App Store notifications

with iOS 5 due for public release tomorrow (Oct-12) I guess the App Store reviewers will be working late today to clear the backlog from all of the iOS developers who have submitted iOS 5 app updates over the last week. I actually saw the status of an App go from “Waiting For Review” to “In Review” to “Processing for App Store” to “Ready for Sale” in just 40 minutes today.

This does make me wonder if Apple can turn around App reviews this quickly during the run up to a major release why can’t it always be this fast? Maybe they have more reviewers working this week or they are applying some lighter checks for simple updates? Of course not everybody is seeing such a quick response though Apple is claiming they have reviewed 99% of all new App and App Updates submitted in the last 7 days.

App Store Status Notifications

One quick tip if you don’t already have the iTunes Connect Mobile app installed go grab it today. It is a Universal app so it will work fine on both the iPhone and iPad. You need to login with your iTunes Connect Apple developer account. Whilst it does provide a pretty view of your App sales that is not why I recommend it. The main reason to use it is that it will deliver iOS notifications to your device any time the status of an App changes as it works it’s way through the App Store submission process. This saves a lot of trips and refreshes of the iTunes Connect web site to see if your App is in review yet.

iTunes 10.5

One final quick note. Apple has just posted the public version of iTunes 10.5. If you have been using one of the iTunes betas and are already tired of being warned it will expire you will want to download and install the official version from apple.com/itunes.

iTunes Connect App Status Update

Almost a year ago I created a flowchart to try and make sense of the various states an app can go through during the iOS App Store submission process. There have been some recent changes by Apple so I thought it was time I posted an updated version. There is an updated pdf version of the chart if you want a full size version.

As before the blue boxes indicate states that require action by the developer, the yellow boxes indicate actions are required by the App Store team and red boxes indicate the app has been rejected or withdrawn. Corrections are welcome if you have them.

Uploading

The process starts with the creation of a new app or a new version of an existing app. At this point whilst you are entering the app metadata, uploading screenshots and setting pricing the app status is Prepare For Upload. Once you hit the ready to submit binary button the app status will change to Waiting For Upload. Shortly after uploading the binary the status should change to Upload Received.

At this point it is possible your app can be rejected for a Missing Screenshot or an Invalid Binary. Common mistakes include forgetting to include an iPad screenshot for a universal app or submitting a binary without incrementing the bundle version number. If you are validating the app within Xcode you should be able to avoid these mistakes. Once you have resolved the issue (check your email for details) by editing the metadata to add the missing screenshots or uploaded a valid binary you should reach the Waiting For Review status.

If you are stuck in the Upload Received state for more than 24 hours you should contact iTunes Connect Support for help.

Reviewing

The App Store submission process seems to have improved greatly over the last year with 98% of new apps and 99% of app updates now reviewed within 7 days. You can generally expect to spend a few days in the Waiting For Review state and then a few more days actually In Review. If your app is Rejected you should get an email notification indicating the reasons or you can check the Resolution Center. Once you have fixed the problems you submit the revised binary and start the process again.

Apple has recently introduced a new rejection status for when you have non-compliant metadata. For example a number of developers are currently reporting rejections because the app description mentions iOS 5 which at this time is still pre-release software and hence covered by the Apple NDA. If your app ends up in the Metadata Rejected state you need to use iTunes Connect Resolution Center to review the reason and edit the offending metadata item. Since you are only changing metadata you do not need to submit a new binary which should save some time.

Whilst you are waiting for Apple (Waiting For Review or In Review)  you can abort the process by rejecting the binary using iTunes Connect. Your app status will change to Developer Rejected and you will need to restart from the beginning with a new binary.

Waiting to Go Live

Once you get past the review process there are sill a number of prerequisites that can delay the app from reaching the App Store. The first three states all require developer action to resolve:

• Pending Contract: You have not yet completed the contracts in the Contracts, Tax & Banking section of iTunes Connect.
• Waiting For Export Compliance: If you have an app with encryption subject to export compliance you need to wait until your CCATS has been approved.
• Pending Developer Release: The version release control in iTunes Connect allows you to set whether an app update is automatically released once it is approved or if the developer will manually release it. You will get a reminder email from Apple if you have an App in this state for more than 30 days. You can also reject the app at this point if you do not want it to ever be released.

There is a final pending status that depends on Apple:

• Pending Apple Release: If you have submitted an app for an upcoming iOS release your app will stay in this state until the corresponding iOS release is made public. For example we can expect that Apple will shortly invite developers to submit apps ahead of the public release of iOS 5. You can also reject the app whilst waiting in this state.

