The long-standing "big purge"
In fact, Apple's operation of cleaning up old apps has always existed. As early as 2021 and 2020, we have been actively cleaning up applications that have not been updated from 2015 to 2017. So this announcement is not surprising, it is just a strengthening and continuation of Apple's consistent strategy.
Applications that have not been updated for a long time will be cleaned up --- If you have to quantify the indicators, then use 5 years as the standard (but this number will become shorter and shorter in the future). This is the general trend and inevitable.
Why do you do this?
Seeing that many people have said various conspiracy theories, it is actually unnecessary. Everything in the world is for profit, and Apple's doing so is nothing more than considering its own interests. It can be summarized as follows:
Most of the apps that have not been updated for a long time are apps with limited profitability and low quality. This is an objective fact. After cleaning up, the "average quality" of the market will definitely increase.
In view of the flaws in Apple's review mechanism, a large number of fish that slipped through the net made money by staying silent and low-key after being on the shelves by chance. This cleanup is to check and fill in the gaps of this vulnerability.
There are some high-quality "stand-alone games", and "stand-alone tools" do not need to be actively updated. These developers are "victims", but Apple is confident that they will keep up with the pace out of interests.
Ensure coverage of new features. Apple has been actively promoting various new features and new technologies. Some turned out to be "bad ideas" and some succeeded. But in any case, Apple needs a large number of developers to follow up to verify the effect of new features, so he uses the monopoly of the platform to promote this purpose.
What are the criteria for cleaning up old apps?
Judging from the current situation, it is not that the old app must be cleaned up. It cannot be said that since the app in 2019 has been cleaned up, the app in 2018 must also be cleaned up. There are still some details to pay attention to here.
Apps that are easier to clean up are:
An app that hasn't been updated for a long time. (But this "too long" criterion is yet to be measured)
Due to the insufficient compatibility of the code developed in the early stage, an incompatible app will be generated immediately when the system is updated.
The daily life of the product is insufficient, and there are apps that are purely tasteless.
The product content is relatively simple, combined with 3 for reference and judgment.
From personal experience, some old apps in 2017 (such as mine) are safe and sound, and some were removed in 2019. Therefore, the "compatibility" of the product in the early stage is very important.
Especially the compatibility of the interface, so developers with technical taste are more advantageous in this regard. The products that are chased by the product manager to put on the shelves in a hurry often only care about the current version, and they are easy to face in the later stage.
What are the implications for developers
Good design practices can effectively prevent the app from becoming "stale". Of course, you can’t escape some major updates that have too much impact. Let’s take Apple’s previous major updates as examples, including but not limited to:
In 2012, the iPhone 5 was born. The biggest change in the birth of 5 is that it is longer than 4. In the past, a large number of products were directly developed with the default screen ratio of 4.
In 2014, iOS 7 was released. iOS 7 completely abandoned the previous visual style, which also led to a great change in the visual style of a large number of system controls. Older products quickly look out of place in this situation.
In 2017, the iPhone X was born. Due to the lessons learned in 2012, a large number of developers have learned to avoid fragmentation of screen size through automatic layout. However, the "bangs" and "belly squeeze" of the iPhone X directly confused everyone and had to re-adapt.
Hard requirements related to technical API.
As can be seen from the above three incidents, it is mainly visual rather than functional that makes the app look old.
And Apple's audit has always had a "return visit" tradition. Once the product is incompatible through the "return visit", a warning email will be sent immediately.
For developers, it is of course the best thing to actively and regularly update products, but what I have to complain about is that it is obvious to all that Apple's current review is so cheating.
For a small team, if a product has been matured and has achieved stable income, why should it be updated frequently when it is not necessary? Developers really have no reason to do so.
Therefore, in addition to the strategy of "updating as soon as possible", the most important thing is to "keep the products already on the shelves with sufficient vitality".
My suggestion is as follows:
Whether it is a game or an app, try to use the screen ratio to make the control layout as much as possible.
The edge of the screen is designed to be as blank as possible, so that the program and button body can be placed in a safe place as much as possible. (except for banner and topbar, which need to be designed according to the model)
Based on the date of product release, check all "deprecated" APIs (that is, deprecated), and replace them with the latest recommended APIs.
It is best to make custom explicit assignments for all control attributes (background color, font color, etc.), don't be lazy and use the default ones. Because the default properties of the control sometimes change due to the update of the system version!
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