iOS 14 Shipping Tomorrow, Xcode 12 GM
Apple today announced that iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, and tvOS 14 will be officially released on Wednesday, September 16.
This makes perfect sense considering that the iOS 14 GM and Xcode 12 GM have been available since this afternoon. So developers have several hours in which to test and submit their updates and get them approved in the App Store.
The download page for Xcode 12 GM says:
Xcode 12 includes everything you need to create amazing apps for all Apple platforms. Includes the latest SDKs for iOS, watchOS, and tvOS, and macOS Catalina. For development on macOS Big Sur or to support Apple silicon, continue to use Xcode 12 beta 6.
Presumably, final development for Big Sur will require a forthcoming Xcode 12.1. I’m not sure why they couldn’t put the Big Sur SDK in Xcode 12.0, though. This makes development more complicated.
Update (2020-09-16): Juri Pakaste:
So “Time Flies” referred to the iOS release schedule, huh
Jesse Squires (Hacker News, also):
Given the increasingly tenuous relationship that Apple has with developers, I do not understand how it could be in their interest to act like such an asshole right now. Not to mention, it is unlikely that they will even be able to review all of these app submissions in time. We already do not feel valued due to the aforementioned issues, and this is an outright negligent response to developer relationships the company has damaged over the past few years. Announcing that iOS 14 ships tomorrow with virtually no notice to developers is yet another breach of trust, another disappointment, and quite frankly feels like a big ‘fuck you’ to developers.
“Dear iOS dev. Because of X we had to make some tough choices and release iOS 14 without enough time for you to prepare. We’ll be doing Y to prevent this from happening again. We’re sorry.”
Would go a long way. Will never happen.
Talked to iOS lead at a popular app. Apple made their usual petition to develop new-to-iOS 14 features for launch day. Things were broken in betas, are still broken in GM, and this whole kerfuffle has prevented them from shipping + being day one partner Apple asked them to be.
Apple removed OSLogStore completely from iOS with the GM release. This is a surprising move and really sad.
The removal of this API will make logging slower and less secure for everyone.
I thought I was being smart by submitting an update built with the 13 SDK on Monday, a day before the likely 14 GM release and rush of submissions.
I think it backfired. 14 SDK apps are being prioritized and reviewed in record time. I bet 13 apps are at the bottom of the queue.
The website and API have been updated. To keep things “simple”, 12A7209 has replaced 12A7208.
For posterity: The tale of two Xcode 12 GMs — 12A7208 and 12A7209, built only days apart and yet at least a week before their sudden release.
Interestingly builds from 12A7208 have been approved for the App Store.
Update (2020-09-17): Matt Birchler (also: MacRumors):
Why do devs want to have updates out on the day (and ideally time) new iOS versions come out? Well, customers are going to install the update and hear about things like widgets that are flagship features. Customers are going to look for apps that have widgets, and Apple is going to feature apps that did updates to use the new features. Major sites like 9to5Mac and Techcrunch are going to feature lists of apps that use the new features, also driving sales.
[…]
iOS 14 updates need to be built using the final build of Xcode, which was also released yesterday afternoon. That means even if you were done weeks ago, you need to rebuild your app with the new version of Xcode.[…]
I’d really love to know why Apple ended up releasing the software in this fashion. I want believe that it was just an unfortunate chain of events that forced this timing. Clearly the App Review team was prepared for an onslaught of app submissions from surprised developers, so someone at Apple knew this was coming.
Apple has released iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, the newest operating system updates designed for the iPhone and iPad.
Update (2020-09-18): Renaud Lienhart:
Releasing the GMs 24h before the public release is indefensible, if not solely for the fact that Xcode 12.0 crashes simply opening the Documentation Viewer.
Update (2020-09-22): Howard Oakley:
As millions of users were upgrading their iPhones to iOS 14, its third-party developers were in for another of Apple’s treats: suddenly, the first beta of iOS 14.2 was released to them for testing. Not 14.1, which presumably fixes some of the bugs already known to have missed the premature release of 14.0, but 14.2. In just three sleepless days and nights, iOS developers had been shot from 14.0 beta to 14.2 beta.
Somehow Apple managed to expedite product review for tens or even hundreds of thousands of apps, although I suspect that review wasn’t as thorough (pernickety, according to many developers) as usual.
This [documentation crash] affects Xcode 12 when downloaded from the Mac App Store. We’re aware of the problem and we’re working on a fix.
As a workaround in the meantime, documentation is available on developer.apple.com, or if necessary, Xcode 12 can be downloaded from the More Downloads area.
Update (2020-09-28): See also: Will Hains, The Talk Show.
This version appears to fix the issue with the documentation window crashing the app.
Still no sign of a 12.0.1 direct download.
3 Comments RSS · Twitter
Last time I was shocked like this by Apple was in 2008 when iPhone Developer Program was first launching and we poor people in countries without online Apple Store had to send our forms via fax. Yes, fax! To make things even more fun, those faxes just wouldn't go through as that one line was probably overloaded 24/7. It took many months get a reply to one of many emails I sent about it and was finally able to eventually send the form via email. They've come a long long way since, but have gone backwards many steps lately, and especially with this today.
Last go ’round there was a lot of press about how iOS 13 wasn’t fully baked, and people (including me) telling normies not to update until 13.1. I don’t know how 14 is doing since I’m not as tuned into the Apple world as I used to be, but perhaps this single day’s notice is Apple trying to juice their upgrade stats just in case?
Releasing iOS 14 without giving third party developers time to update and submit their apps makes it clear to customers and developers alike that apps are not actual products that have value in of themselves, but simply accessories or "consumable experiences"... nothing you should rely on. It's important for Apple to make it clear who is boss, and who is a sharecropper. Expect an avalanche of one star reviews!
