Apple writes love letter to ride-hailing apps and video calling
Watch out, developers. Apple is more aggressively calling out the good and the bad of the App Store.
On Thursday, Apple declared it will begin removing unused, non-functioning or outdated apps via a blog post titled "App Store Improvements." The reckoning begins Sept. 7, the same day as its keynote event where the company is expected to announce the next-generation iPhone.
Developers will be contacted before any app is removed, and they have 30 days to make any changes -- unless the app crashes immediately. Apple advised that developers look at the latest version of its review guidelines.
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One quick suggestion: Don't be an amateur.
"If your app looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or you're trying to get your first practice app into the store to impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection. We have lots of serious developers who don't want their quality apps to be surrounded by amateur hour," Apple's guidelines read.
Apple also included two suggestions for app developers -- quality apps and shorter names -- in an email sent Thursday, according to TechCrunch. Under the new restrictions, app names must be no longer than 50 characters.
For inspiration on quality, developers might want to check out a secondary blog post Apple released Thursday titled, "Hey Siri, book me a ride." The post highlights six apps, four ride-hailing apps and three video calling apps, that are using SiriKit in iOS 10 to allow for voice commands.
It's no secret that Apple approves of ride-hailing. The company invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing in May.
"Didi Chuxing, the world’s largest multi-product rideshare platform, will let you hail a Didi ride directly from your iPhone, using 'Hey Siri' across over 400 cities in China," Apple wrote in the blog post.
Didi was named along with Uber, Lyft and mytaxi in the post.
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
