, that looks 100% identical to the actual launch screen for 3 seconds or so. So you can do run code, animations or such there.
In my personal user experience this is an ugly approach, as you let the user wait for no reason but to show of you CI.
To sum it up: You can not have a random initial launch screen.
Find more information about how to actually setup a launch screen in this answer.
I'm making an app with a different screen for its first run. Once it has completed its first run, this screen is never shown again. The issue I have is that my launch image is built to look like the view that the user sees every other time they run the app, so at first run the loading screen looks weird. Is there any way to have one loading screen for first run and one loading screen for other runs? Thanks
You cannot have multiple or dynamic launch images. Even with the new storyboard/nib launch files, they are still quite static.
Make sure to open an enhancement report with Apple, requesting this feature.
In the meantime, consider a slight change of your flow to first display the initial view, and have an animation to display your first-launch view. This way, the transition will be smoother and more natural to your users.
I have a launch image with text, that I'd like to internationalize (I know that Apple doesn't like launch images with text though...).
It would be great, if I could do this in code, because then the footprint of the app will be much smaller.
Is it possible to do so and how would I access the launch image? I know the the app icon can't be created dynamically by code, thats why I guess the launch image might follow the same rule.
Thanks.
If you mean the Default.png, no you can't.
As you mentioned, you can localize them but it will raise your app size.
One possible solution is to make a really quick app start and a launch image without a text and right after your app launch (-applicationDidFinishLaunching may be appropriate) you display a pseudo splashscreen with your localized text for n seconds.
But keep in mind this isn't nice nor something apple wants.
This can not be done, since the launch image is in the application bundle which is readonly.
You could however present a second screen just after launching, if you make sure you do not do anything in the application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: but show you seconds splashscreen it will only show the default.png for a very short time.
How important is it to add Launch Images to an iOS application? I assume that these are like a cached file to show on the screen while the application is getting setup, when there might otherwise be nothing to show until it is fully running. Is this right?
If so, what should a launch image be if your app might start in different states, or does this not effect return to foreground when multitasking? If it is only for the very first initial launch of the app, then the launch image should just be the same as whatever graphic normally appears when you first start the app, right?
Apple must not care too much about whether your app actually includes these, since mine never have.
Note: as Zev mentions below, the Apple HIG recommendation has changed since I originally answered this question. Apple now recommends that you take all of the static elements of your first screen and make that into your default or launch page. All dynamic elements are to be removed, to give the impression that your app is going through an initialization process -- which in some cases may mean that your default screen is simply a background from your app. Thanks to Zev Eisenberg for pointing that out, "splash" pages are not recommended.
The launch image will show while your app is initializing, it's a good idea to have one. If you don't have one the user is likely to stare at a blank screen while waiting for your app to load. I believe the recommendation is to use an image that looks like the first page of your app. Here is the reference:
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/IconsImages/IconsImages.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40006556-CH14-SW5
how about if app is starting immediately and no time passed ?
what if you see (or cannot see) for a 0.1 sec launch image ?
would it be still useful to have two images in main bundle that will never be seen or used ?