Apple appears to be shortening review times for new app and update submissions to the App Store. According to data collected by independent app review tracking website AppReviewTimes and as reported by Bloomberg today, review times have approached 2 days as opposed to the 7-10 days it took Apple to review apps in the past.
Posts in news
Apple Shortening App Review Times
Instagram Says Goodbye to Skeuomorphism with New Icon, Redesign
Long after Apple abandoned skeuomorphism with the introduction of iOS 7, Instagram held onto the past with its Kodak Instamatic-inspired icon. It had been so long since Instagram’s icon was updated that you could count on a flurry of snarky jokes on Twitter every time the app was updated without an icon redesign.
Today, nearly three years since iOS 7 was introduced at WWDC in 2013, Instagram has unveiled a redesigned icon, not only for its flagship app, but also for Layout, Boomerang, and Hyperlapse.
Quip Launches Slack Integration Featuring ‘Sign in with Slack’
Since Google ended up offering one of the worst productivity suites on the iPad, we’ve moved several of our Relay FM show documents and MacStories research material to Quip.
Quip is a powerful alternative to Google Docs and Sheets with proper support for iOS 9 and multitasking on the iPad Pro. Despite some minor issues (the Apple Pencil can’t scroll or select text in the app; there’s no search in spreadsheets on iOS), I work better with Quip on iOS because they respect the platform and they take advantage of the latest iOS tech.
It’s unsurprising, then, that I’m excited about Quip’s integration with another service I use on a daily basis – Slack. Starting today, you’ll be able to create Quip documents in Slack and mirror notifications from Quip to Slack conversations.
Spark ideas in Slack conversations and give them structure in Quip docs where you can organize, discuss, and evolve your team’s most important work. Use the Slack slash-command to create a new Quip doc where things can really take off.
And:
You won’t lose track of those groundbreaking, killer, disruptive ideas even if they’re happening in both the Slack channel and a Quip docu- ment at the same time. Any @mentions, messages, and edits to your Quip docs will in- stantly post to Slack so you can easily follow along and jump in on the action.
I haven’t been able to test these features prior to today’s launch, but I’m interested. I’m already mirroring notifications from a bunch of services (such as RSS and GitHub) into Slack channels, and adding Quip document status to the mix could be useful.
Also new today: Slack is rolling out a new ‘Sign In with Slack’ feature to quickly start using a service/app with your Slack identity and automatically get people from your Slack team on it.
Here’s the Slack blog with an example for Quip:
When a user signs up for your app using Sign in with Slack, they’ll be instantly connected to their teammates within your product. For customers, this is an invisible but delightful feature. It exemplifies our mission in action — making people’s working lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive — by keeping teams effortlessly in sync.
[…]
Upon signing in with Slack you are automatically connected to your Slack team within Quip. No extra team creation required — your team already exists within Quip in one fell swoop. From there, you can use Slack and Quip to supercharge the way that you brainstorm and create documents with your team.
As the owner of a Slack team, I’m also eager to take this for a spin.
Earnest: Take Control of Your Student Loans [Sponsor]
Did you know you can refinance your student loans, save thousands, and make your new loan incredibly easy to manage? Our sponsor this week, Earnest, has created the most flexible refinancing experience to help financially responsible grads take control of their student loans, at earnest.com.
Their product helps clients save an average of almost $18,000, with variable rates starting as low as 2.13% APR. Earnest never charges any fees — so no fees for origination, and no penalties for paying off your loan quickly or changing your terms down the line. They let you customize your payment to match your budget and timeline, and their simple dashboard makes it easy to manage your loan – even from your phone.
Earnest can do this because they’re a new kind of lender — one that looks at things traditional banks don’t, like your savings habits and earnings potential — to give you the lowest possible rates. And even better, their expert in-house customer service team is available via phone, email, and chat for the life of your loan.
It takes less than two minutes to find out how much you could save, and they even have a special offer for our readers: get a $150 bonus when you refinance through earnest.com/macstories.
Don’t get stuck paying more than you have to — check out earnest.com/macstories and take two minutes to see your personalized rate estimate today.
Our thanks to Earnest for sponsoring MacStories this week.
Apple Music Introduces Student Subscription With 50% Discount→
TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez reports that Apple has today introduced a new student subscription plan for Apple Music which cuts the cost of the subscription to just $4.99 per month.
The option isn’t just arriving in the U.S., though. Students in other countries, including the U.K., Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, will also be able to take advantage of the new membership option.
However, because Apple Music is priced slightly differently in other markets, the cost of the student membership will vary. But in all markets, it will be 50 percent off the standard subscription price.
This is a smart move to boost subscription numbers. At just $5 per month, Apple Music becomes a really good deal - even for cash-strapped students. The new student subscription plan is available from today, but it does require you to verify that you are a student.
