So I applied for an expedited review on the 8th of december and it was approved, processed and ready for sale on the 9th of December.
I have version 2.0.1 on my phone, and the version 2.0.2 is not showing up as an "Update" in app store. When going to app store it will show me the date I upgraded to 2.0.1 and shows that is the newest one.
If i then click on the cell to show more info, it takes me to my page listing 2.0.2 and all the correct details.
If I search my app on the store, it shows correct info 2.0.1, it is just everyone who already has my app, is not being promoted to update.
It has been 6 days, and Ive contacted ItunesConnect support, they tell me everything is fine on their end and if I have users who are having problems, to instruct them to call Store Support. So I told them its all 50,000 users who are having the issue, and they instructed me to inform 50,000 people to contact Store support.
So at this point Im all out of ideas.
iTunes connect called me back after a few hours, they had spoken to Store support and there is an active bug they are trying to fix. They said this is a not a wide spread issue, but it is affecting many Devs.
They told me to sit and wait.
Edit
They never were able to fix it, after 7 days of error, I uploaded a new build, submitted for review, once approved, it kick started the process again, and was pushed correctly to the iTunes Servers.
Related
I've just got an app in the app store and realised theres a spelling mistake on the first view! As the app is intended for an upcoming event occuring in 3 days I am nervous about uploading an update. If I upload new binary to iTunes Connect will that mean my previous version will not be available on the app store? Also, will I need to have Apple approve my latest version prior to releasing it?
Any advice would be awesome, thanks!
When you push a new update it has to be reviews but will likely take more than 3 days to do so. While it is waiting to be reviewed your current version will be live.
Don't worry, your previous version won't be affected. Just upload the new one, but know that it's gonna take more than 3 days (pretty much always 7, if you submit during work hours). You can file for an expedited review, but even that can sometimes take more than 3 days.
And you don't need to remove the old version to put in the new one. You just submit the new one. You can determine whether you want it to automatically become available on the app store as soon as it's approved, or give it a specific release date.
Just know this: If your update has issues and you're forced to remove it AFTER it has become available on the app store, then you can't just revert back to the old version. You have to resubmit the old version and wait a week for that to get reviewed again.
I have version 1.0.0 of an app approved but not yet live; the release date is two weeks out. I also have some enhancements queued up as v1.0.1 but not submitted for review yet. The most important thing is that the app goes live on the scheduled date (synchronized to a marketing plan, external partner requirements, etc.) but if possible I would like to have my v1.0.1 available for the initial release.
If I submit my 1.0.1 version for review will it risk my ability to put the existing approved version live on time?
I see two risks:
v1.0.1 is still in review, can I edit the release date (if necessary) and have v1.0.0 go live
v1.0.1 is rejected for some reason, is v1.0.0 still available to go live?
UPDATE:
Our live date was pushed out due to business issues and we had plenty of time to get the update through review but in any case this is what we did:
set the release date to the appropriate date
submit the new version for review with version release control so it wouldn't go live until we pushed it after review
During the whole review process we were still able to edit the release date for the original version so I believe that it would have gone live if needed while the update was under review.
Here's something you can try. I have done this for quite a few apps long back (about an 9 months back, not sure if things have changed)
Release the existing app and then immediately take it out of sale from all countries (you can do this on iTunes connect).
So technically you have your app on sale, and you'll be able to upload a new binary as an update.
If the update/1.0.1 gets approved in time, release it. If not approved, enable the 1.0.0 app for sale in the countries you want to sell.
I hope this helps!
The release date is two weeks out. I suggest you update the app. The process takes only around a week, even if it is rejected. You will be able to release v.1.0.0.
Apple in iTunes Connect Developer Guide says:
App Name Expiry
Once you have created your app, and it is in the state Prepare For Upload or Waiting For Upload, you will have 180 days (6 months) from your creation date in iTunes Connect, to deliver a binary to Apple. If you do not deliver a binary before the 180-day deadline, your app will be deleted from iTunes Connect. As a result of this deletion, your app name will be able to be used by another developer and you cannot reuse the app name, SKU or Bundle ID. See the Deleting an App section of this guide to learn more about the ramifications of App Delete.
