UK Live Trains 3.0.0
UK Live Trains 3.0.0 has a new modern tabbed interface. This will give me lots more space to add features and evolve the product. Hope you like it.
RSSRadio 4.2 - Car Play
RSSRadio 4.2 has arrived and i'm delighted to announce that RSSRadio has been accepted and approved for Apple's Car Play program!
- Car Play
- You can handoff the currently playing podcast to MacOS Safari
- Download error messages are more friendly and helpful
- Shake your phone to reset the (time based) sleep timer
- Added the audio route options to the now playing popup, so you can switch quickly to your new Air Pods!
- Basic Google Cast support (Chromecast)
- New German Translations by a native speaking user
- Prompt if no shows in podcast list due to filter
- “Keep Shows” is now “Favourites” and has its own playlist
- In-Car Settings Section
- Improved background refreshing and updating
RSSRadio is an advanced Podcast playback app, available on the App Store since 2010. RSSRadio pioneered many features that are commonplace today and continues to evolve.
Dark mode on iPad!
RSSRadio 4.1
RSSRadio 4.1 is available for upgrade today. Bringing dark mode for iPad and more...
- Bug fixes
- Pop up menu on Now Playing gives easier access to sleep timer
- Full podcast import will give option to re-use last used subscription to import into
- On screen confirmation of sleep timer
- The player can manage downloads, automatically downloading the next few items on your queue on demand if they are not already downloaded
- RSSRadio will queue wifi only downloads with iOS even when the device is on cellular, removing the requirement for RSSRadio to wake up and start the download and allowing IOS to start the download as soon as WiFi is available
- On 3D Touch devices, tapping and (softly…) holding a podcast on the podcasts screen will allow you to re-order them
- Enhancements to subscribing, including directly recognising some podcast links and a better workflow for podcasts url’s not returning a podcast feed
- When copying default subscription settings to existing feeds, you can choose which settings to copy
- “fast skip” now playing setting enhanced. Where the podcast has chapters and the next chapter starts in the next 3 mins it will skip directly to the start of the next chapter
- Custom now playing settings can now also control the per podcast playback speed *** OLD SUBSCRIPTION SETTING HAS GONE ***
- Custom DSP settings UI enhanced to make it more obvious which settings are per podcast
- RSSRadio will respect lower power mode, and disable automatic feed refreshing, the spectrum analyser graphic and some syncing functions
- RSSRadio will respect the reduce motion accessibility setting and remove some animations
- Added iPhone 7 haptic feedback
- Dark Theme now available on the iPad ( as you kept asking, asking, asking, asking, you wouldn’t let it lie!)
- Optimised background pushes and refresh for the changes in new iOS versions
RSSRadio is an advanced Podcast playback app, available on the App Store since 2010. RSSRadio pioneered many features that are commonplace today and continues to evolve.
Where has the free version of RSSRadio gone? (UPDATE: ITS BACK!)
4.1.2 Ready for Sale
On Wednesday evening (GMT) I released the latest update (4.1) to the App Store for the free version of RSSRadio, as is usual the paid version had been out for a few days, making sure there were no critical bugs.
4.1.2 Developer Removed from Sale
Unfortunately due to an issue in the way the free app was built the release was faulty, and crashed on launch. I realised this within about 20 minutes and withdrew the app from sale so nobody else could get the update.
If you got the faulty update, please sign up to this temporary mail chimp list so i can contact you with any solutions: http://eepurl.com/ctL2yX
4.1.3 Waiting for Review
Within a couple of hours I had identified the problem and tested a new version. As is normal procedure in these circumstances I requested a fast (expedited) App Review from Apple. They emailed me back within about an hour to say they would proceed with a review.
4.1.3 In Review
On Thursday evening the app had still not started to be reviewed, so I filled in a contact form asking for an update. This prompted some action and at 10pm last night the app went into review.
4.1.3 Rejected
At 2am this morning I received the message that the app had been rejected:
- 5. 2.3 LEGAL: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY - AUDIO/VIDEO DOWNLOADING
- Your app allows users to save or download music, video, or other media content without authorization from the relevant third-party sources.
Ouch. Well not really, or really thats the whole point of a podcast app, depending on your point of view.
Some publishers have clear terms of service allowing the user to download content (NPR: http://www.npr.org/about-npr/179876898/terms-of-use), other smaller ones of course have no such document.
I'll be appealing this decision, collecting some terms of service to show, and hopefully get the app out. Its not the first time that something weird has happened with App Review but the timing is pretty awful. I'll post updates on http://twitter.com/rssradio
4.1.3 READY FOR SALE
Late on Friday the app went back into review, and was approved for sale shortly afterwards. I had no feedback from App Review or other contact from Apple.
Time will tell how much damage 2 days of 0 downloads has done to RSSRadio along with the (probably deserved) 1 star reviews. I can expect to appear lower in search results for the foreseeable future.
CRISIS OVER
FAQ
- Are Apple an evil corporation out to get you?
No, they are just a collection of people who can make mistakes and misunderstand things like anybody else
Please rate this app! Please rate this app! Please rate this app!
If you use third party iOS apps, i'm quite sure you will have seen something like this dialog. It was probably pretty annoying.
It sensible to wonder why developers would put such a user hostile interruption into an app, could it be that important for them to have their ego stroked by people telling them how wonderful their design and programming is?
Lets look at some data, here is what happened to RSSRadio downloads after the 4.0.1 release and the app rating was reset to zero:
Downloads dropped dramatically.
Now thats not ideal from a revenue point of view, but its actually a lot worse if it continues for any length of time. The App Store® uses downloads and ratings not only to place apps in top lists but also to place apps in search results, a prolonged period of low downloads will cause the app to drop in search results which will cause downloads to drop further which will... well, you get the idea...
Not having that magic 5 ratings which get your stars to appear could easily turn a viable app into a not viable one. Not a great incentive for developers to release a new version is it?
So, when you rate or review an app, you doing so will help keep an app you use (and maybe rely on) developed and maintained on the App Store® and it only costs you 20 seconds of your day. Thats not such a bad deal.