Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Releasing Console On Device - Lessons Learned

Trying to make my third release, an application called "Console On Device". Learned some new things - and old ones, too.

First of all, application name was already reserved. I did extensive research and tough name planning, when starting to design this app - in February 2011. Surprisingly at November 2011 someone else had already released an app with "my" name!

Lesson learned: I could have created iTunes Connect app record right away to reserve the name. However in this case luck was on my side: I found a new better name!

...so how is "Console On Device" as a name better than the old one? Because new name contains critical keyword for this niche: "console". App name even starts with it,  which is important for App Store search results listing. The add-on "On Device" makes the name even more descriptive, which is useful for good first impression - made entirely based on a) app name and b) icon.

Yes, there's more to app development than just coding. Even more than graphics!

When you have setup everything in iTunes Connect "Manage Your Apps" section for a new application and status is "Prepare for Upload", it doesn't actually mean that. You still got to find and press a button at bottom right corner. It's not really hidden, but it's not very obvious either.

Took a few days until I realized that, pretty embarrassing :) My excuse is that the button wasn't too visible on small 13" MacBook Pro screen.

Had to create a "Distribution" configuration, wasn't able to use Release. The weirdest thing is that it's an exact copy of Release configuration without any changes! Got to check this some day, too weird to be true...

Relearned how to handle "Application Failed Codesign Verification" problem. Had the archive scheme wrong again. Weird how defaults can be wrong by default.

Found a new validation problem with archived application. This might have have happened, because I created the distribution archive without connecting iPhone to build machine.
Application executable is missing a required architecture. At least one of the following architecture(s) must be present: armv6
The fix was to manually edit project Build Settings - Architectures - Distribution. Removed the default $(ARCHS_STANDARD_32_BIT) and added armv6 and armv7 as two separate items.
Submission Succeeded
No issues were found in "Console OD". "Console OD" has passed validation and has been submitted to the App Store for further review.
Now just waiting, hoping for best! Exciting times, love releasing apps!

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