Indie app developers face issues with iOS 6 App Store

According to Develop Online, app developers are having problems with the new App Store in iOS 6. The developers say that the new App Store favours established studios and doesn’t provide enough visibility to independent developers. The major problem with the new App Store, according to the developers, is that it lacks the option to Sort by Release Date. Tabs for games are now restricted to paid, free and top grossing.

“For a small developer, this is terrible news,” said developer Chris Newman. “Although it’s only for a short period, the ’new release’ exposure is extremely valuable. It’s our opportunity to grab people’s attention, build the initial user base and gauge the public’s reaction without needing to spend a fortune on marketing. The new system only gives exposure to titles that are already in the charts. How does a new app break through? There is absolutely no way of being discovered unless a user is linked to your app directly, or searches for the app by name.”

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Indie app developers are facing problems with visibility on the new App Store

The new search results window in the iOS 6 App Store has also caught criticisms by Newman. Before iOS 6, users could flick through Search Results of five apps per page. The new update has changed that as results now only show one app per page. “This is a massive distortion of exposure towards the already-successful apps,” he said. “Those that are top of the search results (we assume, although we don’t know, because they are popular) are placed full screen in a user’s face. To get further down the list requires effort. A lot of effort.”

Among other problems users are facing with iOS 6 is that the update has brought along problems with Wi-Fi. Some iOS 6 users are unable to switch on Wi-Fi on their devices, while others are complaining of not being able to connect to Wi-Fi networks in spite of having Wi-Fi enabled. Other threads on the support forum highlight another problem with Apple devices not being able to connect with Netgear modems or routers after being upgraded to iOS 6.

Apple’s iPhone 5 launch was marred by users taking to social media and blogs to complain about geographical errors and missing information on the maps feature, which is based on TomTom’s map data. The company decided to forego the use of Google Maps in favour of an app that was developed in-house. The app is receiving many complaints due to the high level of inaccuracies. Following the debacle, CEO of Apple Tim Cook issued an apology to users of iOS 6, and suggested alternatives to the Maps app till Apple fixes it.

In his statement, Tim Cook said, “We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better…While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app”.