Release dates are messed up again?!?!?

loobian · 11-05-2009, 01:51 AM

Hi!

Last night Apple approved an update to one of our apps. I changed the release date a several hours before the app was approved. Now I see the release date is not changed. I changed it few times just to have a change- it's still the old release date.
I went and changed release dates of apps already approved. I put the release dates to 4-Nov. What happened is that the dates were updated but to their PREVIOUS release date back a month ago.

What is happening again? If you see for example the Lifestyle category you see that the first app in the recently released list is with release date Jul 12. How comes???

- Iliya

masc2279 · 11-05-2009, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loobian

Hi!

Last night Apple approved an update to one of our apps. I changed the release date a several hours before the app was approved. Now I see the release date is not changed. I changed it few times just to have a change- it's still the old release date.
I went and changed release dates of apps already approved. I put the release dates to 4-Nov. What happened is that the dates were updated but to their PREVIOUS release date back a month ago.

What is happening again? If you see for example the Lifestyle category you see that the first app in the recently released list is with release date Jul 12. How comes???

- Iliya

It seems like they are working on that feature because when my app update was changed to ready for sale i went in and the feature was gone. Here are the screen grabs in the topic "Change Date Options are gone !" They have since been put back. This was happening around the time itunes went nuts. yesterday. They also have added new features to track status of your app which is also in that thread.

appstorehacker · 11-05-2009, 07:46 AM

I think patience is the keyword here. We change it often the day it comes out and won't see it till the next day. Meanwhile, some other App Store might be updated already. Just give it 24 hours

loobian · 11-05-2009, 07:49 AM

It would've been nice if Apple had the magical ability of posting text or stuff, when they do such changes...you know.

stlau · 11-05-2009, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loobian

Hi!

Last night Apple approved an update to one of our apps. I changed the release date a several hours before the app was approved. Now I see the release date is not changed. I changed it few times just to have a change- it's still the old release date.
I went and changed release dates of apps already approved. I put the release dates to 4-Nov. What happened is that the dates were updated but to their PREVIOUS release date back a month ago.

What is happening again? If you see for example the Lifestyle category you see that the first app in the recently released list is with release date Jul 12. How comes???

- Iliya

I am worse than you.
My release should be Nov. 5th. However, it shows Aug 12 now !!!!!
I can't believe this

VMan · 11-05-2009, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stlau

I am worse than you.
My release should be Nov. 5th. However, it shows Aug 12 now !!!!!
I can't believe this

Possibly related to this topic, while waiting for my update to be approved, I have been changing my release date to be the current day, each day.

It's now been almost 4 weeks and I have not been approved. In the past my updates never took more than 14 days.

Do you think I'm screwing up my order in the approval queue by changing the dates daily? I had usually just waited for approval before changing dates in the past, but read that others had recommended changing daily in case I miss the approval email.

ama269 · 11-05-2009, 11:41 AM

aggrivating... my app just updated yesterday night, now once the issue is fixed, I will be at the bottom of the "released date" list.

voiperguy · 11-05-2009, 12:16 PM

I too am in the same boat. I just got approved of my first update to a game originally uploaded July 23. The new link they provide in iTunes Connect "Status History"...says is was reviewed Nov 4 at 17:18, and Ready for Sale at 17:44.

When I view my app in the store, it still says Released July 23.

As a previous post mentioned...Just be patient.

on a side note...I am pleased that the review process for my first paid version update took only 10 days. My last experience with uploading the lite version...took 50 days...(could it be a record?) LOL.

stlau · 11-05-2009, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VMan

Possibly related to this topic, while waiting for my update to be approved, I have been changing my release date to be the current day, each day.

It's now been almost 4 weeks and I have not been approved. In the past my updates never took more than 14 days.

Do you think I'm screwing up my order in the approval queue by changing the dates daily? I had usually just waited for approval before changing dates in the past, but read that others had recommended changing daily in case I miss the approval email.

I don't think so. Only uploading new binary will change your queue.

masc2279 · 11-05-2009, 03:00 PM

Two of my apps just got released and they are on the top of release date without me going in and resetting the date. It does look like apple is changing how things are handled. This is great because it did no go by submission date. It jumped to today as the release date automatically.

ama269 · 11-05-2009, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masc2279

Two of my apps just got released and they are on the top of release date without me going in and resetting the date. It does look like apple is changing how things are handled. This is great because it did no go by submission date. It jumped to today as the release date automatically.

Just to be clear - these were updates to existing apps correct?

Can you provide more details? When did you receive the email saying "Your application is now ready for sale"?

I received mine at 8:23 PM last night for an updated app and it is still not on the first page of release date in it's category (Healthcare and Fitness).

masc2279 · 11-05-2009, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ama269

Just to be clear - these were updates to existing apps correct?

Can you provide more details? When did you receive the email saying "Your application is now ready for sale"?

I received mine at 8:23 PM last night for an updated app and it is still not on the first page of release date in it's category (Healthcare and Fitness).

Just got them 2 hours ago and they have shown up on the new release. These are new apps. I have over 40 apps in the store and they always get sent in without modifying the release date field they always get placed in the store dated on the submission date not the release date. This time even in itunes connect the app shows as today as the release. It automatically updated the date from submission to today's date. So they have fixed that little issue i have had. I have 12 updates pending when they get posted i will keep and eye out to see what they do.

lukeca · 11-05-2009, 04:02 PM

Interesting so they automatically put you in the new release without you having to modify the date? That's really cool if they have fixed that problem.

danhart1976 · 11-05-2009, 04:08 PM

I had a new app go "Ready for Sale" yesterday, so I went in an set the date as 4th November. Today it is in the New Releases with a date of 5th November.

