I was considering developing an application which would:
1) form part of a suite of similar applications; and
2) allow the user to download additional chargeable content.
I would be extremely grateful if somebody could point me in the direction of any resources where this approach is discussed programatically and practically (i.e. Apple's requirements for doing so as well as code samples outlining the appproach).
I think what you have in mind is In App purchases, you can start with the in app purchase guide from Apple and the quick start guide. I've implemented this and found it very effective and fairly simple to implement.
Programmatically it uses the StoreKit framework which is described in the guide I posted above.
If you want to address the suite of apps you can also run ads that cross promote them, I've seen admob used for this it has an in-house ad feature that allows you to serve ads for your own applications for free across your own apps.
You can charge for additional content with In App Purchases. After reading Apple's In App Purchase Guide as recommended by paulthenerd, you can also check out ilime.com and urbanairship.com. These are services which make In App Purchases easier to implement.
Related
I'm building an web application with react-native.
In this app I need to gather some information about users.
One of them is how much time they spend on other apps installed on their phone.
I couldn't find any library for this job, so I've decided to write the native code my self.
For android, apparently there is this UsageStatsManager that can help me achieve what I want.
But when I searched for sth similar in ios, I found lots of old forums saying that this is not possible.
But I recently I saw this:
It is asking for permission to gather other apps data. SO IT IS POSSIBLE?
Any suggestion is appreciated. How am I supposed to this?
There is no API by apple itself for retrieving data of third party applications. This is called "Sandboxing" where applications are restricted from changing the device settings or retrieving/changing other apps data. Hence, why iphones are secure.
What you have shown in your screenshots is to track application data for personalised ads and such. This can be achieved using the AppTrackingTransparency framework provided by apple. You can read more about the framework here.
TL;DR - You can use AppTrackingTransparency for personalisation
there have been some confusion about using analytics in apps. Just to make sure I got it straight:
I want to use Google Analytics in my app to track app usage (tracking what content is being viewed basically). I'm not sending any user or device data to Google.
Firstly, I understand that Google Analytics API is completely fine to be used and doesn't violate any Apple developer agreements.
Secondly, I assume that in this case (anonymously tracking app usage - no user or device data) I am allowed to use the service without the need to say anywhere in the app that analytics is being used (so the 3.3.9. of 'iOS Developer Program License Agreement' doesn't apply here).
Can anyone confirm my assumptions or explain if they are not right?
Or better did anyone of you have your app using analytics approved even though it didn't say anywhere it is using it? ...or the opposite
I've seen plenty of forum entries on the subject none of them though clearly stating what is required by Apple and what is just recommended.
Thanks
I know you're asking about Google Analytics, but for what it's worth, I've had great success using the Flurry analytics package in my apps. It's very stable and provides a lot of great metrics. If GA doesn't work out for you, I'd say give this a try:
http://www.flurry.com/
Is this a violation of Apple app development rules? In some forums I just saw that thing. So am afraid of getting rejected by AppStore if I use the same. Help me with this please. And if I can't use Google Analytics SDK then which will be the best analytics method I could implement for my App?
This is not legal advice, but, as of right now, no apps have been rejected by Apple for using Google Analytics.
Google has released an official iOS Google Analytics SDK, and there is no record of Apple explicitly forbidding or discouraging its use.
Google Analytics is the most widely used analytics solution around, and unless your operations are based out of Germany, you likely have little to worry about.
I'm not sure about Google Analytics vs Apple rules, but if you're just looking for any way to have stats, have a look at Flurry Statistics - it's quite powerful and completely free. Also I never heard of any legal issues with it (I think you just need to inform users in your app's EULA that you collect data to make the application better).
my name is Peter and I'm with Flurry. Thanks to delirus for pointing out that we have a free service. We support iOS, Android, BlackBerry, WP7 and JavaME. Regarding iOS, we have no knowledge that any app has been rejected during the app submission process due to the inclusion of Flurry Analytics. Over 38,000 companies use Flurry Analytics. You can learn more at www.flurry.com. Thanks, Peter
Google Analytics is under scrutiny in certain regions of this planet because some people believe they are not respecting data protection laws and legislation.
So even if Apple accepts your app you run the risk of somebody filling a complaint with Apple and as result your app could be withdrawn at a later stage.
If you don't know yourself which analytic tool is best for your needs then I assume you have not really thought about what data you really require. Take a moment or two to come up with a list of requirements and then start looking for the tool best matching the needs.
A client do not want to consider MonoTouch for a new project.