SoundShare Launches an Ambitious Social Network For Music Fans
Today, Mateus Abras launched SoundShare 2.7, a social network for music lovers. SoundShare is an iPhone-only app designed to break down the walls between competing streaming services so that it’s easier to share music with your friends. Integration with Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer allows music sharing with others and collaboration on playlists regardless of which service your friends use.
The social aspect works on the familiar follower/following model. When you play songs in SoundShare by giving it access to your streaming service, they are added to your SoundShare music stream after thirty seconds. If you prefer to listen to your music through a different app, you can add songs to your stream, or a SoundShare playlist, with SoundShare’s extension. Your followers can then listen to the songs in your stream using whichever service they prefer, add your songs to their streaming service, incorporate songs into SoundShare playlists, post comments, send SoundShare links, and like songs in your stream. The only limitation is that the songs shared must be the libraries of both services for you and your friends to enjoy them.
SoundShare shows a lot of promise. The music streaming market is fragmented and there is little incentive for service providers to build tools to share music across platforms. As a result, third-party developers have begun to step into the void.
I recently reviewed SongShift, a simple utility for transferring music from Spotify to Apple Music and back again. SoundShare aims to take third-party integration of streaming services in an entirely different direction by building a social network on top of streaming services. Social networks are notoriously hard to grow to a size where they reach critical mass and I have some doubts about the extent of the demand for music sharing beyond what is already achievable with existing social networks, but it will be interesting to watch SoundShare try with what in my limited testing is a well-considered, solid app.
SoundShare is a free iPhone-only download from the App Store.
Daylite: The Productivity App for Individuals and Teams, Exclusively for Mac and iOS [Sponsor]
This week is sponsored by Marketcircle, the developers of Daylite.
Daylite is a business productivity app that organizes your contacts, calendars, tasks, emails, notes, projects, and new business opportunities – all in one app. It helps you stay on top of calls and meetings, prioritize your tasks, and track projects and new business opportunities on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
You can use Daylite on your own to manage your solo business, or use it within a team to schedule meetings, delegate tasks, and track projects together. Daylite is a native app so you don’t need an Internet connection to use it. Your information is stored right on your Apple device so it’s always with you. When you get an Internet connection, it syncs your Mac, iPhone, and iPad so you and your team are up-to-date.
Daylite is loved by consultants, real estate agents, lawyers, photographers, designers, and more. For many small businesses, Daylite is the lifeline of their business and “makes order out of what would otherwise be chaos”. Learn how small businesses use Daylite to stay organized and increase productivity on Marketcircle’s website.
Our thanks to Marketcircle for sponsoring MacStories this week.
Apple Releases ‘Moms’ TV Ad→
Having a good camera won’t make you a better photographer, but having a good camera with you all the time means you have a chance to capture something special when the opportunity presents itself. That’s the power of Apple’s Shot on iPhone series.
Today, Apple released a special 30 second Shot on iPhone television advertisement called ‘Mother’s Day.’ The ad features photographs of mothers and their children, including three short video clips. Each photo also lists the first name and last initial of the photographer who took it.
Apple Announces New Apple Music API
Today Apple announced a new Apple Music API via its Affiliate Program Newsletter. According to Apple, the API:
…allows iOS apps to directly control Apple Music playback and more. We encourage affiliates to use the Apple Music API to provide a superior user experience by integrating music into their apps.
With the Apple Music API you can:
- See if a user is currently an Apple Music member
- See which country the user’s account is based in
- Queue up the next song or songs based on a song ID for playback
- Inspect playlists already in My Music or create a new playlist with a title and description (see App Store Review Guidelines for limitations).
The announcement coincides with the introduction of a new Apple Music Best Practices for Apple Developers page that serves as a hub for developer and affiliate program resources related to Apple Music. The page includes:
- App Review guidelines applicable to the Apple Music API, some of which are new.
- Links to developer documentation for the Apple Music APIs.
- A summary of Apple Music identity guidelines regarding the use of the Apple Music name, logos, and related matters, with a link to the more comprehensive Apple Music Identity Guidelines.
- Links to more information regarding the iTunes Affiliate Program.
- A link to the Apple Music Toolbox page for searching Apple Music in each of the 113 Apple Music countries by artist, song, album, playlist, Connect, curator, radio and music video, from which you can generate affiliate links.
One thing I’d like to see added to these tools is the ability to return search results for items like playlists using the iTunes Search API, which would allow developers to generate affiliate links to them programatically. Right now those links can only be generated from the web-based search tool in the Apple Music Toolbox. Nonetheless, it’s nice to see Apple Music being opened up to developers, and not surprising given the emphasis on services during Tuesday’s investor call.