I'm curious - is it possible to programmatically change the name of an iPhone app that is used on the iPhone OS home screen? I know it's just an entry in the Info.plist file, but I haven't seen any apps doing it.
I'd like to distribute a "Lite" version of an existing app and allow users to upgrade to the full version via in-app purchase. However, once they purchase the app, I'd like to change the app's icon and name to read "Layers Pro" instead of "Layers Lite." I feel like this is important to maintain consistency and a good upgrade experience.
No, it's not possible. The Info.plist and everything in the app bundle is read-only once it's installed on an iPhone.
No, you can't. The only way to change the name of an iPhone app is when you update the app through iTunesConnect.
Related
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?
I have a paid iPhone app, and I'd like to create an updated version that will run as an iPhone app until the user completes an in-app purchase that will have the app use the full screen.
Is there any way to change an app from a small-sized iPhone app to a full-screen iPad app after the app has already been distributed?
Short Answer: No, it's not possible.
Longer Answer:
This would involve dynamically setting the build settings (specifically Targeted Device Family) at runtime. These settings however, are read and compile/build time. The solution is not impossible, would involve rebuilding the app with different settings. This is unlikely to be permitted by Apple anyway
what you can do is check in your app for any payment made and then if the app has been paid load different data.
The easiest way would be to load different xib files for your layout if the user has paid. The user would however need to quit and relaunch the app to have the payment taken into accound. And you would need in your code to programatically decide to load one xib or the other. But it's doable.
Is it possible to create an app that does not appear in the Home screen, and allows another app to grab its resources (sounds, images, etc)?
I want to create a lightweight app (app #1) and upload it to the app store. Then I would like to be able to direct users to download an add-on (app #2) if they want that contains more images and sounds. Then app #1 would read these resources from app #2.
I'm trying to avoid having my own server to serve these images, and just have the App Store handle this for me. I know I can do this on Android, and was wondering if it's possible in iOS as well.
Is it possible to create an app that does not appear in the Home
screen, and allows another app to grab its resources (sounds, images,
etc)?
Not only can you not create an app that's hidden from the user, you also can't access the resources of one app from another. Each app lives in its own sandbox and cannot read (or write) into the sandbox of another app.
I want to create a lightweight app (app #1) and upload it to the app
store. Then I would like to be able to direct users to download an
add-on (app #2) if they want that contains more images and sounds.
Then app #1 would read these resources from app #2.
The normal way to do something like that would be to host the resources you need on a server or just store them inside your app.
I'm trying to avoid having my own server to serve these images, and
just have the App Store handle this for me. I know I can do this on
Android, and was wondering if it's possible in iOS as well.
No, not possible.
If you are able to use the In-App Purchase system, then Apple will host this for you. From the docs, I'm not clear if this is iOS 6 only or is available for older versions (I haven't seen any reason it wouldn't work for older versions, but I haven't tried it).
Note that most iOS 6 specifics are under NDA, so please do not discuss them here until iOS 6 releases. This particular fact is public, however:
https://developer.apple.com/technologies/ios6/
https://developer.apple.com/appstore/in-app-purchase/index.html
https://itunesconnect.apple.com/docs/iTunesConnect_DeveloperGuide.pdf
No it's not possible. You have to setup an icon and it will be displayed on the iPhone springboard.
No it cannot, why do you need one?
Sadly No in IOS but in android this is possible.
There can exist an app without an icon. But it can still be managed or removed in "Manage Application" under settings.
This is required in scenarios, like say I want this app to alert user when he is going out of region, using GPS in the background. I do not want any icon nor any user interface.
I have created Map application for iPhone and I developed same Map application on iPad too by my client requirement. Now I have same Map app project but two .ipa files one for iPhone and another for iPad.
I have already put iPhone version on iTune and it showing status "waiting for review"
1>Now I want to put my iPad version app on iTune with the same project name. How this can be achieve?
