AppStoreUpdate

From APIDesign

In September 2015 I decided to update the MineSweeper on AppStore to version 3.0. With a great pleasure I can announce that now, on December 18, 2015 the version is alive! Why it took so long?

Well, Apple's itunesconnect website is unusable - it isn't enough to upload new version of your application and press button Request Review. The user interface is completely messed up and hidden to make the process as obscure as possible. As a result MineSweeper was laying on the AppStore for six weeks before I found the right address (also pretty hidden) to complain at and was explained what is wrong.

Then, of course, the usual reject. This time it was due to Using images that resemble(!) Apple logo - yes, the MineSweeper is using Safari and iOS icon (check the on-line version). But these icons were present in the previous AppStore version as well. And version 2.3 was approved! Clearly the whole review process suffers from the human factor of the reviewer. What some reviewers find appropriate isn't appropriate for others.

How can I know this is a human factor? Because the new version of the MineSweeper of iOS comes with three translations - English, Czech and German (thanks to Toni) - and I am sure the reviewers checked just the English one. If the check was automatic - e.g. some scan through the binary - my submission might have been rejected again. Thankfully it wasn't. It is great we made it before Christmas, as next week the whole AppStore team is going for a vacation...

Here are the changes against standard MineSweeper source code to make the application releasable on the AppStore this time: https://github.com/jtulach/minesweeper/compare/9fc7970496a...0d6984c73

Enjoy version 3.0 of Fair MineSweeper on AppStore. Visit https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fair-minesweeper/id903688146 to play fair!