14 DAY TRIAL // Applications making their way to the iTunes App Store with the iPhone 5 listed as a compatible device will require screenshots measuring 1136 x 640 pixels, if their respective developers want these apps approved.
You read that right. Apple will not review (to be read "approve") an application designed to work on the iPhone 5 that doesn’t support the phone’s screen natively.
The iPhone 5 has a super crisp Retina display that sports 1136 pixels on the vertical, and 640 on the horizontal, when held normally.
That’s exactly the dimensions Apple requires for screenshots used to promote a title in the App Store. And it’s mandatory, according to a memo sent to developers yesterday evening.
“If you are updating your app for iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th-generation), you must provide additional screenshots to support the new screen dimensions for the App Store,” reads the email.
Apple then clarifies that, “If you deliver a new app binary that takes advantage of the new screen size for iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th-generation), without screenshots in the new dimensions, the status of your app will change to Missing Screenshot.”
The company then makes it even more clear for developers that their apps “will not be reviewed” until they comply with the new requirement.
By not reviewing an application, or a new version of an application, Apple is effectively keeping it out of the App Store. Which pretty much equals rejection, as far as the developer’s bottom line is concerned.
And those who have localizations set up on iTunes Connect (to sell the app in different-language App Stores around the world) will need to submit the new screenshots for every localization in part.
Developers are told to visit the Version Details page in the Manage Your Applications module on iTunes Connect, to deliver the new screenshots.
