Open Radar

 
Summary:

As you know, bugs happen and unfortunately, the current state of the (Mac) App Store makes it very difficult to address last minute bugs, which is very frustrating for us developers and our users.

It seems like Apple currently treats apps as songs, which are immutable and bug free. This is far from reality. Apple could introduce a Trusted Developer status, which would allow a developer that respects some criteria (how long on the App Store, no user complaints, no legal issues, etc.) to submit bug fix releases (ex: 2.4.x) in order to quickly address critical bug fixes. Major versions or updates (ex: 3.x) would still have to go through the review process as it is currently the case.

Steps to Reproduce:

Submit an app that was tested thoroughly. Have your users report a critical bug once the app has been approved and released.

Expected Results:

You should be able to address this bug quickly and make a bug fix release available to your users.

Actual Results:

You have to get your app through the review process, which can take a really long time, anywhere from a few days to weeks. There is the possibility of requesting a expedited review but those are seldom granted.

Regression:

Our software outside the (Mac) App Store is completely managed by us, the developers. It makes it easy for us to quickly submit bug fixes to our users (via Sparkle for example), sometimes in the matter of minutes. Users also expect bugs to be quickly sorted out and that is simply not possible on the (Mac) App Store.

Notes:

The TestFlight current model is one good example of how this could work. Major versions and updates need to go through the review process and bug fixes versions can be pushed directly to users. 

To ensure that the privilege is not being abused, iTunes Connect could, as it is currently the case for TestFlight, have you wait 24 hours in between each submissions. Developers that use that privilege too often would automatically have to go through the review process again for the next submission, even if it is a bug fix release.

The App Store staff could also randomly verify pushed bug fix releases (What’s New notes, etc.) to make sure the status is not being abused in which case the developer would lose his privilege.