so I submitted for I think my 4th or 5th time now. I was rejected three times but two of them I rejected myself since I either did something wrong or was re-exporting due to what is probably the real problem.
Apple kept rejecting my app with feed back stating that my game crashes on launch. I have 3 iphones / ipods here to test on and never once did my game crash. It actually got to the point where I was trying to make it crash at start up simply to get the thing into a state where I could re-produce the issue then try to fix it.
After searching the web more for issues like this I found a forum post that was about the same issue. Apparently lots of Unity game devs have had the same problem. The issue appears to be the apple 4.3 SDK it causes a corruption of the build that causes a crash at start up at apple when testing. I wasn't sure so I also contacted the apple code center to speak to one of the engineers there.
They actually confirmed the issue. using Xcode 4 with 4.3 SDK while using Unity to make a game causes a corrupted export from Xcode. The solution is not for apple to fix this problem that causes months of setbacks but rather have each dev download Xcode 3 with the 4.2 SDK. This may not sound like much of a hassle except for the fact that apple made it next to impossible for developers to download another SDK than 4.3 once it released. I received a link from the engineer answering my ticket linking to it. Here it is...
https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/download.action?path=/ios/ios_sdk_4.2__final/xcode_3.2.5_and_ios_sdk_4.2_final.dmg
You will need to log in to download it. But this is the old Xcode 3 with the 4.2 SDK. I am still awaiting approval from the app store after submitting a build from this Xcode but many other people are saying this is the fix.
If you are building with Unity - You need Xcode 3 and 4.2 SDK in order to fix the crash upon launching rejection you will receive from apple. Apple is still working to fix the issue with Xcode 4 but it does not sound like they are very interested in fixing it any time soon. Good luck to you and I hope I can report that this answered my problems and my app would finally be up. This would mean a valid solution for other Unity devs out there. Wish us all luck!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Rejected.
Well I got my rejection notice in my email today after a week. I'm honestly not sure why. My only guess is that the actual .app export had issues. I'm still very new to this so I wasn't sure how to test everything but for you other newbies like myself out there. If you drag and drop the .app file that is created from Xcode into itunes it will add it to the app section.
There you can sync your test ipod/ iphone/ ipad and test it out. I don't know if this was the issue but to check things I took the two .app files I had submitted apple and did just this. Put them into itunes and installed through itunes. Neither of them worked. This was strange since it worked though test builds in xcode.
So I'm not sure if it was pathing issues for file locations or what but I rebuilt in Xcode and messed around with the build settings. Also, this could be an issue. I was using the same distribution provision for both apps. So it could have caused a conflict. So basically I went through and made new provisions on the itunes connect site and setup everything I needed. Re-exported the builds and ran the apps through itunes. Both apps work now for me. But I have no idea at this point what will happen on the apple side of things.
What I have learned through this process is that it is a new one. It is a very sloppy and confusing way of doing this that the average person will struggle with. I know I have and I should not be hoping that my game will make it this time. I should be certain. But! To the credit of apple and their app review team. The most likely underpaid and under staffed review team. This time upon submitting my app instead of 7 days it took about 6 to 7 minutes for both versions to go into review. So now I'm waiting simply on review again instead of waiting to go into review. So kudos to apple on that. Their review team is without a doubt pushing as hard as they can. We'll see what it forms into.
There you can sync your test ipod/ iphone/ ipad and test it out. I don't know if this was the issue but to check things I took the two .app files I had submitted apple and did just this. Put them into itunes and installed through itunes. Neither of them worked. This was strange since it worked though test builds in xcode.
So I'm not sure if it was pathing issues for file locations or what but I rebuilt in Xcode and messed around with the build settings. Also, this could be an issue. I was using the same distribution provision for both apps. So it could have caused a conflict. So basically I went through and made new provisions on the itunes connect site and setup everything I needed. Re-exported the builds and ran the apps through itunes. Both apps work now for me. But I have no idea at this point what will happen on the apple side of things.
What I have learned through this process is that it is a new one. It is a very sloppy and confusing way of doing this that the average person will struggle with. I know I have and I should not be hoping that my game will make it this time. I should be certain. But! To the credit of apple and their app review team. The most likely underpaid and under staffed review team. This time upon submitting my app instead of 7 days it took about 6 to 7 minutes for both versions to go into review. So now I'm waiting simply on review again instead of waiting to go into review. So kudos to apple on that. Their review team is without a doubt pushing as hard as they can. We'll see what it forms into.
