Confusing things about the App Store (List)

[TheSpaz]

1. On the Computer version of iTunes, the icon doesn't necessarily reflect the icon that will appear on your iPhone.

2. People can review the Apps without having to download them or even buy them. So you get a lot of "This should be free!" comments.

3. When an App gets updated, sometimes the developer doesn't change the screenshots to show the new graphical changes... so this makes you think that it's the same old crappy UI that it's always had (especially when it's a paid app and you're not sure you want to dish out the money for an app that looks bad).

4. When an App gets updated, you still see the OLD reviews about how bad the app is or what works and what doesn't work even AFTER the App has had those bugs taken out of there. Take a look at "Movies" for example... The app has been completely re-done but, the old reviews about how much the previous one sucked are still there.

5. Why can't we change the icons without jailbreaking? Most of the Apps on the App store have horrid icons.

6. Updates are slow. It takes forever for an App update to come out because Apple has to go through each one to make sure that everything follows the rules first.

7. No option to try before you buy unless the developer offers a "Lite" version. This is bad because it makes people make bad purchase decisions based on 1 or 2 screenshots and some reviews (which don't really help most of the time).

8. It's hard to find all the good apps buried under all the stupid sudoku games and flashlights. The App Store seems more and more like the "Crap Store" with just games and nonsense Apps that make the iPhone look like it's a toy. The iPhone is NOT a freakin' PSP or DS! It's a PHONE.

Can anyone think of more things that suck about the App Store? I'm trying to get a list together of things I'd like to see improvement on. I know I can't be the only one who thought this: "I can't wait until the App Store hits because then I'll know that quality apps will be produced since the developers are using the Official SDK... enough with all these crappy jailbroken apps" Well, it seems like the App Store is just a pile of crap right now with a few gems thrown in.

 

[SeahorseSeaEO]

I can comment on a few of these items.

#1: Apple requires developers to submit a larger sized picture for use on iTunes. The developer can choose to have it look the same as the icon, or something different.

#3: If a developer submits new screenshots when they submit a new version of an app, the screenshots get posted immediately, long before the app gets approved. This causes confusion, as people look at the newer screenshots, download the app, but get the old version. So I think a lot of developers are waiting until the update is approved before going back and changing the screenshots (of course this method has the confusion you initially stated).

#6: Here, here!

#7: I have made the suggestion to Apple that they really need to adopt more of a shareware model for programs (if the developer wants). Right now they forbid that model, and developers are left to create Lite versions of their programs.

 

[StoneColdSober]

I have held off on making the following comments as I never saw an appropriate thread and didn't feel it was worth making a new one. So here goes for my two additions to your list:

9. New Apps lists: In both iTunes and on the iPhone the New Apps list are horid. They don't show all new apps, there are apps still listed that came out prior to the App Store launch (Pocketpedia - release date 7/8/2008). I would like to be able to view new apps that have just come out by looking at these lists but they are totally worthless.

10. Categories in iTunes - the apps categories in iTunes should list the number of apps like it is shown on the iPhone. Since Apple has seen fit to make the "new" list in the App Store meaningless (see #9 above), it would be nice to see the number of apps in the categories list so I don't have to go through each category I am following to see what new apps are out.

To expound upon your #8, I think they need to start offering a way to better filter the apps out. My suggestion would be to have a true user review and rating system. In other words, if you haven't used the app, you can't review it. It would in essence make the reviews process two fold and maybe that is redundant, so maybe 2 and 8 should be combined.

I am all for keeping the development of apps open but lets be honest, there is a bunch of crap in the app store and little to no quality control. I could tolerate this if there was a better way for me to filter the apps.

Just my 2 cents (worth even less now with inflation).

 

[bendodson]

I completely agree with all of the above but in particular number 4 - I hate the fact that some apps get a load of people (who maybe haven't even used it) saying "this is rubbish" or "should be free" and pointing out bugs which have been fixed. Reviews should be assigned to app versions not to the app as a whole (but all reviews should be viewable in case you want to see what people said about it when it came out)

I also agree that there are a lot of crap apps out there and they seem to all launch at the same time (e.g. I waited about 3 weeks for a tube update app to come out, and then 8 of them did on the same day! Same thing happened with flash lights, etc).

Why do Apple let so many of the same ideas go up - surely there should be a point when they look at an app and say "we know you paid $99 for a developer license, but seriously was this the best you could do?". Having said that, I do feel sorry for a lot of the developers who have spent time building stuff for the store, releasing it for free, and then getting people criticising every little minor point as if they had paid $100 for it or something. But hey, this is the internet and flaming is just one of those negative things that is always going to come out of it!