That's a shame. Gravity looks like a clever app, and the UX in the reviewer video was pretty slick. The spoon + quarter calibration is great!<p>This sort of thing is why I'm increasingly disinterested in developing for iOS for fun (and why most of my recent side project work has been on web apps). App review is effectively a black box since the rules are applied so inconsistently, and working for weeks or months on something only to find out the Apple doesn't like it is a constant concern. Add in the the real and psychological barriers app review imposes when making bug fixes or updates, and it makes going back to the web rather attractive. It'd be nice to see Apple make some changes to the process.<p>(I know I could move over to Android dev, but since I use an iPhone it's not terribly interesting for side projects - though that's my problem, not Androids's.)
Clever idea and use of technology, not surprised to see Apple reject as they want nothing to do with either concepts.<p>As a developer I will never develop for, support, condone or recommend Apple products to anyone I know because of such behaviour, they want a wall garden, good for them, but I'll have no active part in it.
Really cool app, and a shame Apple rejected it. Using a spoon was a very clever idea.<p>Why did you choose to display weight in grams to 3 decimal points when the measurements are only accurate to within 3g? It would be better to not display the values after the decimal point, so you don't give your users a false sense of accuracy.
A minor point, but the app was rejected rather than "shut down".<p>It's a shame, it seems like a neat application and I can totally imagine using an app like this to weigh spices or coffee beans.
>Apple has a moral and ethical onus to make the right choices be it related to the confederate flag, changing drug laws, or using emoji to fight bullying, and we respect that.<p>I can't decide if he <i>really</i> respects that or if he's still hoping to get his app approved. Companies should not be in the business of trying to enforce (clearly unenforceable) laws by removing features that do perfectly legal things.
>Apple has a moral and ethical onus to make the right choices be it related to the confederate flag, changing drug laws, or using emoji to fight bullying, and we respect that.<p>Do you, or do you fear retaliation from Apple if you bad mouth them?
A year or two ago some developer [0] figured out how to code some sort of pseudo pressure sensitivity into a music making app, which seemed to work well from what I heard. Apple eventually banned the app from their store citing improper use of the code base.<p>[0] trying to search for it, seems lost to the memory hole
Apple now allows you to sideload apps from source without paying the developer fee, so it can still be distributed in source format for anyone to install.
Note that the 1944 90% silver Washington quarters pictured
would weigh 6.25 grams each, while the 1965+ cupro-nickel
sandwich quarters weigh 5.67g each.
I doubt that Apple's primary concern is people breaking their screens. It would actually be quite difficult to break your screen by putting heavy weights onto a <i>spoon</i>.<p>No, Apple's concern is supporting this app to the future. They don't know if they'll be sticking with this same kind of sensor for future models, and they don't know that any future sensor will be backwards compatible for this app. If people get used to using this app, suddenly they'd be under an obligation to keep it working, thus losing options for future designs.
I would happily pay money for this app, a true shame that it has been rejected. This story makes me wish that there were easy to use sideloading opportunities for app developers within iOS.
I thought this was a great article, until the end where the author not only gives up, but writes a meek apologietic stating that Apple is clearly and wholly right to block people from running any software it doesn't like on their own phones, without explanation.<p>Does Apple retaliate against people who complain about the App Store review process in public or something?
Pleasantly surprised at the developers' reaction to the rejection. It's like they knew that there was a chance and they weren't really upset when it didn't go their way. Kudos to them for their ingenuity despite the failure.
Kind of like the Plum-O-Meter<p><a href="http://flexmonkey.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/the-plum-o-meter-weighing-plums-using.html" rel="nofollow">http://flexmonkey.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/the-plum-o-meter-we...</a>
It's against the HN guidelines to editorialize titles when submitting stories, so please don't.<p>(Submitted title was "Apple shuts down app that uses 'Force Touch' to weigh objects".)
Could the heavier weight (not big enough to break the screen) could actually damage the force touch sensor also? But probably the screen damage possibility was the reason for the rejection.
Using an extremely expensive ultra-thin high-resolution touch-sensitive easily-scratched display as a scale is a pretty terrible idea. If Apple allows the app and someone weighs tiny diamonds on the screen, whose fault is it that the display is scratched? Ordinary people may not understand how the Mohs hardness scale works. Ordinary people may not be accurate judges of whether or not something is too heavy to place on a phone without damaging it. Cute hack, but too many unintended consequences in the real world.