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   Kindle App Updates Demonstrate iOS App Store Flaw

   Jeff Carlson

   Why would a company tell its customers to not download its latest
   offering? When that version includes a nasty bug that can't be quickly
   fixed.

   On Tuesday, Amazon released version 3.6.1 of its Kindle iOS app and
   then quickly recommended that users not apply the update due to a
   'known issue with this update.'

   [1][tn_kindle_update2.jpg]

   Updating forced you to log back in to your Amazon account, removed all
   titles from the device, and marked them as New when you downloaded
   them. However, it still retained your last-read location in the books.

   On Wednesday morning, a 3.6.2 update appeared that worked around the
   problem.

   How is a situation like this possible? When a company submits an update
   to Apple for release in the App Store, it must wait for the update to
   be approved. In this case, an installation bug slipped through that
   Amazon probably couldn't fully test against.

   But once an update is submitted to Apple, the developer can't do
   anything to fix such bugs other than re-submit another update that
   corrects the problems ' which must go through Apple's review process.

   The only other action Amazon could take was to change the release
   notes, which developers can do easily. And then wait for Apple to
   approve the new version.

   To avoid this situation in the future, Apple needs to offer the ability
   for users to revert back to a previous version.

   As Matt Neuburg pointed out, reverting manually is possible, provided a
   couple of conditions apply: that you update apps only via iTunes
   syncing and that you don't empty the Trash after updating. If so, you
   can pull the previous version out of the Trash and swap it with the one
   in your Mobile Applications folder.

   But if you're like me and hate to have badges appear on the App Store
   app icon, don't be so quick to update everything. This isn't the first
   time unexpected bugs have appeared in updates, and won't be the last.

References

   1. http://tidbits.com/resources/2013-02/kindle_update2.png

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