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iOS 5 and the TUAW iPhone app
As those of you using the free TUAW iPhone app in iOS 5 have already seen, there are a few issues with it; missing buttons, some broken functionality, et cetera. While we were expecting that the AOL team handling mobile development for us & all our sister sites would have an update ready for the iOS 5 release, that didn't happen. I was told that as of October 28, an update would be submitted to Apple. AOL has a QA process for mobile apps, and several bugs popped up once iOS 5 hit. I did receive a new build to test on Thursday, and I'm happy to report it works well with iOS 5. That said, I do not yet know if the latest version of our app has been submitted for App Store review. Therefore, on Monday, October 31, I will ask our mobile team to provide me with an update and ETA for a properly-functioning iPhone app (noting that Apple's review process is obviously outside our control). If the word is still "we hope to submit it this week," I will most likely pull the current app from the store so that no more new users will be wondering why an Apple blog's iOS app doesn't work. I'm hoping not to have to do this, as it won't do anything for the existing users who are frustrated and unhappy; I can only tell you that I'm just as frustrated and unhappy as you are, possibly more so. Also, if you're wondering about an iPad app, you should check out Engadget's Distro app. Would you like this same treatment for TUAW? I have watched Distro in development, and while I think it's a cool way to skin the site into a magazine-like format, I still feel that it lacks some of the filtering and sorting tools our users would expect. That said, I also realize it is almost 2012 and we still don't have an iPad app, although our site works perfectly well in Mobile Safari. Just as with our iPhone app, we must rely upon the mobile development team within AOL, and that team doesn't exactly have TUAW at the top of its priority list (we're sort of the pinky toe of the AOL content universe). If and when we're able to put TUAW into something like Distro, I'll be the first to let you know. Thanks to everyone who sent in bug reports. I hope to have better news for you in November. In the meanwhile, I would encourage you to check out our site in Mobile Safari. Unlike when we used to call iOS "iPhone OS," the latest version of Safari in iOS doesn't crash miserably when loading TUAW. Those were good times, weren't they? By the way, if you're wondering why our app has a 17+ rating, that's because Apple requires it on any app which allows you to "go" to the full web within the app (the theory being you'll go from TUAW to some inappropriate site -- Apple can be weird this way). So if we remove that option, we can lower the age limit. Unfortunately, that option is very handy sometimes. Let me know in the comments if you'd rather we ditch our web view in exchange for lowering the age limit. My apologies for the bugs, the lack of communication and lack of an iPad app. We hope to fix things soon.
Updated TUAW application now available on the App Store
Update: We're getting feedback that the app is not working on the iPad, and we're saying the same problem here -- our development team is aware of the issue and they're working on correcting it ASAP. If you haven't emptied your Trash yet, the older version of the app (1.0.1.7) is still there -- you can pull it out to the desktop, delete the 2.0 version in iTunes, and drag the 1.0 .ipa file into your iTunes library to downgrade. You can't have one version for your iPhone and another for your iPad, unfortunately, unless you sync them on different machines. We'll advise as soon as we have a fixed version in the store. Also note that the new version of the app uses a different mechanism for saving posts than the older version did and the saved posts do not migrate to the new app, so please jot down your saved articles before updating so you can find them again. --- It's here! The iPhone update all faithful TUAW readers have been asking about (and asking about...) is now available on the App Store. Although it's not universal for the iPad (sorry!), it does up the ante with many notable improvements including support for Retina Display resolutions. The app also lets you share news, photos, videos and other tech stories via Twitter, Facebook and email. For those of you that like to organize and store your content, we even added the ability to save articles for offline reading in-app or to Evernote, Instapaper or ReaditLater. A few UI enhancements make it easier to navigate within the app, and an integrated mini-browser lets you view content without leaving the app. Overall, we think it's a much improved experience, and we hope you like it as much as we do. The TUAW app is available on the App Store for free. Grab the latest version and let us know what you think in the comments (or leave reviews on the store, too). Enjoy!