MonoTouch.info has a long list of apps, but I have not found any on the caliber that can convince a client too choose a technology. The client has seen the list, and actually use the bland screenshots as an argument against MonoTouch.
Where can I find examples of applications useful as motivation. High profile apps created using MonoTouch, the apps you call home about. The apps that made it to the top 25 lists in their category.?
I responded on Twitter but thought I'd reply properly here;
The first app I will mention is iCircuit - http://icircuitapp.com/ - this application is featured on the Apple website here - http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/apps/index.html#workflow-icircuit - and is a pretty good seller.
Diggify is a Digg application which hit the top #8 sold application in Canada apparently - http://www.intomobile.com/apps/diggify/359756952/
An application that I built myself (it's a little old now admittedly) but I do think that it looks rather nice - http://bit.ly/gfxmasappstore :)
London Bike App is another nice looking application - http://www.londonbikeapp.com/
Update: Wow, this is an old question, there's a whole bunch of great apps using MonoTouch at http://xamarin.com/apps
Hope this helps,
ChrisNTR
I know of a couple apps that were built using Monotouch and sold very well but due to the uncertainly surrounding the terms when MT first came out and later the 3.3.1 mess the devs didn't make a big fuss out of it. I suspect they aren't the only ones not publicizing what technology they used to make their app.
If your client is using a handful of screenshots on a website as the reason to rule out using Monotouch then you might want to rethink your pitch. Whether or not an app has been developed in native Objective-C or C# via Monotouch makes no difference on the overall design or appearance because both rely on the CocoaTouch framework for UI. Being able to deliver an app that meets your client's idea of what makes a great app has nothing to do with the language you use and has everything to do with your ability to translate the essence of their ideas into a solid design and UX. Sell that, not the framework.
I found this article to be helpful when I'm trying to explain to others why I use Monotouch over native objective-c.
"Why we chose MonoTouch to write the Diggify iPhone app"
I'm about to begin development of an iPhone app. The app itself is fairly basic, and I want a speedy turnaround time.
I'm a web developer myself, specialising in traditional web technologies such as PHP/MySQL; I have no experience in Objective-C.
My plan was to create a very basic iPhone app that is just a Safari service that passes some basic variables to a URL. That URL is the app built in PHP and housed on my servers, this way I can create the app very quickly without needing to outsource anything.
My question is whether apps of this nature would be accepted into the iTunes store, or would they be out-right rejected? Anyone's experiences or comments are very welcome.
Thanks
It could go either way, but mind bullet 12.3 from the App Store Review Guidelines:
12.3 Apps that are simply web clippings, content aggregators, or a collection of links, may be rejected
In my opinion, a simple UIWebView wrapper around your web site comes close to the definition of a simple web clipping. Your approval may very well hinge on your luck in drawing a sympathetic reviewer.
It really depends upon your application...These kinds of application have been approved in the past but again I am saying that it depends on many factors.
Try to test your app in every possible manner and also keep in mind the memory issues.
Best of luck!!!
Should be fine - its called a web app and there is software out there that will do just this for you.
All you need to do is to make a UIWebView and put your web app into it.
Also look at http://jqtouch.com. That gives you some idea of what you can do web-side. :)
http://www.netbiscuits.com/559
Native Hybrid Apps
Native apps can interface more deeply
with the mobile handset modules and
sensors to create an even richer
mobile user experience. Netbiscuits
provides pre-build native apps
frameworks for all major mobile
operating systems to be easily
customized for the needs of
enterprises.
Get "2in1" by combining the power of
mobile websites and native apps by
wrapping mobile websites into hybrid
apps and list them easily in all major
app stores of providers like Apple,
Nokia, Google or Samsung to open a new
mobile distribution channel. The
benefits of this approach are fast
time to market, minimized development
and maintenance efforts and maximum
mobile cross-platform technology
coverage.
Yes, it will be accepted as long as you stick with HTML, CSS, JS and Obj-C on the client side. You still need to wrap it in an iPhone app. In my experience, the best way to this is to use http://www.phonegap.com/ or a similar framework.
You'll have the option of deploying you app through iTunes or as a regular web app (you users will be able to create a link to your web app right on their springboards)
It SHOULD be accepted, granted you test test test and make it look just like a native application. Also you'll have to make sure that your server is never down, or if the application can't reach it just display an error message. You also have to keep in mind that there are a lot of iPod Touch users, and they don't have access to the internet all the time. Which means that chances are you'll get a BUNCH of 1 star reviews