As every iPhone owner has probably noticed, there’s a new version coming.
And from what I’ve seen so far (without ruining any NDAs!), I expect that there are some applications – like the camera applications – which will break after upgrade to 3.0. These applications admit all over the developer forums that they rely on things like the exact way that the Apple camera frame is put together, and I’m betting that Apple will have changed it for the new functionality they announced. Since Apple doesn’t have the Microsoft “everything is backwards compatible forever,” I wonder how users will react. Especially when their paid apps break. Will developers have to make 3.0 versions and maintain old 2.2.1 versions for users who don’t move forward because they’ve got an application that’s not being updated anymore? Or will it be like the Mac, where everyone moves to the new version and grumbles until either their app comes forward or a new competitor releases a clone of the now-defunct application?
It’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out, if only because I spent so much time in Microsoft-land, where back-compat was considered gospel.
March 20, 2009 at 2:56 am |
With this new update, and a little tweaking, will Wifinder (with its new name) will be approved by apple, and re-added to the app store?
March 20, 2009 at 11:01 am |
Not yet. They still haven’t made public versions of the Apple80211 functionality, though I continue to bug them about it
March 26, 2009 at 3:11 am |
awwwww, I hope there release it soon!!!!
April 5, 2009 at 3:35 pm |
I bought and use your WiFinder app. What I don’t understand is how the other Wi-Finding apps in the app store get around the public/private APIs. WifiTrack is #1 among paid apps now. It must be doing something right since 1) Apple allows it and 2) users buy it. Not bothered about the lost change here, just wondering about this scenario where apps go from paid to free to orphans on the iPhone/iPod within a very short lifecycle, due to policy and SDK changes.
April 7, 2009 at 8:24 pm |
That is the reason Apple frowns upon using private API’s. Take, for example, WiFinder. It simply crashes when attempting to run under 3.0. You had plenty of notice to change, and you chose not to, depriving the world of a great application.
I tried a couple of other similar applications. They don’t run under 3.0 either, but they don’t crash. Presumably they have some sort of wrapper around the private API calls, and since their apps are still available, they have the opportunity to update when the time comes. Users will move on.
I hope you can either convince Apple to publish the API calls you require, or figure out a workaround. Your app showed a great deal of potential.
April 7, 2009 at 8:52 pm |
Actually, there was no notice to change or decision to make. The functionality simply doesn’t (and, so far as I can tell, will not!) exist in public APIs. Mine was the first application of this sort, and at the time Apple didn’t care about use of private APIs in early submissions. They switched to intermittent enforcement of no private API usage, and are now pretty tight on it.
Sadly, there’s nothing to be done from my side. It’s just a type of functionality Apple is choosing not to spend resources to support and are now actively preventing from being updated.
FYI, traditional OS vendor behavior in the private API space is just to reserve the right to change them, not to ban applications that use them. That’s a major shift that happened back during the lawsuits against Microsoft re: “internal APIs used by Office.” But hey, it’s their platform and they don’t hold a monopoly position – if they want to ban applications with odd numbers of letters in their names, that’s Apple’s right.
April 8, 2009 at 8:25 am |
Lars,
You sort of keep your users warm here while passing the ball to Apple. I still don’t quite understand why it is acceptable to the App Store screeners to access the private API via a wrapper function, since it seems rather obvious that the app relies on functionality provided by a private API (even without a code audit).
I’ll give you integrity credit for pulling the app when the violation of policy eventually was made clear. It does not seem quite fair that these other apps are still sold without informing, preferably in all caps, those that buy them of the situation. But Helena is absolutely right; if Apple decides to change, again, WiFinder will at best exist on the far fringes of this market. Apps currently in the store attract all new buyers and cater to switchers. It will hardly be worth it for you to spend more time on WiFinder.
That said, I like your app and will continue to use it until 3.0 arrives.
June 18, 2009 at 9:50 pm |
Yesterday I updated my 3G to 3.0 and earlier today I was doing a compatibility check for every app I have on my device. Unfortunately, WiFinder crashes immediately after launch so I checked on the AppStore for comments… but the app has disappeared. I’m really sorry, Lars, your app was great and I was able to find many more hotspots than using the standard Apple interface.
I guess I’ll look for another app.
June 22, 2009 at 8:07 pm |
Agreed! I loved wifinder. Now what will I use? I’m sad.
June 26, 2009 at 1:08 am |
Since I upgraded to 3.0, I’ve tried at least 3 other WiFi finders, none are as good as your program. I’m almost tempted to revert back so I can keep using it. Anyway, I hope Apple approves your upgrade soon. I really miss it.
July 6, 2009 at 1:37 pm |
I loved WiFinder also. Have to look for another app now. Sorry to see WiFinder crashes under 3.0.
July 18, 2009 at 5:07 pm |
Why not submit one to Cydia?
July 18, 2009 at 5:13 pm |
The terms of service in the iPhone developer agreement state that we can lose it if we release software for one of the hacked environments. I’m not quite ready to give up entirely on the AppStore
August 9, 2009 at 12:46 pm |
Any further info about when we can expect the 3.0 compatible update? I’m really missing the app on my iPod