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Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

stuartkhall.com

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Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#21

Post by taude »

xutopia wrote: post #10

Why would Apple spend the energy to fix this? They'll be happy to see developers update their apps to work with iOS7 and the sooner the better. / edit In no means am I saying that it is a good idea. I'm just saying that Apple's desires are not aligned with those of well-meaning developers here.

Wait..WHAT? Isn't the whole point of the Apple ecosystem so that they control it to give the best experience to their users? Polluting app store reviews based on beta versions of the OS isn't the way to encourage devs to update their apps.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#22

Post by OvidNaso »

grecy wrote: post #8

When a customer submits an app review from a beta iOS, that review should just be emailed directly to the developer, and not show up on any of the "official" review lists that other customers can see. That way the developer is getting feedback about potential problems with the upcoming iOS, and can fix them, but it doesn't hurt their image for the 99.9% of customers running the non-beta iOS.

Reviews are not solely for the developer. In fact, they are there mainly for the users. They absolutely should be there for a public beta to let other users know the status of the application.

What should change is the silly star rating system and they should not be calculated or even used in the review. There is way too much dependence on a 'good score' for the developer and hiding beneficial information is not a solution.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#23

Post by Moto7451 »

ianlevesque wrote: post #18

I suspect the reason this hasn't been corrected is because ideally only developers have beta iOS versions and are intelligent enough not to do this. Unfortunately pretending only developers have beta releases at this point is ridiculous.

I disagree in the case iOS 7 betas. iOS 6 betas spoiled us because they were so solid. iOS 7 betas 1 and 2 were basically garbage as a general release. One of our devs had to figure out how to dial into AT&T to get his voicemail until Beta 3.

Apple's betas are not "Google betas" where they're pretty solid at release and keep the beta monicker until we've learned to ignore it. This round of Betas have definitely been early releases so developers can get a grasp on APIs and UI changes and nothing more.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#24

Post by myko »

OvidNaso wrote: post #22
grecy wrote: post #8

When a customer submits an app review from a beta iOS, that review should just be emailed directly to the developer, and not show up on any of the "official" review lists that other customers can see. That way the developer is getting feedback about potential problems with the upcoming iOS, and can fix them, but it doesn't hurt their image for the 99.9% of customers running the non-beta iOS.

Reviews are not solely for the developer. In fact, they are there mainly for the users. They absolutely should be there for a public beta to let other users know the status of the application. What should change is the silly star rating system and they should not be calculated or even used in the review. There is way too much dependence on a 'good score' for the developer and hiding beneficial information is not a so…

> In fact, they are there mainly for the users. They absolutely should be there for a public beta to let other users know the status of the application.

I'm more likely to agree with this if you mean only other users of the beta OS should be able to see the review. It doesn't do the general user any good to see a beta review, positive or negative, when they aren't even using the beta OS.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#25

Post by clarky07 »

OvidNaso wrote: post #22
grecy wrote: post #8

When a customer submits an app review from a beta iOS, that review should just be emailed directly to the developer, and not show up on any of the "official" review lists that other customers can see. That way the developer is getting feedback about potential problems with the upcoming iOS, and can fix them, but it doesn't hurt their image for the 99.9% of customers running the non-beta iOS.

Reviews are not solely for the developer. In fact, they are there mainly for the users. They absolutely should be there for a public beta to let other users know the status of the application. What should change is the silly star rating system and they should not be calculated or even used in the review. There is way too much dependence on a 'good score' for the developer and hiding beneficial information is not a so…

It is not a public beta in any way shape or form. The only way to get the beta is to be a developer paying $99 a year to Apple. The "users" do not have iOS 7 and therefore bad reviews based on an unreleased BETA OS should not be allowed. Most of these issues aren't even something wrong with the apps. They will get fixed when the OS stops being buggy.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#26

Post by jcampbell1 »

Can someone comment on what is going to happen when iOS 7 is released? The upgrade from 5->6 didn't break any apps by default. It appears 7 resizes all the stock controls, and this breaks tons of apps by default. Will an existing iOS6 app work unchanged in iOS 7, or will it have to be fixed.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#27

Post by itafroma »

RKearney wrote: post #19

What people seem to forget is parts of iOS 7 are still under NDA, yet people race to post videos and full-length articles of how "the new beta has 10 more pixels on this icon!" That, plus the fact that there are websites that sell UUID registrations so non-develoeprs can use the betas are the reason this happens. So, instead of blocking iOS betas from submitting reviews, how about everyone as a whole stops breaking t…

To be fair, the license agreement to which Apple developers agree has the following clause (line breaks added by me):

> Notwithstanding the foregoing, Apple Confidential Information will not include:

> (i) information that is generally and legitimately available to the public through no fault or breach of Yours,

> (ii) information that is generally made available to the public by Apple,

> (iii) information that is independently developed by You without the use of any Apple Confidential Information,

> (iv) information that was rightfully obtained from a third party who had the right to transfer or disclose it to You without limitation, or

> (v) any FOSS included in the Apple Software and accompanied by licensing terms that do not impose confidentiality obligations on the use or disclosure of such FOSS.

Because of (i), there are very few things that remain confidential for too long due to Apple fan/rumor sites breathlessly reporting every change in the DPs under the notion that it's in the public interest to know.

I'm not a lawyer and this shouldn't be construed as legal advice, but a plain reading of (iii) seems like it might indicate DP-related bugs in 3rd party apps would not be considered confidential either.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#28

Post by clarky07 »

oleganza wrote: post #15
xutopia wrote: post #10

Why would Apple spend the energy to fix this? They'll be happy to see developers update their apps to work with iOS7 and the sooner the better. / edit In no means am I saying that it is a good idea. I'm just saying that Apple's desires are not aligned with those of well-meaning developers here.

Variant: only show reviews for the same platform, the user wrote review from. E.g. iOS7 users will see their reviews, but iOS6 users will see theirs. And developers will still be penalized if they don't fix problems by the time of iOS7 release, because reviews now will be visible for many more users. So it still incentivizes devs to be quick, but does not pollute reviews with irrelevant for iOS6 users bug reports.

That's still BS. most of the bugs are caused by the OS being beta and not the app itself. Once the new version does get released the dev gets screwed because of something he had no control over.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#29

Post by clarky07 »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #26

Can someone comment on what is going to happen when iOS 7 is released? The upgrade from 5->6 didn't break any apps by default. It appears 7 resizes all the stock controls, and this breaks tons of apps by default. Will an existing iOS6 app work unchanged in iOS 7, or will it have to be fixed.

Any details here are likely under NDA. I'd expect most apps to work just fine though as they have worked fine during the other upgrades.

Re: Stop Allowing App Reviews From Beta iOS Versions

#30

Post by pmjordan »

xutopia wrote: post #10

Why would Apple spend the energy to fix this? They'll be happy to see developers update their apps to work with iOS7 and the sooner the better. / edit In no means am I saying that it is a good idea. I'm just saying that Apple's desires are not aligned with those of well-meaning developers here.

You can't submit apps built against the beta SDK to the app store. So in many cases, there is no way for the developer to remedy the situation until Apple deems a particular release candidate as The One, at which point they start accepting submissions. Anyway, the betas are still in flux, so half the time you'd be working around OS bugs for the sake of a week or two after which the workaround is no longer needed.

I don't see how public reviews from beta users are in any way a positive thing. Sure, forward them to developers, but definitely don't let them influence the average star rating.

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