I've had a couple of app updates go in today, changed their date about 3 hours ago and as yet, they've not shown up. Too soon to tell for sure though.

Interestingly, in the UK iTunes store the first app in the Lifestyle section under new releases has a release date of 19th December 2009!!

I really wish Apple would publish patch notes, and maybe give some warning too....

ama269 · 11-05-2009, 04:21 PM

Has anyone actually contacted Apple to get the official story?

I have a guy on the review team that I keep in contact with after he contacted me about an app of mine that I just emailed so we'll see.

If this is not a temporary error, I will no longer be publishing/developing apps - just wouldn't be worth the time. Most of my revenue comes when I have updated to a new version (seems like this would help make more money for apple too right???)

TunaNugget · 11-05-2009, 06:10 PM

I had two new apps approved this morning; neither is in the new releases list. It's just as well, the lists are flooded with shovelware.

iphonesteve79 · 11-05-2009, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TunaNugget

I had two new apps approved this morning; neither is in the new releases list. It's just as well, the lists are flooded with shovelware.

I sure hope I am wrong, but I have had 15 updates in the last 3 days, and I changed the release date to the same day they were approved and NONE of them are showing up in the new release category. It appears Apple now lists different dates for an app: A "release date" for apps that have not been updated or an "updated date" Based on what I see, only BRAND NEW apps are now appearing in the new apps category. I had two new apps approved in the last 2 days and those new apps are showing in the new category.

Apple appears to be preventing developers from submitting "fake" updates just to get exposure by the app being placed in the new apps category. If this is true, it should greatly lower the queue time as developers will be less likely to issue an update because there would be less incentive. What do you guys think about this if it is indeed true?

**smasher** · 11-05-2009, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iphonesteve79

Apple appears to be preventing developers from submitting "fake" updates just to get exposure by the app being placed in the new apps category. If this is true, it should greatly lower the queue time as developers will be less likely to issue an update because there would be less incentive. What do you guys think about this if it is indeed true?

I'm surprised Apple didn't do something like that earlier - the original system seemed to encourage spurious updates. I wouldn't object to per-app and per-update "review" fee either - it seems they would want to set up incentives in favor of small numbers and quality, and against spam.

voiperguy · 11-05-2009, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iphonesteve79

I sure hope I am wrong, but I have had 15 updates in the last 3 days, and I changed the release date to the same day they were approved and NONE of them are showing up in the new release category. It appears Apple now lists different dates for an app: A "release date" for apps that have not been updated or an "updated date" Based on what I see, only BRAND NEW apps are now appearing in the new apps category. I had two new apps approved in the last 2 days and those new apps are showing in the new category.

Apple appears to be preventing developers from submitting "fake" updates just to get exposure by the app being placed in the new apps category. If this is true, it should greatly lower the queue time as developers will be less likely to issue an update because there would be less incentive. What do you guys think about this if it is indeed true?

If this is even remotely true...I will stop progress on all my iPhone apps in development...and move to Android and Symbian! My first update, from upload to approval...10 days...come on Apple...don't ruin my buzz.
If they want to loose money and market share...this is a GOOD way to do it.

TunaNugget · 11-05-2009, 09:21 PM

Well, my two new apps that aren't showing up (still) are brandy new, so maybe things are just screwed up with no particular plan in mind.

TunaNugget · 11-05-2009, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smasher

I'm surprised Apple didn't do something like that earlier - the original system seemed to encourage spurious updates. I wouldn't object to per-app and per-update "review" fee either - it seems they would want to set up incentives in favor of small numbers and quality, and against spam.

I dunno, I've used all of my updates to improve my apps in some significant way. I'm a big fan of short cycles and incremental development, and the current system mostly encourages that.

What I would like to see is a limit of one update PER DAY, per developer, per category, which doesn't seem overly restrictive to me. That would prevent today's situation in the Music category, where there were 23 versions of the same sound-effects soundboard app on the first page. That's all a customer would see without a lot of scrolling, and it isn't even music.

ama269 · 11-05-2009, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by voiperguy

If this is even remotely true...I will stop progress on all my iPhone apps in development...and move to Android and Symbian! My first update, from upload to approval...10 days...come on Apple...don't ruin my buzz.
If they want to loose money and market share...this is a GOOD way to do it.

Same here - I will be forced to go to another system. I reach many more customers by making updates. They aren't fake updates though - just added content and in some cases enhancements to features, or bug fixes.

How in any way would this change increase Apple's profit?

VMan · 11-05-2009, 11:39 PM

I just checked the App Store's newly released apps list for a couple of different categories. All the listed apps for Nov 5 are version 1.0. This seems to be consistent with the speculation that Apple is posting only new apps.

noobAppDeveloper · 11-05-2009, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VMan

I just checked the App Store's newly released apps list for a couple of different categories. All the listed apps for Nov 5 are version 1.0. This seems to be consistent with the speculation that Apple is posting only new apps.

Yea and updated apps say: updated at [insert date here]

DonomaGames · 11-06-2009, 12:10 AM

Under the Word category, Norsk Hangman is showing release date of Nov 8th, 2009 for me. That's 2 days in the future!