By: Carol Vercellino, CEO & Co-Founder
Today my co-founder and business partner Jay Lyerly and I are going to talk about adjustments you may need to make to your app as the year winds down. So, specifically, Apple’s app store tends to shut down in December, so we’re going to discuss how you can adjust your workflow and processes to ensure that the end of the year can be seamless for you and your app users.
Watch the video or read throughout transcription to learn what this closure means for developers.
Carol: So Jay, what’s the closure about? What does it really mean for developers?
Jay: What usually happens is Apple closes down its app store review around Christmas. I think last year it was from the 23rd to the 27th, so a couple of days before a couple of days after [Christmas]. That just means they aren’t accepting new apps. They aren’t doing the review process, so new apps can’t go into the store during that period. That means for a developer, if you want to get something out before the end of the year, you definitely have to get in before that window. There might be a bit of a rush right before then because a lot of developers are trying to get that last release out for the year.
The other thing to think about is if you’re going to do a big new release with lots of features, you might want to do that a little early in December. Then you have some cushion in case something goes horribly wrong and you need to get out a critical bug fix. Not that that ever happens, but just in case!
Carol: What might be a good amount of buffer time? Is it a couple of days? Two weeks?
Jay: For me I think December 15 might be a drop-dead date to get anything big out. That gives you a week or so for any critical bugs to pop up.
Carol: That makes sense. Is there anything people need to do now, or just know that the date is coming up?
Jay: Well it’s one of those things to know is coming up. Typically Christmas is one of the biggest days of the year for app installs. People get their new device, so they install a bunch of apps. They see family and say, “Oh, have you tried this new app?” So there are a lot of installs that happen that day, so a lot of people do try to get a new feature out and do a little PR around it before the holidays.
Carol: Okay, that makes sense. And I feel like last year and probably years before that I actually have seen Black Friday specials for app downloads. Is that something you’ve seen as well.
Jay: I don’t know off-hand, but that certainly seems like a thing that will happen!
Carol: Yeah, I want to say that I got the Things app on a Black Friday special last year. So it’s definitely something people can look out for and consider in their pricing model as well. Anything else people should know?
Jay: I think that mostly covers it. Just don’t get caught blindsighted – “Why can’t I submit my app? OH, they’re closed for a week”
If you need help updating or launching your app before the closer, just email us at team@oakcity.io
