Dear Apple,
As developers on the Mac and iOS platforms, we think its time to reflect on Apple's App Store review policies.
There are some wonderful things about the App Stores' protection mechanisms. We believe Apple's policy of not allowing every App on the App Stores, while occasionally problematic, acts overall in the interest of users and high quality software. We're happy that Apple has the ability to delist and remove software that violates user privacy, contains egregious security issues, or otherwise puts users and their data at risk.
That said, we believe that the current policy of manually reviewing App updates places an undue burden on developers, and ultimately harms user experience. It should be reformed.
The App update review process comes at a real cost to the companies that make great software for your platforms. It unfairly and unnecessarily burdens developers who strive to do the right thing. Large companies that ship Apps will tell you how hard the update review timeline makes it to ship and release updates. Graceful rollouts and user transitions, server code updates, press releases and security fixes are all slowed down and made extremely difficult to coordinate. For smaller companies and indie operations, the burden can be even higher. The delay required to ship a feature update or fix a critical bug can lead to lost sales and increased support costs. One developer reports waiting for over 59 days for review of an app update with bug fixes to support El Capitan.
Consider the frustration that developer's user must feel. The update review process leaves users waiting in the dark. Users wait longer for features, suffer longer from bugs, and are confused by inconsistencies resulting from the unknown amount of time required for an App update to ship. On the Mac, many companies have sadly concluded that they can deliver a better overall user experience by removing their app from the App Store. On iOS – where this isn't an option – the cost is harder to measure, but the burden on developers and users is exactly the same.
We believe that it is time for Apple to reform its App Store review policies. Apple should work to formulate new policies that put users and trusted App developers first. Here is what we propose:
1. Apple should allow developers to publish App updates instantly or as soon as possible after automated tests and checks are run.
Doing so will ensure that users can use the latest, greatest and safest software available, while allowing developers to move more quickly and with more confidence. We believe it is possible to implement this change with no significant downside to Apple or users. It is already quite possible for malware to sneak onto the App Stores, and an automated and instant review process will not change this. However, Apple already has the mechanisms it needs to respond to these abuses, and an automated review process will not undermine these mechanisms.
2. Automated App Store updates would be a privilege enjoyed by developers, and willful violations of the App Store guidelines would lead to suspension of this privilege.
When accidental or unintended violations occur, Apple could require developers to fix the issue within a certain window of time in order to maintain automated App update review privileges. Apple would also continue to manually review all new App submissions, ensuring that the broad functionality and design of an App is inline with guidelines.
3. Enforce a minimum time delay between updates – a week, for example.
Allowing automated App update reviews raises valid concerns that developers may push updates too frequently or insufficiently test their apps before shipping. To mitigate this, we recommend a minimum time period between updates. Developers could be allowed occasional exceptions to this policy – one per quarter, say – to allow them to fix urgent bugs, user experience problems or security exploits.
Thank you for considering this letter. We hope that it is received in the spirit of constructive criticism that it is intended. We recognize that we cannot possibly know all factors leading to Apple's creation and maintenance of App Store review policies, and hope that suggestions are considered collaboratively and not as ultimatums. We look forward to years of progress, innovation and fruitful development on the iOS, Apple Watch and Mac platforms.
Signed,
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✎ William Henderson
CEO, Knock Software Inc