Sparrow’s iPhone 5 Update Gets Rejected By Apple

By

Sparrow is still letterboxed on iPhone 5. Sigh.
Sparrow is still letterboxed on iPhone 5. Sigh.

Shortly after the iPhone 5 made its debut back in September, the team behind Sparrow announced that it would be updating its email client for the handset’s new 4-inch display — despite its decision to cease development of the app after joining forces with Google.

It seems we could be waiting some time for that update, however: Sparrow has revealed that Apple rejected its latest release for violating its App Store terms.

Sparrow developer Dinh Viet Hoa announced on Twitter on Tuesday: “Apple called to tell me that Sparrow has been rejected. Our app will be removed from the appstore if we don’t submit a new version soon.”

“We managed to get a rich text edition [and] the keyboard appeared without the user [having] to tap on ios5. We’re fighting with apple to get the update of the app through the AppStore validation process.”

It’s an odd reason for the update to be rejected. It seems Apple’s problem is with Sparrow’s Rich Text support, and so Viet Hoa says that the next update will be for iOS 6 devices only. However, Rich Text support is built into Apple’s own Mail client in iOS 5. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem for iPhone 5 users, however, who will already be running iOS 6.

Sparrow’s decision to deliver iPhone 5 support to its app was somewhat surprising. Back in July, the team announced that it was to cease development of its popular software and provide bug fixes only after being acquired by Google. Hopefully, Apple’s decision to reject the latest Sparrow update won’t encourage the team to just call it a day.

Source: Dinh Viet Hoa on Twitter

Via: The Next Web

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.