Apple is Tightening the Rules on 'What's New' Changelogs in App Store

Good, because I really hate that "We update our apps regularly..." spiel that a lot of developers have as their update notes.

Looking at you Facebook...

Hope this means developers have to write real release notes. Pretty tired of seeing novels in there.

Apple should get really strict on this. If developers don't say what they've actually changed or fixed on every update then the app shouldn't be allowed on the app store until they do.

It's not hard to provide release notes. Facebook is a big culprit, don't think they've listed actual change logs in many years.

Good, because I really hate that "We update our apps regularly..." spiel that a lot of developers have as their update notes.

I don't think this policy change will fix that. I may be reading the article wrong, but it appears this only prevents updates to the "what's new" text and the "help" URL listed in the App description between actual app updates. There is nothing I see where more detailed notes are going to be required, only whatever text and URLs that are submitted with the version update cannot be changed by the developer until they submit another new version for review.

!!!!!!! YES!

I'm Effing sick of lazy-developers making monumental changes to their applications with the note "Bug Fixes" and I've had jerk-off developers reply to my 1-star reviews indicating their change-log didn't include any changes with "no one reads them" or "what would you have us do differently?" How about instead of replying to every app store review, you actually write what changed.

Here's my recent issue with Fuelly - http://adamchandler.me/blog/2018/01/09/technology-rants-developers-need-to-stop-lying-in-their-changelogs-on-the-app-store/

They closed down the app and went paid-model and their change-log indicated nothing that after I updated it'd tell me to uninstall the app and switch to their monthly subscription model. I never would have updated if I knew this going into it.

I honestly don't care if the general public doesn't understand ChangeLog but a lot of us do and want to know what to expect when we optionally update our applications.


.....and to that, Apple itself has gotten lazy. Looking at their recent OSX updates versus the old ones, they used to write 50 lines of what changed in a point update. Now it's just 3-4 main features. It's lazy. I liked finding all of the small changes and reading release notes.

Here's the 10.3.4 Release notes: https://www.cnet.com/news/mac-os-x-10-3-6-special-report-release-notes/

Look at all of that amazing data geeks can read.

10.13.2:

This update:

- Improves compatibility with certain third-party USB audio devices
- Improves VoiceOver navigation when viewing PDF documents in Preview
- Improves compatibility of Braille displays with Mail

The updates section is always too broad. Hopefully this will fix it.

Good, because I really hate that "We update our apps regularly..." spiel that a lot of developers have as their update notes.

I agree. Some of these developers aren’t even telling us ‘what’s new’. They’re just trying to be funny.

Hope this means developers have to write real release notes. Pretty tired of seeing novels in there.

Obviously no one read the article because the changes have nothing to do with the what’s new section being overbroad, not detailed enough, too funny, or too long. Apple already reviews the what’s new section when the app is submitted for review, and none of that will change.

Like already stated, Facebook are the absolute worst at this. I already have zero trust in them, and the fact that they release bi-weekly updates but haven't told us anything that they're adding to our phones for years... shady. I hate that they could be forcing new features onto customers weeks in advance of releasing them, just to trick people into changing to whatever they want ahead of time whether we want it or not. Wish that's what Apple were implementing.

It would be good to know exactly what they fixed instead of "bugs fixed" but still allow some puns and humor as well. Camera+ provides detailed fixes and enhancements with humor and is fun to read. Hopefully they don't quench their developer's enthusiasm. Don't want to see it end up like a Mozilla change log.

I agree. Some of these developers aren’t even telling us ‘what’s new’. They’re just trying to be funny.