- Test your build over and over again on multiple devices
- Make sure your Provisions are set up correctly and correspond with your apps bundle info
- make sure the provisions you are setting up on the itunes connect site are for the app store NOT AdHoc. AdHoc is for private distribution for testing pruposes.
- Install your app using itunes by draggin and dropping the .app file into itunes itself and syncing your ipod.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Waiting, waiting, and waiting.... (Brian)
It's been about 5 days since I submitted my app for review on the app store. While I hope in the back of my mind that it gets reviewed instantaneously, I know the process takes longer but apparently much longer...
Due to my inability to be patient, I've been reading a lot about peoples personal experiences with the app store review process. Most are negative and I'm starting to see why. From what I gathered, it can take any where from a few days to a few months to get your app pushed to the app store or get rejected.
So if you are a first time app maker and aren't backed by millions of dollars to convince apple you should go tot he front of the line, be prepared to wait. What this does though is hurt your projected launch times. I had originally posted in multiple places that my game would be available late May. While this was a stretch goal I did manage to get my game built and pushed to apple before the end of May. However, because of the ominous review process, I have no idea when my app is really going to ship.
In some one's case like mine; it's really not a big deal other than my personal issues with when I finally get to see months of my hard work opened to the public. However, if you are someone trying to promise dates and keep them, make sure you factor in a month or so time for the review process. Your journey isn't over yet after submitting. The waiting is probably the hardest part.
What actually happens after I finish my game and build
Like many, I figured that I finish building my game and through Xcode, send it to apple and then POOF! my game is available on the app store. Be prepared for some changes to your app to get everything set up.
I found this very helpful step by step process explaining how to prepare your app. It is for an older version of Xcode but it still explains it well.
http://www.idev101.com/code/Distribution/checklist.html
You will need to make sure specific things are set up in your build and that you are code signed with a distribution key among other things.
You actually submit your app zipped through a program called the app loader. It is part of the dev tools you get with your dev kit that includes Xcode. Some of apple's instructions are out of date on itunes connect that may say you download it off the a certain link under manage applications but it is actually located within the folder structure that Xtools is in.
It will automatically check for a few issues and deny you upload if something is off but it does tell you want you need to do to fix it most times and that's helpful.
So basically, getting your app ready to go after completion takes a few extra steps that you can follow in the link I provided and the app loader is actually already located among the other tools that come with your dev kit from apple. Also, be ready to wait and factor that into any release date information you may want to give people. Good luck! More when my app actually enters review.
Due to my inability to be patient, I've been reading a lot about peoples personal experiences with the app store review process. Most are negative and I'm starting to see why. From what I gathered, it can take any where from a few days to a few months to get your app pushed to the app store or get rejected.
So if you are a first time app maker and aren't backed by millions of dollars to convince apple you should go tot he front of the line, be prepared to wait. What this does though is hurt your projected launch times. I had originally posted in multiple places that my game would be available late May. While this was a stretch goal I did manage to get my game built and pushed to apple before the end of May. However, because of the ominous review process, I have no idea when my app is really going to ship.
In some one's case like mine; it's really not a big deal other than my personal issues with when I finally get to see months of my hard work opened to the public. However, if you are someone trying to promise dates and keep them, make sure you factor in a month or so time for the review process. Your journey isn't over yet after submitting. The waiting is probably the hardest part.
What actually happens after I finish my game and build
Like many, I figured that I finish building my game and through Xcode, send it to apple and then POOF! my game is available on the app store. Be prepared for some changes to your app to get everything set up.
I found this very helpful step by step process explaining how to prepare your app. It is for an older version of Xcode but it still explains it well.
http://www.idev101.com/code/Distribution/checklist.html
You will need to make sure specific things are set up in your build and that you are code signed with a distribution key among other things.
You actually submit your app zipped through a program called the app loader. It is part of the dev tools you get with your dev kit that includes Xcode. Some of apple's instructions are out of date on itunes connect that may say you download it off the a certain link under manage applications but it is actually located within the folder structure that Xtools is in.
It will automatically check for a few issues and deny you upload if something is off but it does tell you want you need to do to fix it most times and that's helpful.
So basically, getting your app ready to go after completion takes a few extra steps that you can follow in the link I provided and the app loader is actually already located among the other tools that come with your dev kit from apple. Also, be ready to wait and factor that into any release date information you may want to give people. Good luck! More when my app actually enters review.
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