App Update rejected Will previous version be taken down? - iphone

If I push an app update to the app store, but choose "I will release new version" when submitting. If my update is rejected for some reason, is the current version already approved going to be taken out of the store?
Anyone had experience with this?

I've got no experience with this exact situation, but I have submitted updates and then invalidated them myself. The original is unaffected until the new version is approved - if it gets rejected, they would just expect you to send a corrected version instead.
The only reason I could see Apple pulling the original would be if they discovered something pretty nasty in the update and decided to check the original as well in case they'd missed it, but that is total speculation.

I have one app where an update was rejected over a year ago. I haven't resubmitted the update yet and the original is still selling in the app store.

Related

Updating IOS App. Do updates need to be reviewed?

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.

Can iOS app updates be stalled to specific date?

I've been googling this question, but haven't been able to find an answer.
I know that you are able to upload an app, get it approved, and then set a release date.
But I was wondering if the same thing can be done for an existing app?
Thanks in advance :)
You can't peg an update to a specified date, but you can "hold for developer release" on the update. That means that once it's approved, Apple won't publish the update until you go into iTunes Connect and manually press a button to release it.
No, when you remove an app from sale, you have to put it back manually, there's no way to specify a date to make this happen automatically. See the iTunes Connect FAQ for more info.
I have noticed that resetting the release date to the future after the application has been released will take it back out of the store and release it again. Im not sure how apple will look upon this if the application has already been released and is live. Mine was new and I had to keep pushing off the release date because the services were not reliably functional.

iPhone App Store Question

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.

iphone app approved but bug found before release

I just got my app approved....but realised there is a bug that will need a small fix. I do not want to release this app with the bug.
I am unsure how to get this fixed. If I submit another binary it will go through the review process again. I will also need to put a new version (1.1).
If I still have to submit a new version, can I directly release the new version (1.1) and completely ignore version 1.0?
Thanks in advance for advise..
pm
You would have to reject your binary for 1.0 and resubmit either a 1.0 or greater binary.
You can set the release date of an approved app into the future and then submit an update. If the update is approved, pull the release date back. The current version need never be visible in the App store.
If you put in your comments field that this is a critical bug fix, then there is a possibility (but no guarantee) that the review period may be a few days shorter.
You don't need to change version. You can keep version 1.0 and change build 1.1. Then Submit app for review process.
If your application has been approved, then it's available in the appStore.
The only solution for you to fix this bug is to send a new version of your application with unfortunately the Apple review process. (We just got the same issue)
From here, 1.0 will be ignored for new downloaders and those who have installed it would have to update the app.

Downgrading to a previous version of an iphone app

I have an app on appstore.
I uploaded a new version and it was published. But, just after that I realized an important bug in my app. Since the approvement process takes a long time, I want to downgrade to the previous version until the fixed version is approved by Apple.
Are there any way for that?
Thanks
The only way to downgrade is to resubmit the previous version with a new version number, or a new fixed version, and wait until it is approved. If you put a note in the Demo Account section saying this is a rollback or a critical bug fix, there are reports that Apple may perhaps expedite the review. If the bug is bad enough to create very unhappy customers, you can warn customers not to download it in your update notes, and/or you can set the availability date of the current broken version into the future, until your fix is accepted.
Unfortunately not, Apple doesn't provide a means of rolling back to previous versions. If you have the source code, you could always just increment the version number and upload the old version again.
like the other answers have said - unfortunately, Apple does not provide a way to rollback once you've released the app.
The way many major apps deal with this is by instrumenting their app ahead of time with feature flags (https://martinfowler.com/articles/feature-toggles.html): ways to enable/disable features and codepaths from the server.
Granted that implementing feature flags requires foresight and planning (it's unlikely you'll capture every codepath). Fwiw, I started my current company (https://screenplay.dev) out of this frustration; you can read much more on this approach here: itunesconnect App - Revert to previous version :)