I had a very pleasant, albeit disappointing, conversation with the folks at Apple about my WiFi application, WiFi Checker. They’re trying to crack down very hard on applications using private APIs – I’m sure the debacle around all of the camera applications moving from 2.0 to 3.0 was quite a mess! To make a long story short, WiFi Checker’s update to run on 3.0 will not be approved.

Though I will miss having a WiFi application that had, at one point, been downloaded by nearly 10% of the sold iPhone/iPod devices, I think this policy is totally the right call for the store. Consistent treatment of your developers is a good thing.

Let this serve as a warning to others thinking about using undocumented / private APIs – don’t waste your time! And diversify soon if private APIs are how you’re planning to put your kids through college…

Well, it’s now been over a month (July 9th) since I last provided Apple with an updated version of WiFi Checker. It’s got the name change, icon, 3.0 compat, and a couple of other small tweaks I made back in Oct ‘08. About three weeks ago I got the, “is requiring unexpected additional time for review” and I’ve sent more mail to the reviewers to nudge them. Hopefully I’ll get an answer soon – or even better the update approved!

Thanks to all of you for your e-mails and offers of support, but I don’t need you to spam the AppStore reviewers, Steve, or beta test it. I’m also not looking to move to Cydia. I’m fine with just continuing to nudge the review squad. I’d prefer to think that they’ve just slipped up rather than that this is malicious or that I need to pass along bribes.

So it turns out that Apple, in the 3.0 version of the OS, moved the WiFi APIs from a private framework location into a more public space. I have an update that is sitting in the queue to try and provide a new – and still free! – version of WiFi Checker, along with some changes that have been sitting on my machine since August of last year or so… not the least of which is a very spiffy icon

Here’s hoping they aren’t just leading me along! After all, they did let at least one other WiFi application update for 3.0…

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.

iDraft is a new application that my friend, Jon Walsh, and I put together to track information toward the upcoming NFL draft. I put together the UI and application, and he is using his years and years of experience as a football game designer to create projected draft order, write up bios on players and teams, and pull together more information than even the most die-hard of NFL fans can handle!

Best of all? It’s free!

Well, after months of back and forth, I’ve finally gotten definitive word from somebody at Apple – my WiFi application will not be able to be updated. And since there’s a trademark issue with the current name, I’ve had to pull it down from the App Store.

Thanks to everybody who downloaded a copy – over one million copies is pretty darned amazing and was a lot of fun!

I was recently informed that the name WiFinder is a name still in use by another company. Anybody got great ideas for other names? Most of the obvious cool and fun ones were also used during the dot-com-bubble, and I’m loathe to run into this problem again

BTW, check out the awesome icon work that Serge from LemonMedia did for the program! It’s been in submission for over a month and a half, but hey, that’s Apple for you, and this is Pretty Dangerous Stuff.

Well, in the continuing saga of WiFinder updates, they’ve rejected another update… and approved two from the newer applications. I’m not really sure what to do with the application at this point. With grad school, I barely have time to work on it as it is. I really don’t enjoy the every-update procedure of discussing back and forth with the AppStore review people on whether or not they should allow me to continue making this kind of app.

I really wish they’d just decide “WiFi is ok” or “WiFi is a no-no” and be consistent with their review decisions!

Free Wifinder, that’s what! Check out the top free apps in iTunes. As of right now, it’s #6. Thanks to everybody who downloaded it so far. Despite the lack of revenue (or anything whatsoever due to these downloads), I’m really jazzed at the over 50,000 people a day worldwide who are picking it up! Good luck finding those open networks!

Many of you have reported bugs and made requests for updates to WiFinder. I’ve dutifully logged, and already fixed most of them. However, I should let you know why it’s taking so long. But first, some background…

On Private Functions (or APIs – Application Programming Interfaces)

I worked for many years at Microsoft. We generally had a policy with our third-party developers: if it’s public and you use it, we’ll do our best to support that use forever, even if it’s on the fringes of how we intended it to be used. If it’s an undocumented function or something from one of our other binaries, we prefer you don’t use it, but we’re certainly not going to prevent you if you need it. But we reserve the right to break your application. 

Many of these APIs exist, both at the OS layer (as here: http://www.inlumineconsulting.com:8080/website/nt.sekrits.html) and at the application layers. There’s nothing malicious about them – they’re just code that needed to be exposed for others to use that wasn’t at a quality level or a support level that we wished to keep For All Time. Stop with the conspiracy theories!

On WiFinder

OK, I’ll admit it. WiFinder uses APIs from a private framework (Apple80211). So does an application released shortly after WiFinder (WiFiFoFum) and one released in just the last couple of days (WiFiTrak). AFAIK, we all released and got our apps through the review process just fine.

Unfortunately, I have been asked to remove the API usage. Bit of a shock, but I let them know that I’d be happy to if they provided me with a public interface. Until that happens, though, I’m in a bit of limbo, and no updates can go through the process.

The Consolation

At least for now, they haven’t removed my application (or any of the others!). So I’m not really complaining. Well, I’m complaining that another product came out, mimiced all my features, polished them up, and released – when I’ve had a better version than that sitting on my machine for a long time! But certainly, by the terms of their license agreement, I’m in the wrong (as is anyone who uses undocumented APIs on the Microsoft platform). I just wanted to let folks know why there hasn’t – and may well never be – an update to WiFinder or any of the other WiFi applications.