Apple pulling HealthKit-enabled apps from the App Store - report [u]
With the public release of iOS 8 looming, Apple has begun removing apps that take advantage of the new HealthKit API from the App Store, a move that is said to have been prompted by ongoing problems with new health data tracking system.
Developer Brian Mueller, maker of fitness motivation app Carrot Fit, said on Twitter that he received a call from an Apple representative following his app's removal from the store Thursday morning. That representative indicated that HealthKit was the cause, and Mueller could resubmit a version of Carrot Fit sans the new framework.
"Sounds like HealthKit won't be working at all this week," Mueller subsequently wrote. "And there's no ETA for when a bug fix will go live."
HealthKit, announced at June's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, is a tentpole feature of iOS 8. Its delay could explain the absence of any major HealthKit-related new at last week's iPhone 6 introduction -- Minnesota-based healthcare provider Mayo Clinic had been rumored to appear at the event in support of HealthKit, but did not take the stage.
HealthKit would not be the first iOS 8 feature to have its release pushed back. SMS continuity, which would allow users to answer SMS messages received on their iPhone from their iPad, was recently pushed to October and its eventual release is likely to coincide with the general availability of OS X Yosemite.
Update: Apple has confirmed the HealthKit "bug" to Financial Times reporter Tim Bradshaw, who tweeted the email correspondence below. The company plans to have a fix in by the end of September.
Developer Brian Mueller, maker of fitness motivation app Carrot Fit, said on Twitter that he received a call from an Apple representative following his app's removal from the store Thursday morning. That representative indicated that HealthKit was the cause, and Mueller could resubmit a version of Carrot Fit sans the new framework.
"Sounds like HealthKit won't be working at all this week," Mueller subsequently wrote. "And there's no ETA for when a bug fix will go live."
HealthKit, announced at June's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, is a tentpole feature of iOS 8. Its delay could explain the absence of any major HealthKit-related new at last week's iPhone 6 introduction -- Minnesota-based healthcare provider Mayo Clinic had been rumored to appear at the event in support of HealthKit, but did not take the stage.
HealthKit would not be the first iOS 8 feature to have its release pushed back. SMS continuity, which would allow users to answer SMS messages received on their iPhone from their iPad, was recently pushed to October and its eventual release is likely to coincide with the general availability of OS X Yosemite.
Update: Apple has confirmed the HealthKit "bug" to Financial Times reporter Tim Bradshaw, who tweeted the email correspondence below. The company plans to have a fix in by the end of September.
Apple's full statement on today's iOS 8 Healthkit issue, via email: pic.twitter.com/xDhuKrLZQe
— Tim Bradshaw (@tim)
Comments
Not like I can connect to the upgrade servers right now anyway. Maybe I will wait to upgrade on this one.
I can't image any other scenario where they'd accept apps and then pull them.
I wonder what happened? Did they find a showstopper security hole or bug right before release?
I can't image any other scenario where they'd accept apps and then pull them.
I would venture to guess that Apple and its developers found an issue during their testing which must have concerned them. Does not mean every developer ran into the issues since some developer do not test like google does and let its user find their issues for them. Maybe this guy just hack an app together just to get into the store and did not realize there was major issue.
Plus Cook probably learned his lesson after mapgate....
There were issues with HealthKit in the iOS 8 GM build. Because of the launch of the iPhone 6, iOS 8 couldn't be held back. We will see a 8.01 update within the next couple of weeks.
And not be dependent on any Apple Health Watch.
They found a worm in the Apple.