smartRSS 2 = A Completely Unsupported iPhone App???
Here ‘s a simple thought for the day on iPhone apps: apps that are completely unsupported “ especially paid ones “ should be removed from the store.
Paying for an app and discovering that it clearly does not live up to its App Store description is frustrating. What is far beyond frustrating is discovering that there is no support at all when you ask for help / clarification / news on possible updates. This is *far* more offensive than any ‘potentially offensive ‘ apps that are blocked from the store.
Apps that are clearly not supported should be removed from the store “ by the developers if they have any decency, and by Apple if they don ‘t.
What brought this on? My experience with an app called smartRSS 2 “ which appears to fall into the category of apps that are still in the App Store, still being charged for, but entirely unsupported.
I reviewed smartRSS recently “ HERE. In the review I mentioned that the app fails to live up to some of its App Store description “ and that it appeared to be unsupported.
Well, here ‘s a quick update on the ‘unsupported ‘ side of things. I submitted my first support request on January 31st, and I ‘ve submitted two further support requests in the month of February (all via the developers ‘ specified contact form, per their App Store support link). So it has been a month and the response I have had is zero. Not a reply, not even an acknowledgement.
Now, if smartRSS was published by a single person developer outfit, I ‘d probably not have given this much thought or effort. I ‘d have just deleted the app and moved along. But I noticed at an early stage of looking for support that it is published by a company called Visuamobile. A company that shows off the photos of *four* director level looking execs on their ‘About ‘ page. A company that has blog entries as recently as this week that talk about new apps they will soon bring to the App Store.
So, my advice for App Store users “ don ‘t go near smartRSS – unless you ‘re fine with false descriptions of the application and zero support for it. And I would avoid anything produced by Visuamobile as well “ their obvious abandonment of one app does not bode well for any other apps coming from these guys.
This is the first iPhone app “ and I have bought and downloaded tons “ for which I have ever submitted a ‘Report a Problem ‘ entry via the App Store “ stating that the app is unsupported and the developers are entirely unresponsive.
I hope Apple will eventually get round to taking action on this one “ and encourage you all to report it when you encounter unsupported apps in the store as well
I wrote to them about the mandatory sharing function in order to enable gReader syncing. It don’t work, but that’s another story. It took a full 2 months for them to get back to me.
I think this is an example of how the app store will eventually ‘eat itself’ if the unsustainable $0.99 pricing continues.
When the appstore was initially announced, I fully expected to buy maybe 10 really good apps at $10 to $20 each.
As it is, I have one or two (Jaadu, ooTunes for example) that fall into the really good category and a whole bunch of OK apps probably written in someones bedroom between lectures.
And I’ve lost count of the rubbish that I’ve either bought, downloaded for free or just passed on after reading about.
The appstore is a fantastic market place but if it’s not careful it will turn into a bargain basement of tat.
@ mikelite – sorry to hear your experience has been terrible as well – and yeah Greader sync has never come anywhere close to working for me either.
@ Rip – I agree there is a lot of rubbish to wade through. I have found more than a few good apps, but it does take effort – and hopefully Apple will eventually start to get on top of this stuff ..
Patrick, Apple doesn’t need to care, so I don’t think they will do anything about it. They are making a ton of money and people will continue buying apps and products regardless of the flaws.
JustClem – I feel a tiny bit more otpimistic than that. I agree this is probably not a tip-top priority for them, but I do still believe and hope they are concerned with making the App Store as great as it can be. Think their recent decision to cleanse the store of all ‘non-customer’ reviews is a sign of this …
Pingback: Recommended: Macgirl Lets Us Know About An App To Avoid | Just Another iPhone Blog