The App Store continues to stir controversy with developers. As always, it’s the policies Apple has put in place for its app store for iOS users that aren’t to everyone’s liking. After the antitrust allegations made against the old policies, it’s App Improvement’s turn to face the slingshot of the developers.
Many of them have complained about this new policy which they believe is detrimental to independent developers as well as those working on games.
Apple’s discord email
A few days ago, the cupertino firm has sent a letter to some developers regarding the update of the applications available on the App Store. Entitled “App Improvement Notice”, said letter indicates that Apple now intends to remove from the App Store applications that have not received an update for some time.
After receiving this letter, many developers have stepped up to denounce this new policy which they believe would be very harmful to independent developers and games. Therefore Protopop Games, known for games like MotiVoto, Nimian Legends, Wilderless, shared on Twitter a screenshot of the email that Apple sent him. You can read this there:
“This app has not been updated for some time and is scheduled to be removed from sale in 30 days. No action is required to keep the app available to users who have already downloaded it.
You can keep this app available to new users who discover and download it from the App Store by submitting an update for review within 30 days. If no update is submitted within 30 days, the app will be removed from sale.
Another showdown to come between Apple and app developers?
We must admit that the new policy of the App Store is rather a good initiative in favor of users. Since it requires developers to regularly update their applications, it will make them compliant with Apple’s latest APIs. Which should normally improve the user experience on new devices.
However, it could prove to be too restrictive for developers who do not have sufficient means to make regular updates. Although for the moment, the new policy does not give details regarding the frequency with which applications must be updated in order not to be removed from the App Store.
In protest against App Improvement, some developers have decided to pull some of their apps from the App Store. This is the case of developer Emilia Lazer-Walker who did it for some of her old games found in the Apple application store. She later stated that:
“Games can exist as finished objects. These free projects are not suitable for updates or a live service model, they are finished works of art dating back several years. »
We can therefore imagine that with this new measure, Apple is very likely to once again attract the wrath of developers. It should also be remembered that the firm is currently facing a fine of more than 50 million dollars in the Netherlands. Blame it on a controversy over App Store policies deemed unfavorable to dating apps.
Source : 9TO5MAC