How to End Up Buying an Unsupported iPhone App

Softpedia signaled in the past that some iPhone developers didn’t bother to include the necessary information regarding device compatibility, leaving some frustrated for taking the time to download an app, only to find out that it was not supported on their device. Apple constantly reminds iPhone devs to carefully specify device compatibility, yet some remain ignorant, or worse, they may even do it on purpose.

It’s the case of developer rise uP! Labs and its Bluetooth AppBox. Admittedly, it’s a really great piece of software – it does Bluetooth chat, image sharing, contact sharing, has a walkie-talkie function, and even farts via Bluetooth (always the icing on the cake). In fact, it garnered some one million downloads in its first week. Clearly, this is a sign that you’re not getting ripped off. But there's a problem.

The problem is not with the app itself, and that it doesn’t work on the iPhone 2G (Apple is to blame for this one), but that its code-savvy makers failed to include specific device-compatibility information in the requirements list, on the App Store.

You see, Bluetooth apps don’t really work on Apple’s first iPhone at all. And iPhone developers know this (or at least they should know this), making it imperative that they throw this bit of information at the user BEFORE they download the application, which, in this case, is also paid. Sadly, rise uP! Labs hasn’t risen up to the challenge. As shown in the screenshot above (click to enlarge), it only lists compatible devices as “iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad,” as well as the supported iPhone OS that is 3.0 or later. While all versions of the iPad should be supported, not all iPhone and iPod touch models are compatible with this app. Yours truly found this out, again, by downloading and installing the software onto his first-generation iPhone. Had rise uP! Labs included generation-specific references, I wouldn’t have wasted my time to download and install this app on my first-gen iPhone.


What’s even worse is that (as shown in the screenshots above) the application may encourage the user to actually download and install the paid version, whereas none of the app’s Bluetooth-enabled functions work on this particular device model. So what the unwary iPhone 2G owner may do is download the paid version, install it (hoping they’ll be able to walkie-talkie or whatever), and ultimately end up with an unsupported paid application on their device. Neat, isn't it?

There’s an offset chance that rise uP! Labs is not including compatibility information on purpose, only to get a few more users downloading the Speed Tapping app advertised as Bluetooth AppBox is launched on the device (screenshot #4 from the above set). Or maybe, just maybe, it's hoping some will foolishly fork out the three bucks for the paid version of Bluetooth AppBox (as if that’s going to make them rich). In any case, rise uP! Labs should really give this Apple App Store Tip a closer look - Specify the Devices Your App Runs on Using the Info.plist File. Apple actually points out that devs should edit a certain file that provides the App Store with a list of device requirements “so users don’t download applications that they cannot run” - a great piece of advice, if I may say.