Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone, App Store
Should we continue using an app that Apple has rejected?
It doesn't happen so much anymore, but not too long ago you'd hear about a new offering arriving in the App Store that would stir up a little controversy (the NetShare tethering app springs to mind). They'd enjoy some fanfare and a ton of purchases for a few days before being summarily removed, never to return and often without a thorough explanation from Apple. A relatively small number of users would retain possession of the app and would take a bit of pride in knowing that they were in the right place at just the right time to snag a copy of the app before it was yanked.When I got the email from our very own Mike Rose regarding the release of GV Mobile, I was pretty excited. I'd been wanting to more fully adopt the Google Voice service, but had wanted a more iPhone-ish experience in doing so and GV Mobile seemed to have just what I was jonesing for. I paid the three bucks right then and, like The Giving Tree, was happy.
My adoption plan for Google Voice didn't pan out quite like I'd hoped for a while after that. I'd use it occasionally, but I had trouble moving it from the number I gave to sales people to the number I gave to my mother-in-law. But, despite the absence of the app in the App Store, I still had a perfectly working copy of it on my iPhone, ready when I was - or so I thought.
A couple of weeks ago, I had decided that it was time to make Google Voice a more central part of my communication workflow. Having not launched GV Mobile in a while, I fired it up to reacquaint myself with the interface, capabilities, etc. Trouble is, I couldn't authenticate with Google. I triple-checked my credentials but the app would just throw an error on launch and that was that. A couple of people on Twitter had mentioned having the same issue and a quick Google search informed me that, sure enough, the app no longer worked. Apparently, Google had modified the Voice API such that authentication now worked differently than it did when GV Mobile was written. Because the app no longer had Apple's seal of approval, I had little recourse because there obviously weren't going to be any updates to the app anytime soon.
Which raised the broader question - how heavily should we rely on "orphaned" apps? If they're self-contained (which is to say, they don't rely on any web sites or services to function properly), it probably isn't a big deal, but if you're a heavy Google Voice user and GV Mobile is how you got your work done, is it really a good idea to hang your hopes on an app that will likely never see any type of upgrade or bugfix release?
I can confidently say that this little hiccup has seriously cramped my plans for more completely adopting Google Voice. Is the same true for you? Have you experienced this type of dilemma with any other now-missing App Store purchases? Tell us about it in the comments!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jack said 6:06PM on 11-16-2009
There is a new version of GV Mobile, but it's a jailbreak app in Cydia. Works perfectly.
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Juaquin said 6:21PM on 11-16-2009
Exactly. If you really do rely on Google Voice why don't you just jailbreak, install it and call it a day?
jb510 said 10:39PM on 11-16-2009
Ditto... 50% of the reason my phone is JB'd... the other 50% being PDANet.
Seriously, those are the only JB apps I have ever had any interest, which is to say if Apple hadn't banned GV Mobile and NetShare I'd have no reason to JB right now. Funny how that is...
Now in the interest of full disclosure I do have the NEED (international travel) to unlock my phone, but that comes and goes and I consider a seperate issue.
dagamer43 said 6:07PM on 11-16-2009
If you want to completely integrate Google Voice, you really should go get an Android phone. It's much cleaner than whatever experience you would have gotten on the iPhone...
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Jordan said 10:18AM on 11-17-2009
@bayxsonic: Obviously they don't care about one person, but when we're talking about the number of people who hate AT&T and what they're paying for the iPhone, they should be worried.
@Varun: Many people, specifically Apple users, do. Remember the whole iPhone 3Gs thing, people who had a 3G weren't able to (and rightfully so) upgrade to the 3Gs without paying full price. How many people ditched their 3G just because Apple came out with the 3Gs? Lots, and the phone wasn't even that much different.
Jordan said 6:10PM on 11-16-2009
Yes you should continue using it. f Apple and their "review process"
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MJZimmer88 said 8:50PM on 11-16-2009
Agreed!
