The Oz Weather v1.3.1 update was approved and appeared on the app store today.
This version is a maintenance release only (no new features added), but does have some changes which will improve the user experience significantly.
- It has a faster load time – at least 2 seconds faster than v1.3
- The splash screen now matches the user-selected theme
- Sunrise/set times and some other options are now switched on by default, instead of requiring user to go into Settings on their iPhone
However, one completely unexpected change is in the appearance of the app icon. Although no changes were made to the icon or to the entry in Info.plist which instructs Apple not to add any shine, the icon now appears with a lot of added shine and a new bevel or border.
I’m not sure whether the new appearance is an improvement or not. My initial reaction is that the shine effect is too strong. However, I’m sure our users will let us know one way or the other! And that’s something I love about being an app developer. Really, I do mean it. 🙂
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According to @stroughtonsmith (twitter): “Always re-upload your large icon art after you update your binary, or it will ignore your UIPrerenderedIcon key and add gloss.”
After doing this, and waiting several hours for the changes to propogate through the app store, the appearance of the icon has now reverted to normal. It appears that the bevel or border effect was an artefact of the additional shine.
So other app developers take note! If you switch off icon rendering, remember to re-upload your large icon art work each time you update your binary.
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