I'm really hoping Apple keeps a log of pushes, because they'll happily be able to tell you that the only pushes I send with Slopes are silent content-available notification for sync engine stuff. I have never sent any user-visible notification, and you're likely mistaking an in-app call-to-action as a push notification.
Apps that use push for marketing deserve hellfire, even if they are little indie shops. Being indie is no excuse for abusing things like push. We have to be scrappy, but we can do so without being spammy.
Hi, developer of Slopes here. Wait, what!? I do not use push for marketing (I hardly have a working push server). I haven't ever sent out any push notification for any reason (the recording reminders are local notifications, not server-side ones).
I do have a little in-app banner at the top of the logbook screen for messaging like prompting to create an account, or upselling premium, or other things. It has grey background, but its buttons are blue and it has a red dot on it so it doesn't look to clone the appearance of a system notification perfectly or anything (it isn't even pinned to the top of the screen or anything, where notifications come from). Maybe you thought it was a notification? But it can only occur in-app, on one screen, and is in no way a violation of Apple's ToS.
Edit 2: The banner used to be all blue, which looked even less like a system notification, but I was worried it was too distracting from users' content so this season I opted for a grey background to help it blend in more.
Sorry for the kerfuffle, I mean no harm to you, your reputation & your app. I wish I had screenshotted that. I remember almost reaching out to you on Twitter about it, but thought "hey it's the first one I'll let it slide". I vaguely remember it about the premium subscription, which I found odd. I was not pissed, just surprised. Was it push or local notification? I can't say if I can accurately tell them apart, in my opinion a notification is a notification. It was definitely not in-app as unfortunately I won't get to ride this season so I haven't opened the app in a year :( It was around Christmas or New Year IIRC
Also, I used Slopes as an example because it's the most recent one but frankly it's far from the egregious stuff others pull, especially Apple and the few other developers mentioned in this thread.
No worries, if I was a bad actor you'd be doing the right thing, and as many have already pointed out more often than not it is a bad actor. It's tough (trying to be) of the good guys not abusing the system chasing revenue at all costs, no worries.
I don't use local push notifications for advertising, either. I use them for A) location-based recording reminders created by users and B) notifications when a recording from the Watch is synced to your phone and ready to view, since that can take a minute or so if you're off wifi.
I remember one person reaching out shortly after the iOS 13 launch that I trigged the "Slopes has been using your location in the background" notification when I wasn't recording, which was an error on my side and I fixed that right away.
I did have an email or two go out around Christmas for a giveaway, so I certainly had some email marketing in play then. Maybe Slopes appeared in a notification from your mail client? But Slopes itself did not trigger any notification, push or local, for that campaign.
People are still complaining about section 8 - the remote kill switch? I remember only one instance of an app remotely killed, and that was malware.
Even apps that enabled tethering, emulating, or are otherwise against the rules but make it through review have been simply pulled for sale, never terminated using this capability. I think Apple has proved they're using this responsibly after 6 years.
"Not tech" as in no sessions focusing on how to maximize your CoreData performance, or how to use Metal in your new iOS8 game. No talks that are technical in nature.
Check out CocoaConf (http://cocoaconf.com). They travel around the country and provide many technical talks. I was at their DC one in March and found it very educational.
Congrats! Quick nitpick - fix your icon in the app store itself. Looks like you have the corner radius from iOS6 on your icon so you get some black edging in the corner. I usually just export a square version for the iTunes image, they'll add corners as needed.
To counter this - installed 2.0, dropbox setup was just a matter of copying/pasting my password from 1Password (took ~10 seconds), and all my accounts/settings were there just fine.
Bugs are frustrating, but please realize that sometimes they happen despite best efforts. Lets keep small annoyances like this perspective and not say they're "ruining customer trust." Save that claim for situations like selling your data or generally being evil and untrustworthy.
I hope you reached out to the development team with a constructive bug report to help them track down your issue.
It's nice to know that the poor experience isn't just a matter of a missing upgrade path. However, having such a limited view of trust -- such as just "being good stewards of data" -- is exactly what causes companies to end up with none and wonder why.
Bugs, bad upgrade paths, adding "features" while losing polish, etc. are all great ways to lose trust.
I make a distinction between trust and reliability. I can trust a company, even though they might not make the most reliable products.
Bugs/etc are a great way to lose my business, but not a way to lose my trust.
(what you're saying isn't lost on me, I just reserve "trust" for the situation I alluded to -- an important distinction given online privacy concerns/etc)
I would say "trust" isn't just about "don't be evil" in some willful sense. Trust can also be the confidence that a service is made well, is reliable, and is effective.
Come now, for years devs have criticized Apple for not having a proper first-party beta-testing solution. Now what might be their step into addressing that developer cry is being used against them in the typical Apple-controls-everything-FUD?
(I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, sadly...)
(And, lets alt-history a bit here: had they rolled their own solution they would have been criticized for "sherlocking yet another indy product")
It actually is - each plane as an ideal glide speed that you pitch the plane to match during an engine-out. 1 mile per 1k feed above ground level is a good rule of thumb for glide distance at this speed.
SEEKING WORK - Based outside of Philadelphia, PA. Remote work ok.
I specialize in crafting both web-based and native iOS applications and I run Consumed by Code. Over the years I've lead dozens of individuals, startups, and small businesses through the process of planing, building, and successfully launching their product ideas. I work directly with my clients as a partner; looking to understand their business and customers, seeing where technology can add value. This approach ensures the product is successful; be it a consumer-facing app that delights or a web-based system that optimizes their business.
Tools of the trade: Objective-C, PHP with CodeIgniter, ASP.NET MVC in C#, SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MSSQL), HTML5, CSS3, Javascript with jQuery, and of course lots of Photoshop
Most recently I've launched my company's first product: Slopes - an iOS app for skiers and snowboarders. http://getslopes.com
I’d encourage you to visit my website, http://consumedbycode.com, to read client stories from past projects and learn more about how I can help you.
SEEKING WORK - Remote (Based outside of Philadelphia, PA)
I'm a developer with design chops focusing on creating web and iOS applications. I love collaborating with startups and businesses to turn their idea into a product.
Technically speaking I'm strong in front-end (HTML5/CSS/jQuery), back-end (PHP/MVC.NET), and (native) iOS development. My full-stack knowledge has proven an extremely valuable asset to the teams I've worked with. The majority of startups I've worked with have repeatedly asked me to move and come work for them.
You can take a look at my portfolio for sample work (http://consumedbycode.com). My contact information is also there.
I'd love to hear from you if you have an interesting project to work on.
Apps that use push for marketing deserve hellfire, even if they are little indie shops. Being indie is no excuse for abusing things like push. We have to be scrappy, but we can do so without being spammy.