Any technical reason not to use a QR code?
Probably so it’s human readable.
Yep, since you can also manually enter the code.
Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
41–50 of 58 posts
Re: Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
if you are worried about any of the sensors on your phone always being on, remember that Apple and Google need their relative OSes to make battery charges last as long as possible. So always on stuff is problematic. For a good user experience Bluetooth and wifi usually need to be on, but GPS, camera and microphone usually don't.
GPS is basically always on - on iOS if you have a background location app, you're being located every 5 minutes at least.
For iOS the GPS chip itself is only turned on when 1) a foreground application is using location 2) a navigation app is using location and you task switch (that blue bar you get at the top) 3) for background location, when the device reassociates to a new cell tower
Re: Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
#43That mysterious font actually is an adaptation of one of the oldest typefaces around specifically designed for optical character recognition. OCR-B (1968), by Adrian Frutiger. It’s used everywhere still, on credit cards, wire transfer forms, license plates, etc. etc. It’s even an industry standard (ISO 1073-2:1976).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCR-B
So, it’s as ‘custom’ as Apple’s (pre San Francisco) systemfont Myriad, compared to Frutiger’s Frutiger, who said of the adaptation: “not badly done” while feeling that the similarities had gone “a little too far”… — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad_(typeface)
Re: Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
if you are worried about any of the sensors on your phone always being on, remember that Apple and Google need their relative OSes to make battery charges last as long as possible. So always on stuff is problematic. For a good user experience Bluetooth and wifi usually need to be on, but GPS, camera and microphone usually don't.
GPS is basically always on - on iOS if you have a background location app, you're being located every 5 minutes at least.
This isn't true, an app has to explicitly turn GPS hardware on. Almost all the time apps, foreground or background, get locations passively, which is done by triangulating cell tower positions, i.e. the location the phone already knows.
Re: Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have no idea if this is within the rules, but another option could be to use the "Gift This App" function to generate paid, non-expiring promo codes instead (send it to yourself). You'd incur the 30% App Store revenue cut this way in addition to any sales tax.
That's an interesting idea. I wonder what Apple would think. On one hand, they still get their cut. On the other hand, they like having full control over the experience. On the gripping hand, how could they even stop it?
Since apps are ranked in the App Store by revenue and number of apps sold, buying copies yourself could also be seen as ranking fraud, so I'd assume Apple wouldn't like it.
Re: Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
#46Can someone explain what these promo codes are for? If they are just scanned by iTunes wouldn't you need to register them somehow in order for them to be useful?
Re: Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I never saw it for apps, only music.
Lots of paid apps, games and even e-books, I have several cards for Monument Valley.
If you have an extra one and don't mind sharing, I've been waiting to get into stardew valley... If you could email it to me (in my profile page) I'd be so happy :)
Re: Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
#48Can someone explain what these promo codes are for? If they are just scanned by iTunes wouldn't you need to register them somehow in order for them to be useful?
A developer can generate these promo codes for their app, so a potential customer or reviewer can get a free copy of the app.
Re: Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
#49Can someone explain what these promo codes are for? If they are just scanned by iTunes wouldn't you need to register them somehow in order for them to be useful?
A developer can generate these promo codes for their app, so a potential customer or reviewer can get a free copy of the app.
But surely if you just printed off a random code it wouldn't let you download the app for free?
Re: Cracking the code behind Apple’s App Store promo card design
#50> Or you could use Mail Designer Pro to share your promo codes, e.g. to send a nice promo code email to a journalist. It adds a bit of magic to the experience if your email is scannable
Yeah, sounds very convenient... How exactly would that work?