One month before the opening of WWDC, Apple wants to avoid a new controversy with developers. The spring cleaning that made the headlines the last days probably gave the builder the wrong role, which is why the latter wanted to communicate with its community of devs through a ” clarification ».
Recall that several developers, especially games, have received an email from Apple asking them to update their applications under penalty of withdrawal in 30 days. It is for the App Store to put the “old” apps on the sidelines, unless their creators decide to offer a new version.
App Store: Apple is preparing a decried spring cleaning
However, as several developers explained, some games are “finished objects”, they do not need to be constantly updated. This especially since sometimes it is not a simple compilation in Xcode: system functions may have changed, programming languages have evolved, which involves a lot of maintenance work on their part for a modest benefit. , or even zero.
At the same time, there are applications from Apple that have not been updated for years without causing a problem for… Apple. This is the case of the app Beats Pill+which was last updated in December 2018, AirPort Utility (October 2019) or eveniTunes Movie Trailers (November 2017)! In short, once again hangs the shadow of inconsistency, injustice and double standards over the head of the App Store.
In this clarification document, Apple explains that the email is sent to developers when the app has not been updated in the last three years and their download volume does not reach a certain threshold. ” Which means that the app has not been downloaded at all or very little during the last twelve months “, specifies the manufacturer.
Apple indicates that developers can appeal this decision (and according to John Gruber, very familiar with Apple’s habits and customs, they have every chance to obtain satisfaction). In addition, Apple extends the time to update the application, it goes from 30 to 90 days. It also recalls that apps removed from the App Store will continue to function normally for users who have already downloaded them.
These sweeps are not new: the App Store began this kind of cleaning in 2016. Over the past six years, Apple has removed nearly 2.8 million applications through this process.