Apple activates weekly App Analytics emails for devs, admits screen color management app onto iOS A

Posted:
in iPhone edited March 2016
Apple on Monday announced a new iTunes Connect feature that lets developers opt in to weekly App Analytics updates via email, while approving screen temperature and brightness management app FlexBright for iOS App Store sale.




With the new iTunes Connect tool developers can receive weekly email reports on their most frequently downloaded apps, according to an email notification sent to AppleInsider reader Gregg earlier today. Each email contains week-over-week metrics covering App Store views, app units, sales, sessions and crashes.

The email notification service is the latest upgrade to hit Apple's iTunes Connect developer hub, which recently received a facelift last September alongside functional additions like an option to schedule automated software release dates. Apple most recently built out an iTunes Connect Web portal called Podcast Connect for validating, publishing and managing podcast content.

Developers interested in opting in to Apple's weekly analytics service can do so by visiting Notifications in the "Users and Roles" iTunes Connect settings menu.




As for iOS App Store content, Apple recently approved device display brightness and color temperature management app FlexBright for distribution.

The addition comes nearly four months after a similar app called f.lux was shut down for using private APIs, a violation of App Store policy. It was speculated that Apple was clearing the field for Night Shift, an upcoming iOS 9.3 feature that automatically shifts display color temperatures to the warmer end of the spectrum to ease physiological effects of exposure to cold blue light.

FlexBright was originally created to reduce eye strain by monitoring user exposure to a device's blue light. Previous releases touted automatic brightness control, but the most recent version 2.0 adds in a "blue light filter" for shifting color temperature either manually or by time of day.

The latest FlexBright version is available for $2.99 from the iOS App Store.

Update: Apple has pulled FlexBright for violating App Store policy.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    That's a pretty shitting thing to do: Copy f.lux, don't allow f.lux to deploy their own app, then let this app into the App Store instead.
    edited March 2016 bloodshotrollin'red
  • Reply 2 of 8
    I'm sure F.lux has to be wondering why they were kept out but this other app was let in. Do we think Apple might reverse and let them in? I mean they do have a slightly different way of doing things.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    Let people buy this, then release the feature for free with 9.3. Bit of a greasy move there haha
  • Reply 4 of 8
    croprcropr Posts: 1,122member
    This demonstrates again the Apple app review process is a frustrating experience for app developers (and I am one of them).  The lack of transparency from Apple, and never knowing when or even if your app will be accepted, is really annoying
  • Reply 5 of 8
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    That's some bad UI.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member
    You people did read the part about f.lux using private APIs which is against Apple's policies, right?
    Looks like it's not necessary to break the rules to make the app work. So it's f.lux's fault.

    on the flip side, man that FlexBright app is ugly!
    jbdragonjony0
  • Reply 7 of 8
    jony0jony0 Posts: 378member
    evilution said:
    You people did read the part about f.lux using private APIs which is against Apple's policies, right?
    Looks like it's not necessary to break the rules to make the app work. So it's f.lux's fault.

    on the flip side, man that FlexBright app is ugly!
    Exactly, I was surprised it took 5 comments before getting to the private API bit, including one from a self-declared app developper. There has been no lack of transparency as far as private APIs are concerned, f.lux simply had to find a different yet accepted way, like calling published APIs instead, as did FlexBright presumably.
    I do agree though with most posts that the UI is bad, so bad I can't even tell which side is the newer version, if any, one manages blue light, the other brightness. Or did they just think that people wouldn't understand the Blue Light concept ? I might still wait for f.lux or 9.3.
    edited March 2016
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