When you live in Apple’s world as a third-party developer, you are required to play by Apple’s rules. And sometimes those rules are subject to sudden change.
James Thomson, the developer behind the scientific calculator app PCalc, was notified today by Apple that his iOS 8 widget must be removed. The reason? A new stipulation that iOS widgets cannot perform calculations.
The reasoning behind Apple’s decision may never be known by Thomson or anyone outside the company, and that’s just the point. The App Store is Apple’s kingdom to rule, for better or worse.
Apple has told me that Notification Center widgets on iOS cannot perform any calculations, and the current PCalc widget must be removed.
— James Thomson (@jamesthomson) October 29, 2014
PCalc was one of the first apps to be updated for iOS 8, and Apple quickly featured it under the App Store’s marquee “Great apps for iOS 8” section. The app costs $10 and currently has an average rating of four and a half stars.
“I’m going to try to escalate the decision, but it sounds like it was made high up and won’t be changed,” tweeted Thomson after receiving a call from Apple. “I’ve basically got 2-3 weeks to remove it, barring a miracle.”
Apple told Thomson that a widget can be used to “enter a formula,” but that an actual app would have to be opened to perform a calculation.
It’s an odd, specific request from a company that has made strides with iOS 8 to let developers do more with their apps through extensions and widgets. There is no official calculator widget in iOS 8, and the closest thing to a competing stock feature would be Control Center’s shortcut to the Calculator app. OS X Yosemite does offer an Apple Calculator widget, but Thomson hasn’t said whether the new rule applies to OS X widgets too.
Update: Apple has reserved its stance on banning PCalc’s widget. Thomson is allowed to keep selling the app in the store without removing functionality.
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
5 responses to “For app makers, Apple giveth widgets (and Apple taketh away)”
It’s things like this that keeps me away from the fantastic Apple smartphone hardware. Sticking with Android for a while yet… Apple, why? I understand the iron grip in the early days to ensure overall system response, but these days, why not give the devs a chance?
My guess is that there is some security reason behind this decision. I don’t know what that’d be since they allow you to perform other actions (like bid on an Ebay auction) inside the widget section, but security or privacy still seems like the reason why this would’ve happened.
If you type “42” in PCalc, it sends all your passwords to the NSA. Or they’d have us believe…
I have a feeling it has to do with Education… Having a widget that calculates would make it very easy for students to take the easy way out during a test or similar situation. We all know how big Apple is on education, and would do what they can to assist in the actual education of people
An app called Wdgts does the same and much more …