What's the meaning of "deliver a binary"? The app should be uploaded and approved in 180 days or just uploaded for review?
Is it possible to upload a preliminary binary and set the release date in the future (Availability Date setting within Rights and Pricing), so that before that date I can upload the final binary of my app?
I worked around this by preparing a version of my app that was good enough to be approved by Apple, even though it wasn't where I wanted it to be yet for the first release. I submitted it just before the 180 day deadline but set a future release date on the Rights and Pricing tab in iTunes Connect. Apple approved the binary and I continued working on the app with no further warnings about the name expiration. I was even able to move the release date further into the future to give myself more time.
I don't know what would have happened if my submission had been rejected by Apple or if I had rejected it myself. That might have been okay, but I preferred to play it safe and submit something that met all the review guidelines.
Now I'm still not ready for a public release, but ready for beta testing. I submitted my latest version for review and Apple approved that, too. At this point, even though the app still isn't publicly available, I can generate promo codes and give them to beta testers and they can download the app from the App Store using the promo codes. In my case this is better than using up more of the 100 devices available in my developer account. The trade-off is that each beta version I want to share has to go through the Apple review process.
Anyway, setting your release date in the future does let you meet the 180-day upload deadline without releasing something before you're ready. When you're ready to release, you can submit your final version, make sure it gets approved, then move the release date to the desired date.
Well most of us (fellow developers!!) will be happy to know that the grace period of 120 days has now been increased to 180 days which is roughly 6 months.
The following quote has been taken from iTunes Connect Guide
App Name Expiry
After creating your app and it is in the state Prepare For Upload or Waiting For Upload, you have 180 days (6 months) from your creation date in iTunes Connect to deliver a binary to Apple. If you do not deliver a binary before the 180-day deadline, your app is deleted from iTunes Connect. As a result of this deletion, your app name can be used by another developer and you cannot reuse the app name, SKU or bundle ID. See “Deleting an App” (page 90) to learn more about the ramifications of App Delete.`
Well, MisterX claims that once you upload a real binary, you can then reject it and never hear from Apple again. My company has had issues that prevent me from uploading their app (which I did) and I need to buy some time. The app uses their registered TM name so if I lose it I'm in big trouble!!!
Lets home MisterX was telling the truth!
EDIT: well, in fact, I did do an upload of the app once (you have to get all your permissions in order, certificates, etc and the binary has to pass the internal tests on using only legit frameworks etc). I immediately cancelled the binary, and I was able to keep my app name past until we were able to post it over 180 days after getting the name). This was as of May 2012 so YMMV.
iTunes App Name reservations no longer expire.
http://blog.salsitasoft.com/apples-new-app-name-reservation-policy/
I lost one of my app before and I can't take its name again. But now I have too many apps that are waiting in iTunes Connect about 1 year.
Deliver a binary - this is the zipped and compiled version of your app. This needs to be submitted for approval to apple.
Yes it is, but if you mess apple about then I don't know if they'll like it too much.
Basically the rules and what you're experiencing are there in order to stop people doing what you're doing, which is basically name squatting. Make the app, submit to itunes connect, upload the binary, get into the apple store. Don't just sit on names without an app, its not fair on the real developers trying to get real apps out there.
As guide says:
If you do not deliver a binary before
the 120-day deadline, your app will be
deleted from iTunes Connect
You must upload your binary for the application (ipa file) in maximum 120 days since you added in iTunes.
This binary will be the subject for approval. You cannot send one binary as a test one, and later the final binary. It will be rejected.
1) It should be just uploaded for review. Normally review takes about 7-10 days.
2) Yes it is possible to control the release date of the app. You can select it when you login to itunes connect and create a new app. One of the fields there asks for release date.
Also if you app is approved(Test binary in your case) you can also upload a newer version for the approved app (which can be your final binary) However the approval lies wholly on the review team at Apple.
I don't know this precisely, but by my experience and context, I think it means just uploading.
