Apple’s September event held virtually yesterday didn’t have too many surprises for customers. Almost everyone new that new Apple Watches, refreshed iPads, and the Apple One bundle is coming.
However, the company announced that its iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 will start rolling out from the very next day. This caught third-party app developers off-guard, as they usually have at least a week’s time to prepare their apps to be compatible with the latest versions of those platforms, after Apple’s marquee event.
After Apple announces its iPhones, it releases Xcode and iOS’ “Golden Master” version (the one that will ship to customers), so that developers can tune their apps for when customers get the latest mobile operating system.
? #Xcode12 GM Seed is out! ?
— Xcode Releases (@XcodeReleases) September 15, 2020
Oh boy…that is quite a bit soon than I was expecting…hoping for. pic.twitter.com/4STAa9UL5d
— David Smith (@_DavidSmith) September 15, 2020
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It’s understandable that creators want to push their apps on the release day of the OS, so they can attract more downloads. But a day’s deadline is very stressful as they would need to work on the final version of their apps and submit them for review.
And even after Xcode was out (it’s been under 12 hours at the time of writing) there were so many anomalies. Developers were not able to build their apps properly and multiple Xcode GM versions released in one night caused a lot of confusion.
the GM is looking solid. pic.twitter.com/km6FfuZUCX
— isky (@isky) September 16, 2020
The Xcode SDK might be ready for iOS 14 tomorrow, but App Store Connect isn't ?♂️ https://t.co/A2J4NkUqol
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) September 15, 2020
Apple squashed some of these problems, but all of these could’ve been avoided if the company gave enough time for developers to prepare.
Sorry, my iOS 14 features aren’t ready yet.
Since it’ll be a while before most of my customers use iOS 14, I spent the summer prioritizing bug fixes and my family’s pandemic/school logistics (we’re OK, just busy).
Like you all, I’m just doing what I can this year. More soon.
— Overcast (@OvercastFM) September 16, 2020
Only now do submissions to the App Store work. It is 10PM UK time; iOS 14 launches tomorrow. App Review can be anywhere from an hour to several days. This is a whole lot of unnecessary stress on developers in an otherwise stressful year https://t.co/O1NrtipW4k
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) September 15, 2020
Developer James Thompson thinks that Apple didn’t want to release the Golden Master version because it might’ve revealed some details about the products company launched yesterday.
My conspiracy theory is that iOS 14 has been GM for at least a week, and engineering wanted to release it to developers back then, but marketing didn’t want it revealing anything about the new products.
— James Thomson (@jamesthomson) September 15, 2020
This meme sums up the situation well.
Every iOS developer: ?
Apple: pic.twitter.com/caJj2SuuQ1
— Jesse #AbolishPolice (@jesse_squires) September 16, 2020
Even if this was the case, Apple could’ve delayed the rollout for iOS and iPadOS by a few days to give developers some breathing room. We asked the company to provide details on why it decided to release new OS versions without any notice to developers, and we’ll update the story if we hear back.
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