I have two versions of my iOS App - FooBarApp for iPAD and FooBarApp for iPhone each with its own Bundle ID (com.foobar.fooBariPad for the iPAD app and com.foobar.fooBar for the Phone App) Both have the same functionality - searching and buying the same products.
I have created a new version of the iPhone FooBarApp which is now a Universal App and can run on both iPhone and iPAD. However I already have a large user base of users who alreadey have the iPAD apps.
I'd like to retire com.foobar.fooBariPad iPAD App, and ask the users to now download the new Universal App version com.foobar.fooBar. To do this I created a new version of com.foobar.fooBariPad, which is a forced update, and which on startup, prompts users to update to the new version of the app. When they accept the hand-coded update button, it redirects them to the appstore to update the App.
Kludgy I know, but I did this because there is no direct way to update the old iPAD app to the new Universal app (as they have different bundle ids)
Unfortunately Apple Rejected this with the message:
"Design Preamble Your app includes an update button or alerts the user to update the app. To avoid user confusion, app version updates
must utilize the iOS built-in update mechanism. ... Next Steps Please remove the update
feature from your app. "
In other words they want this to be a forced upgrade.
We are thinking of just removing the previous iPAD App from the Appstore, but it may cause confusion. Would appreciate any smart solution to this problem, which will prompt users to switch from the old iPAD app to the new Universal App with the least friction. Perhaps push notification is the answer? (but if so then how)?
FOLLOWING onnoweb 's answer below, I got this from a friend who saw the way Dunkin Donut's had implemented this. Just in the messaging (not a tech fix)
Maybe it's a matter of terminology in the foobariPad app?
I've done something similar (EOL-ing one app and asking users to switch to the new one) without any complaint from Apple. We did it by showing an alert to the user saying something like "We are ending support for this app. Please use this new app with the same and better functionality." and then a button that took them to the AppStore if they didn't have the new app installed, or if they did then we did an openURL() to the new app after tapping the button.
Maybe it's not clear to Apple that you're redirecting users to a new and different app rather than a newer version of the app the user is in?
Related
I released a new iPhone App recently, but once it appeared in the App Store following Apple's review, the App Store icon was surprisingly ugly; so I want to replace it right away.
However, whilst I'd expected to be able to do that through iTunesConnect or the Developer Portal, I haven't been able to find any way to revisit all the App meta data and screenshots etc. that I'd uploaded during the App ID registration phase.
My suspicion is that I may need to make this minor change to the App officially, as a version update; can anyone confirm this, or suggest how I should be replacing the App Store icon image quickly, please?
Bad news. Seems like you have to release an update for this purpose. Check this link
It states
Beginning January 9, app screenshots will be locked in iTunes Connect once your app has been approved. New screenshots may be uploaded when you submit a binary for an update to an existing app or a new app
I have an iPhone app that was accepted in the App Store almost a month ago. Now i have updated my app with some new features and added iOS 7 support etc.
This is actually the first very first time i am going to submit a new version of the same app to the App Store.
As far as it seems, i have to go to iTunes Connect > Manage Your Apps, select the app and then click on "Add Version" and add the version number and whats changed in the new version. Go back and add the updated screenshots and then using Xcode, i can submit it for the approval.
The question is that is there anything else that i am missing and that i should do in order to submit the new version of the app? As i said i am doing it for the very first time. Thanks!
Things you may wan't to consider:
submitting any new in-app purchases with the new version of the app
make sure your app version and short app version is higher than the one in the version currently in the app store, otherwise you will not pass validation
run validation before submitting so you can see if you get any warnings, sometimes there may be collision with Apple private apis. If they are in your code, I'd suggest to rename your methods
The only thing you need to do now is to update the version number and the build number in your Xcode application, archive your app and submit on the AppStore.
On iTunes Connect you set the new version number :
I have been working on an iOS app update and am ready to submit it, however I am having a small issue I am concerned about. I create an ad-Hoc version for testing and when I try to synch the update over to my phone via iTunes it won't give me the 'update' option next to the app. The buttons in iTunes says 'remove'. iTunes actually forces me to first remove the old version of the app and only after it is removed, iTunes gives me the option to install the new version and then the app works fine. The only problem is that this is not really testing the update process and I am concerned that once I release the app to the app store my users will have the same issue where they will not be able to just update the app, they will have to remove the old app first and then install the new version. Any idea what might be going wrong here?
iOS takes care of updating Apps, as far as bundle identifier in your info-plist is the same, any newer version will show as an update in iOS. But in iTunes things work differently. You don't have to worry about these things.
If you want to test effects of updating an App, Install the old version from AppStore. Connect your device and Run the project from Xcode. Now this will work the same way as updating your app.
There is no problem from your part. Maybe this time iTunes is not smart enough to know that your ad-hoc version is an update one or maybe the version of the app on iTunes and on your phone is the same. I've made a lot of update to my apps, when you submit a new one to AppStore your user won't face this problem. They will find an update button for your app :).
I'am wondering what will happen if my App which was previously available on the AppStore and has been downloaded by some users, but now I REJECT MY APP and put it down from the AppStore.
My Question is, Will the previous users who have the app on their devices will work or not???
Yes, every user who downloaded the app will be able to keep using it.
There is no way to pull it from there devices.
Is there some way to implement an auto-upgrade for an iPad app.
I would like to be able to have my app check for updates, and then upgrade itself.
As far as I am concerned the app can retrieve the update from the app-store, but:
I would like the interface to be app internal: User should just have to press an OK button for the upgrade to start (all this time staying within the app)
Is this possible at all?
It is possible to have display a notification to inform an update is available on you app and you can redirect the user to the AppStore, but an update can only be download from the AppStore.
This will reinstall the new version of your app. So you can't stay in the app to update (You need to go to the appStore and qui the app during the update).
Internally, you can only update some content for you app (not add new native code) but not with a real AppStore update.
Apple does not allow apps to download, install, or execute code that is not included in the original app submitted to Apple. The App store upgrade cannot be automatically started.
the best you can do is determine if the app store has a newer update, then prompt the user to install it by linking directly to the app page in the app store. They will still have to click the correct buttons to start the process.
Even if it were possible, it's not allowed by Apple. Your app will be rejected.
Unless you only update contents of your app, e.g. cooking receipts.