There's no way I'm going to pay 60 bucks a month for the rare random times when I just need to tether my computer to my phone. Netshare was 5 bucks, and it works perfectly, and I still dont get anywhere even close to my 5GB/month limits. AT&T shouldn't have this as an additional charge, this should be AT&T's incentive to keep us with their service, because as we all can see pretty clearly, it's not like we stay with them for quality.
Jordan said 9:44PM on 11-16-2009
Definitely don't. As soon as my contract with AT&T is up, I'm jumping ship, whether the iPhone is on another network or not. For what I pay AT&T every month, it's just not worth it. I can just as easily live with another phone to have better service. Are you listening, Apple?
bayxsonic said 6:45AM on 11-17-2009
@Jordan: They said "bye."
Varun said 8:04AM on 11-17-2009
Let's put it to you this way: do you continue to use obsolete or vintage Macs? Perhaps something with a PPC processor or perhaps, like me, you have a Mac SE FDHD stashed away? Do you throw them away the minute Apple declares them to be not current? No? Same logic.
Trevor said 6:11PM on 11-16-2009
Like Jack said, jailbreak and use GV Mobile found there. It works great, plus you get the benefits of a jailbroken and (if you want) SIM unlocked iPhone.
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Cowboy_X said 6:14PM on 11-16-2009
I've still got my Netshare tethering app! Mostly works, wish I could get a little support for it.
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jason said 6:19PM on 11-16-2009
"Which raised the broader question - how heavily should we rely on "orphaned" apps? If they're self-contained (which is to say, they don't rely on any web sites or services to function properly), "
This is one of the arguments made the free software crowd. They argue that even well-supported apps become orphaned (or at least mortally wounded) when businesses go bankrupt or change strategic direction. A great example is Commodore and the Amiga.
They further argue that although free software can also be orphaned (which frequently happens) there is at least the option for you to maintain it yourself, pay somebody else to maintain it for you, or to band together with like-minded folks to continue development (happens in academia quite often, not so much outside academia).
I'm not trolling. Just pointing out that the issue of orphaned apps is one of the drivers behind free software. I was at a presentation from RMS where he discussed this very topic. It's interesting to see the ideas he talked about happening in the real world with the app you were using.
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NutMac said 6:32PM on 11-16-2009
I am frankly bummed about GV Mobile no longer working. As others have said, I realize I can jailbreak and download the latest version of GV Mobile to restore functionality. But doing so forces me to wait for jailbreak to catch up to the latest versions of iPhone OS. And that's just not my style. It is rather unfortunate that Apple have such loony policies when it comes to Google Voice apps.
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Sgt Zeppelin said 6:45PM on 11-16-2009
Agreed, but at this point you've got to decide whether you find updated versions of GV Mobile more important, or OS releases as soon as they come out (you'll get them, just not the instant they come out). The iPhone dev team is usually quick on new jailbreaks, but you can't get a GV Mobile update in the app store.
guesserit said 6:51PM on 11-16-2009
Well, the new jaibreak has been out for quite a while now...is your iphone from the future?
Sgt Zeppelin said 7:19PM on 11-16-2009
I think NutMac means that once a new update is released, it's a pain to have to wait for the dev team to release a new jailbreak until you can update.
jigme said 7:28PM on 11-16-2009
man, don't sweat it - it's usually a matter of a couple weeks, tops, to wait for the dev-team to do their thing and often much sooner. let all the non-jailbreakers do Apple's beta-testing for 'em, so you can make a more informed decision about upgrading once the jailbreak is ready.
Juaquin said 7:43PM on 11-16-2009
Is having to wait a week or two for a minor update really a big deal? How badly did you really need the 3.0 features when it came out? More so than you need GV or other jailbreak apps?
To me it was definitely worth waiting because of SBsettings, Cycorder, PDANet, etc.
Wooster said 6:41PM on 11-16-2009
I personally still use Delicious Library's iPhone app, even though it was really Amazon that rejected it for Apple. I'm sure that without maintenance it'll break with iPhone OS 4 or something, but until then, I enjoy having my books with me on the go. It came in really useful at the last book sale I went to and didn't remember which books I owned and which I didn't.
I say, use'm till they die.
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