On Sale

The final stage happens quickly once you have the approvals and all prerequisites in place. The Processing For App Store status should quickly become Ready For Sale and then within 24 hours the app should appear in the country specific app stores that you specified when submitting the app. Once the app is on sale the developer can decide to remove it from sale (Developer Removed From Sale) or Apple can identify a problem and decide to remove it from the store (Removed From Sale).

App Store Whitespace Validation Failure with Xcode 3.2.5

it seems that when Apple released iOS 4.2 and Xcode 3.2.5 they introduced a bug to the App Store integration within Xcode. The problem happens after you “Build and Archive” and then use the “Validate…” button in the Xcode organizer prior to submitting to the App Store.

If you have an application with a bundle display name (CFBundleDisplayName) that happens to contain a space you will get a validation error as follows:

The application “My App Name” has failed validation because of the following issues.

The detailed description for the “issue” is as follows:

My App Name.ipa: filename may not contain whitespace

What is odd about this problem is that if you look at the actual application file that has been archived (right-click on the archived application in the Xcode organizer and use Show in Finder) it is still named using the application product name not the display name. However, even if the product name does not contain a space, you still get the validation failure.

Application Loader

The best workaround I can find until Apple fixes Xcode is to use the standalone Application Loader application that is bundled with Xcode. You will find this in /Developer/Applications/Utilities, I currently have v1.4 installed with Xcode 3.2.5. The first time you run Application Loader you need to enter your iTunes Connect login information. After that the procedure is as follows:

• Build and Archive the app as usual with Xcode.
• Find the archived application in Xcode organiser, select it and then use the Share button, ensure you have the correct iPhone Distribution code-signing identity selected and then use Save to Disk… to generate an ipa file.
• Run Application Loader and select File -> New (command-N) and choose the application that you want to submit. This assumes that you have already added the new version to iTunes Connect.
• You then get asked to confirm if you have tested and qualified this binary on iOS 4, to which you probably should respond “Yes”…
• You can now use the Choose… button to select the application binary “ipa” file you previously saved and then click Send to upload to the App Store.

Application Loader does not seem to suffer from the same bug as the app submission code in Xcode so, at least for now, it is a good workaround if you have a space in your applications display name.

iTunes Connect App Status

Inspired by this flowchart of the iOS 4 UIApplication Delegate I thought I would have a go at Omigraffling myself a chart of the iTunes Connect application status during the submission process. A pdf version is also available for download should you want a larger version. Descriptions are based on my understanding/experience, all corrections are of course welcome.

The blue boxes indicate actions required by the submitter where as the yellow boxes are actions performed by the App Store. Red boxes are bad news….

Uploading

The process kicks off with the creation of a new app or a new version of an existing app. Once all of the metadata has been entered and you select the ready to submit binary button the status moves from Prepare For Upload to Waiting For Upload. After uploading the binary you should then see the status change to Upload Received - I have seen this take an hour or two following the binary upload.

I have never had it happen to me but I believe at this point you can get a reject for either an Invalid binary or a Missing Screenshot (in the case that you uploaded a binary for a Universal app but forgot to include both iPhone and iPad images in the app metadata).

If all goes well the status should then within a few hours change to Waiting For Review. Apple say that if this does not happen within 24 hours you should contact iTunes Connect Support.

Reviewing

Once you get past the upload process you end up in the queue Waiting For Review and usually with a day or two you end up actually In Review. The length of the review process depends on your app but if things are going smoothly this stage usually lasts 3-4 days (not counting weekends). At the end of the review process you will be notified with the good or bad news.

During this phase you can as the developer decide to abort the process by rejecting the binary. You can do this even if Apple has started to review the app. Of course if you do this you will need to upload a new binary and go through the whole process again from the start.

Waiting to Go Live

After getting the good news that your app was accepted there are still a few things that can delay it from reaching the App Store. If you still have to complete iTunes contract or export compliance details this will be reflected in the app status. The final reason (Pending Developer Release) is fairly new and allows the developer to determine when the app will go live instead of it automatically going live following approval.

On Sale

Once all approvals and prerequisites have been met the App should quickly go through the Processing For App Store state and then finally reach Ready For Sale where it will start to appear in the App Stores. Apple always puts a disclaimer on this process indicating that it can take up to 24 hours to propagate to all the stores. Once the app is on sale there are two possibilities for it to be removed from sale. The developer can decide to remove it from sale or Apple can find a problem with the App and kick it out of the App Store for you.

All new App Store submissions must be with iOS 4

Interesting announcement from Apple today that all new applications and updates to existing applications submitted to the App Store must be built with iOS4.

Make sure that your applications are compatible with iOS 4. All new applications and updates to existing applications must be built with iPhone SDK 4. In addition, the App Store will no longer support applications that target iOS 2.x.

Also I guess we should not be surprised that support for iOS 2.x is being dropped. Hopefully those 5% of users who were still using 2.x back in March have upgraded by now.