Developers

Cool Stuff Found

App Store Connect 1.5 Update Brings New Icon, TestFlight

Andrew Orr ·

The App Store Connect 1.5 update brings a new icon that uses design language from macOS Big Sur. It also lets developers set up internal TestFlight beta testing and more. Release Notes: Add up to 100 members of your team to test beta builds of your app; edit test details for beta builds, view build activity and status, and expire builds; answer required export compliance questions; remove internal testers.

Link

This Developer Made Over $100k Selling Custom App Icons

Andrew Orr ·

Developer “Traf” wrote a blog post saying he made over US$100,000 in six days selling custom app icons that can be used on iOS 14.

As soon as I noticed the hype, I put together some icons in my own style, downloaded some widgets, and tried it all out. I thought it looked cool, so I shared a screenshot of it on Twitter. Right away, people started asking about the icons in the screenshot. So I quickly packaged them, uploaded them to Gumroad, and embedded them on a Notion site using Super. All of this took about two hours.

It’s cool to see all of the customization people are doing on iOS 14, but I wonder if this developer could get into legal trouble by making money off of companies’ icons.

Link

Some Developers Use TestFlight as an Unofficial App Store

Andrew Orr ·

Writing for Protocol, David Pierce shares stories from developers who use TestFlight as an unofficial App Store.

TestFlight is not an alternative to the App Store, it’s a staging ground on the way there. Developers told me Apple doesn’t review TestFlight apps very intensively, other than to make sure they’re not fundamentally broken or obviously malicious. And if Apple’s already reviewed, say, version 1.0 of your app, they say it won’t even look at 1.0.1. It doesn’t think of TestFlight as a long-term home for apps.

A cool, clever workaround to the App Store’s strict rules.

Podcast

Tidbits Managing Editor Josh Centers (#7) - BGM Interview

John Martellaro · · Add Comment

Josh Centers is the managing editor of TidBITS, as well as the author of many Take Control Books: Notes, Home Automation, Apple TV, co-author of Take Control of Preview. He also published Take Control of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13. And he’s recently joined The Prepared as an editor.

In his seventh appearance on the show, Josh explored the new faetures of iOS 14 and what he likes most—as he prepares for his forthcoming Take Control book. The App Libraries feature was at the top of his list. In segment two, Josh and I discussed a major, impressive research article he recently wrote about the often contentious relationship between developers and Apple and its handling of the App Store. We finished with thoughts on a next gen Apple TV 4K.

Apple Developer Mac App Updated With New UI
Cool Stuff Found

Apple Developer Mac App Updated With New UI

Andrew Orr ·

Today Apple released a developer app on macOS called Apple Developer, which matches the iOS app of the same name. In fact, this could very well be the Catalyst version of the iOS app. The reason I think so is because I noticed my “Get App Icon” gave me the iOS icon, even though I used the Mac link. Or, that could mean nothing. The app is meant to be your one-stop guide to developer news, and also a great place to watch WWDC 2020. Stay up to date on the latest technical and community information; browse news, features, developer stories, and informative videos; catch up on videos from past Apple events and download them to watch offline. There’s also an in-app purchase to sign up for the Apple Developer Program.

Link

How to File Great Bug Reports According to Apple

Andrew Orr ·

Apple shared post to its developer page to give advice on how to file great bug reports. It’s also good advice for people who like to beta test Apple software, so bookmark the page once iOS 14 and macOS 10.16 Redwood have been announced (I’m taking this opportunity to make my macOS name prediction).

You should always file feedback for any bugs you find while developing on Apple’s platforms; after all, we can’t fix problems that we don’t know about. But how can you be sure that the information you provide is helpful for triaging the issue, rather than a bug-solving dead end? Here are some of our top tips for making sure your bug report is clear, actionable, and — most importantly — fixable.

GitHub Codespaces Lets You Code Visual Studio on an iPad
Cool Stuff Found

GitHub Codespaces Lets You Code Visual Studio on an iPad

Andrew Orr ·

GitHub has a new tool it’s working on called Codespaces. It gives you a full Visual Studio coding experience in a browser. This means it can work on an iPad, Mac, and PC.

Codespaces sets up a cloud-hosted, containerized, and customizable VS Code environment. After set up, you can connect to a codespace through the browser or through VS Code.

I think this is exciting news. I don’t having programming experience but one argument in the “iPad computer replacement” debate is that developers can’t code on it.