If you want to upload another binary, you should reject binary yourself and re-upload new binary, that means you should wait once more for review.
From what I understand, you just have to have the app uploaded. And if you really read exactly what the iTunes Connect Guide says (look at the wording), that 180 timer is only counting the number of days that your app is in either the Preparing For Upload or Waiting For Upload state. Take a look:
After creating your app and it is in the state Prepare For Upload or Waiting For Upload, you have 180 days (6 months) from your creation date in iTunes Connect to deliver a binary to Apple....
So a solution would be to upload whatever binary you have right now, then wait for the status to change to Waiting For Review. Once that happens, developer-reject the binary. Leave it in the Developer Rejected state until you're ready to re-upload. The reason I say this is because putting it back into Prepare For Upload or Waiting For Upload might start the 180 day timer again (though I'm not sure).
Play it safe. When you upload your binary upload something that would pass review and have a decent standing on the AppStore (even if it means "hiding" some features).
Let's hope this works! I have three days left before the 180 day deadline and I'm about to upload. I'll post to confirm if it works.
I have an iPhone application in the App Store. I submitted 1.1 to the app store a few days ago, and selected to "Hold for Developer Release." I found out that there is a very serious bug in the approved version. I need to pull this binary.
From what I can tell, Apple doesn't support this. I have sent them an email, but there's another bug in the current version that needs to be fixed also, so time is of the essence.
I've heard that you can release the update in some random country (where I would have no sales) and then release the next (fixed) update in all countries. If I only release 1.1 in, say, Luxembourg, is the old version (1.0) pulled from the other stores? Are the chart ratings reset? I'm relatively high in the charts, and I don't want to lose the momentum the app currently has.
Until Apple supports rejecting approved binaries, I'm looking for the quickest alternative.
Craig. Let me answer some of your questions. First, if you release an update, regardless of what country it is released in, it will replace the old binary for every country. Thus, if you only select Luxembourg, you are not only releasing the update to all countries, but also removing the app entirely from every app store except Luxembourg.
Second, it would appear that even Apple has no say over the iTunes Connect website in terms of altering the process for one person. I believe you should be able to reject an approved update, I don't see why they would want to disallow this. However, since they do not right now, it's best to forget about it.
You basically have 2 options. One, you can release this new version to the world, which keeps your standing in the App Store and warn users of the bug and promise them a fix. At that point, you can appeal to the Review Board for an expidited review, which they may not give you. Remember, if you release the update, I would upload another update immediately after.
You're not going to avoid your problem but there are things you can do to minimize the impact of your mistake.
Second, you can remove the App from Sale, accept the new update, and upload a new one for review, and put the app back up for sale again once approved. The problem here is that you will most likely lose your store ranking and the app will be unavailable for about a week. Not what I would do. I would go with the first solution.
From my experience, customers are ok if you need to issue a fix and they're fairly understanding. Make sure you tell them exactly what's going on in the app description AND the "What's New" section. Make sure they see it. They'll be ok with a few days of inconvenience in return for your honesty and reassurance that the issue has been fixed in a near-future update.
Hope this helps.
Cheers!
You can reject an app that is on "Hold for developer release". You need to click "Binary Details", and there you should find the reject button.
3 weeks back we uploaded an application on the iTunes(V1.0). On Thursday we updated that application with new build (V1.2). I clicked the "Update" button on itunesconnect.apple.com and followed uploaded the new binary and new contents.
On the next day the Description and price tag are updated successfully, but the build version number and screens shots are still from the previous version. And the amazing thing we noticed is that application status is "Waiting for Review" from last 2 days... :(
I tried to play with release date, but still application status is "Waiting for Review".
Its been 2 days that there is no activity happening from apple... :(
Please help me in this scenario.....
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Vishal.
Welcome to the App Store. Apple has to approve all apps and new versions before they can go up. This can take some time. For some devs it has taken upward of a month. Lately they've been better about response time, but it's still basically out of your hands.
Once new version of App is submitted for review all you can do is wait for Apple to approve it. From my own experience (5 Mobile App Releases so far) approval time is always different however usually takes between 3-7 days.