14: Does This Computer Have a Soul?

Oisin’s AirPods, Apple’s two new app store features: the ability for app owners to respond to reviews and a system ratings dialog in iOS. Then, bug of the week and we recommend some podcast episodes.

We invite you to send in a recording of you asking a question / suggesting a topic for discussion next episode: take out your phone and use the voice memos app, then email the file to us!

We follow up on Oisin's AirPods, discuss Apple's two new app store features: the ability for app owners to respond to reviews and a system ratings dialog in iOS. Then, bug of the week and recommend some podcast episodes.

This episode is sponsored by

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Finish Your Damn Side Project: An upcoming book from iOS developer, Brian Gilham. The book is full of tips & advice — aimed squarely at developers — on managing your time, generating ideas, finding your motivation, and sharing your work with the world. If you're tired of your side projects just sitting on your hard drive, hidden from the world, check it out at: finishyourdamnsideproject.com

Follow Up:

0:20 Micro.blog Kickstarter update
2:25 Using Kickstarter for iOS Apps
4:39 Oisin’s AirPods not magical anymore.
7:28 Find My AirPods

Weird Idea:

8:41 Send us your audio!

New App Store Features:

12:36 Apple allowing developers to respond to reviews.
How should indie developers handle this?
How it works: one review, one response, no threads
15:30 Using it for support (link tweet)
Our policy for support vs sales questions
Can app store reviews become a positive thing after all this time?
20:11 Should we answer positive reviews too?
What about feature requests?
22:48 In App Rating Dialoge
Some uncertainty about when the dialog will or won’t show?
28:39 Can Apple do better than the rating prompt as it is in 10.3?
Oisin’s Enhancement Radar: rdar://30288494: SKStoreReviewController should not be modal

Bug of the Week!

36:30 Oisin explains a weird animation performance bug that doesn't happen if the double height status bar is active. (tldr: don’t set CALayer's speed < 1)

Podcast Recommendations:

44:56 Oisin’s podcast recommendation : The epic story of Erden Eruç, the first person to complete a solo human-powered circumnavigation of Earth.
46:47 Padraig's podcast recommendation: Babbage: The automation game