2>What Setting should I do in plist file and with xib files?
If there is universal app iPhone/iPad then in app store we can see both iphone and iPad app having same project name...So in my case what steps should I follow. Plz suggest
You can't upload two binary versions of the same app under the same name.
You either have to make a universal app (meaning iPhone/iPad app in one app) or submit under another name.
Start reading this: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/iPhone/Conceptual/iPhoneOSProgrammingGuide/AdvancedAppTricks/AdvancedAppTricks.html
You can submit multiple apps from the same Xcode Project by using multiple Targets, and editing the Bundle ID suffix of each Target so that each Target has a unique Bundle ID. You might also want to change the Product name for each Target in the Build settings so that your apps will have different bundle file names.
Note that, unless the iPad version is different enough (uses iPad only APIs for instance) from the iPhone version, it has been reported that Apple might reject a nearly identical iPhone/iPad pair of apps and request that you submit a single Universal build instead.
If you wanted your iPhone and iPad project to be in the same app, you should have built it that way.
However, if you did specifically want a separate iPhone and iPad app, then you should make the difference clear in the names of each app.
There are many companies who have both iPhone and iPad apps on the appstore. Generally, the iPhone app is just called 'appName' and the iPad version is usually called 'appName for iPad'.
Examples of this are:-
Skype and Skype for iPad
Ebay and Ebay for iPad
If you want the application to have the exact same name in iTunes Connect, you will have to make it a universal app.
You can cancel the "waiting for review" and submit your universal binary instead:
Can I reject a binary that has already been submitted for review?
Yes. You are permitted to reject your binary, to remove it from the
Apple review queue, when your app is in one of the following iTunes
Connect states:
Waiting For Review
In Review
To reject your binary, simply click the Reject Binary button. After
the binary has been rejected, you can then indicate you are ready to
submit another binary through Application Loader, by clicking on the
Ready to Upload Binary button.
Please note that if you reject a binary that is Waiting For Review or
In Review, your review time will be reset and you will start over from
the beginning once you submit a new binary.
iTunes Connect FAQ
However, if you absolutely need to have two seperate applications, you can create a new app in iTunes Connect and name it for example "[your app] for iPad" or "[your app] HD" or something similar like a lot of apps you see on the store.
Are there any particular reasons you aren't submitting a universal application ?
It would have been better if it was a universal app.
In itunes Connect you cant create/re-use apps-name,sku number,bundle-identifier. You could submit a universal app as update.
If you still want multiple apps, Then you will have to create multiple apps in itunes connect with different name, sku number and bundle-id,
But note one thing the name of the application installed in the device is what you give on xcode, not the one in itunes connect. So I guess you could only give that much similarity.
PS if create a app with details{apps-name,sku number,bundle-identifier} and you delete without publishing also, you cant reuse these again.
So tell client the best(may be only possible) solution is Universal app.
if you have the same application for both iphone and ipad, for iphone app name will be - [appliction name], for ipad it should be - [application name ] HD
I am new to iPhone programming.
I created an application in Xcode. I want to change the application name and icon. However I can change the application name (which is appeared below the icon of application in iPhone) and icon from plist.
I want to ask that whether there are any other method or trick which i can use to change the icon and application name.
My project requirement is that end user want to change application name and icon frequently
As far as I know there is absolutely no way for the end user to change the application name or icon of applicaitons distributed via the App Store. I believe it would be possible to do this on jailbroken phones, but I'm not an expert in that area.
Jay is correct. You need to specify an icon and name for your app in the info.plist file. Those values can't be changed dynamically. If you want to change the name or the icon, you would need to fix them in xcode and submit an update to Apple for approval.
__mike
I disagree with the above answers.
Please go take a look at the free app on Itune, "OneTap" (or "onetap")
you will see that you can create a dynamicly new app with your own icon image.
There's definitely an app in cydia to accomplish this but you must jailbreak your iPhone or iPod touch