I need to release an update to an iOS app. I want to release the app update exactly with the launch of the web site.
So what I was thinking of doing is:
- developing the new version of the app (using internal in dev feeds)
- change the feeds in the app in order to point to the new feeds (at this point the app won't have any content because the feeds are not live yet)
- submit the app to the app store (wait for Apple approval) and manually release the app when the site goes live (and at this point the feeds will be live)
The problem is that when the app is in the review process I won't have any content. Is it a problem for Apple?
They can approve an app without content?
What if I write a developer note to them?
I need to do this because when the new site goes live the new version of the feeds it's no compatible with the old version (different formats). I know it's not the ideal solution but this was not my decision.
As Rich pointed out, Apple would likely reject the app if the news feeds are a big part of the app and do nothing. If your desire is to release the app exactly when the website is launched and the news feeds are live, then while you're submitting the app there is an option to have it released on a specific date.
You could load up the back-end of the website without loading up the front-end. So have the php files loaded to the server and accessible from the app feeding it json data or however you are transferring information. If your back-end is interlaced with the front-end, you may have to re-write the files, name them the same thing, upload them to the server, have them be serving data so that they can test them, and then when you want to launch the site, overwrite the files with the full version. However, I'd imagine that your files capturing data from the database are differentiated from the ones presenting dynamic content, otherwise you are breaking the MVC paradigm and should probably change the way your website is structured anyway.
Related
I need to push out an app-update, that sets the app (app-A) up for being migrated and retired. The new app that users will migrate to (app-B, different bundleId) is ready, so I would prefer it, if there are no new users to app-A.
Concretely: Can I offer app-updates to app-A, while preventing users from installing it new?
I have seen this not-encouraging post from 2017: iOS App Store - retiring an app - Can I hide the app from new users while making updates available to all existing users - it's been a while, so things are looking better presently.
Creativity is allright here, but obviously any updates to app-A needs to pass review, so it can't just be an empty shell that points to app-B.
After being in contact with Apple support about this, it is clear that it is not possible. The following is copied verbatim from Apple support reply:
Currently, there is no feature that could allow you to prevent potencial users to download the app, while it is still available in the App Store. To prevent users from downloading app, you will need to remove it from the App Store.
The "solution" is to keep the A app around - and only providing the move-to-B functionality - until we either see no activity on it, or don't care anymore.
I am a complete novice when it comes to iOS app development. I have designed and submitted my business app to the app store and it is going alone ok. Only thing is I have to change, add or subtract products as our business changes. Is there a way where I don't have to write new code and resubmit to the apple store. e.g. some server based drag & drop portal I could use instead of having to change through Xcode and resubmitting. it is a fairly basic tabbed based application with maps
Thanks for your help
If your products are stored in a database, you could build up a REST Webservice to access them from your app.
If you do not have the programming skills to do so, a possible solution could be to use a UIWebView in your app that loads HTML-pages with your products, so you just need some basic html skills to update the products.
Note that if there are any links to other websites your app probably has to be ratet 17+.
iOS. I have a mobile web site and a mobile app for the same. i want the user to be able to navigate from web to my app through a link. Is it possible for this feature to be feasible when the app is not installed. I know i can use smart app banners when the app is already installed and this feature can be implemented then. But the main problem i am facing is when the user is asked to install the app (from smart app banners) for a particular page of my website. How can i automatically redirect the user to same page on my app from where he clicked the app banner on first launch of app ?
This is a problem that Branch, the company I'm working for, solves. It's actually fairly simple to explain, but quite a bit more tricky to implement yourself.
Apple doesn't currently allow you to persist information like that through an install (through the App Store), so you'll need an intermediate server. Now, depending on what devices you want to support, this gets more and more tricky. You mentioned you're only on iOS now, but if you expand to Android, this becomes even more complicated (with the fragmentation of Android devices and browsers, etc). For now, I'll just explain for iOS though. It's basically a two step process, starting with the smart banner on your mobile web page.
The smart banner, when clicked, will try to
* Launch the app if possible. We do this by trying to load via the app's URI scheme.
* If the URI Scheme fails (not installed), we send a device fingerprint to our servers based on IP, model, etc. and then send the user to the app store.
The second part is then within the app:
* When it launches, it needs to ask the server if it was launched via a link click. (whether directly into the app or through the app store and now into the app).
* It sends along a similar fingerprint, and then the server (if the device matches) will send back the relevant info (the page id, or whatever you use).
* If the page id is present, you need to present the view controller with that content to the user (you may need to persist this info in your app through a login, if it's behind an auth wall).
I'm new to mobile programming. Recently my company has looked into creating a specific application for tablets (Android and iOS). So it was assigned to me to develop a thin-client based around using HTML5 for what we need to do.
Essentially the application allows a user to fill in a custom-designed form (which the user can build themselves, or pull down a predefined template from our server). This form is built using HTML5, Javascript, JQuery, etc. Some additional functionality is planned, such as being able to take a picture using the native device and attach it to the form that we send back to our server for storage (once we figure out how to do it in iOS. We've already done it in Android.)
However, I noticed the following on Apple's App Store Guidelines, under the Functionality section. Item 2.12:
Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as Apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected
Can someone explain, or at least direct me to clarification of this when using the UIWebView construct? This application at its core is pretty much just HTML5. While it might have some additional bells and whistles, does this mean that if we try to submit this (when its completed) to Apple, that they will simply reject it out of hand? Implementing the majority of it in HTML5 was done purposely so we wouldn't have to re-code everything from device to device (and we will also embed it in one of our products, so if they want to fill it out on the desktop while in our system, they can.)
Any guidance would be appreciated, or even suggestions of where this question should be asked if SO is not the proper forum for it. Thanks again.
The key in the Appstore guideline is the word "simply":
Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as
Apps
If you keep a balance between locally stored and remote HTML content for your webviews Apple would not look at the app as a hollow shell pulling in remote content.
I have a client that needed to abandon their very poor native app and needs a temporary solution immediately. They have a mobile optimized website and we'd like to deploy an app in the store to replace the current one, and design it such that as soon as you launch it, it either hosts the site within a web browser control, or just redirects the user to a website in the iPhone Safari app. I realize there are subtle differences between the browser control and the actual Safari browsers.
Are there any tools or products that auto create such simple apps, and are there any problems with getting such simple apps approved by Apple?
Sounds like you want to make a hybrid app.
http://www.cocoacontrols.com/posts/a-primer-on-hybrid-apps-for-ios
Your app could just be a UIWebView that shows the website. It's possible that Apple might reject ithe app if there is nothing to it except a web view -- do some research on that possibility.