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Drafts iOS widget to be removed as Apple decides Notification Center buttons apparently now off limits

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It seems Apple has ordered yet another developer to make changes to his app’s Notification Center widget even after it was approved for sale and adopted by countless users. Previously the company’s indecisiveness on the purpose of widgets led to an app called Launcher being pulled from sale, and a similar fate was almost met by the popular pCalc widget until Apple changed its mind (again).

The widget in question today was created by developer Greg Pierce and is part of the popular note-taking app Drafts. The app allowed users to create new entries in the app by pressing a button in the widget, which then opened the app’s composer (in the app, of course).

[tweet https://twitter.com/agiletortoise/status/539887084128174082 align=’center’]

According to a series of tweets from Pierce, Apple has decided that widgets are solely for “information presentation” and should not contain buttons—a fact contradicted by the example eBay widgets demonstrated by Apple’s own Craig Federighi at WWDC this year.

[tweet https://twitter.com/agiletortoise/status/539888106095521795 align=’center’]

Pierce says he’s already been through the appeals process and will be resubmitting a version of Drafts without the widget to comply with Apple’s new restriction. If this new rule catches on, we may see similar rejections for other popular apps, like Evernote and Fantastical, in the near future.

Unless Apple changes its mind again. Again.

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Comments

  1. greamo - 9 years ago

    This means that Philips Hue will have to remove their buttons? I loved that feature! I’ve been waiting for Belkin to use it with their Wemo line.

  2. The reason they are doing this is that all of these ‘hackish’ interactive notification center widgets would not work if sent to an iWatch. The proper way to do this is via the actionable notification API.

    • Nevermind.. just realized they are talking about Today widgets not plain notifications. I hope they don’t go after Hue also…

    • Nycko Heimberg - 9 years ago

      No,
      It is necessary to realize.
      Widgets Apple is useless.
      The practical widgets, there is, eats the battery….
      IOs is simply overtaken and unsuitable :-(

  3. crichton007 - 9 years ago

    Maybe the problem is he only has one button and needs more like the PCalc app has.

  4. Dmitriy Kozyrev - 9 years ago

    Another day, another stupid move from Apple. Way to go!

    • herb02135go - 9 years ago

      Yup.
      My Samsung Galaxy S5 allows me to tap a notification and open an app.

      • You can tap on notifications and open the app, the issue in question here is tapping on a button in the notification that performs an action without opening the app.

        I could make some joke about Android people actually reading before posting but that would probably go over their heads.

      • myke2241 - 9 years ago

        oh that was great!

      • charilaosmulder - 9 years ago

        Yup.
        Once again you clarified you know nothing about the matter. Of course you can open the app by tapping a notification, or even interact with the notification the moment the notification pops up. (Unfortunaly you have to wait to get that functionality, because Android 5 had to copy it from iOS8 first, and then you have to wait for Sammy to get it working on your S5.)

        But the thing is, this topic is about interactivity on Today view widgets, not about notifications. If only you would read first

      • jrox16 - 9 years ago

        herb, your Galaxy S5 is one of the worst “premium” smartphones of 2014, and the biggest reason Samsung’s mobile profits have downturned this year. Everyone seems to know this but you. I wouldn’t be so proud of that crappy phone, either go get a Note 4, or a Moto X, an HTC One, or a Nexus 6, but please, don’t remind us of that trainwreck.

        That being said, Apple is being crazy with Today Widgets and needs to make up their minds. And getting rid of any and all buttons would be stupid on their part.

        Furthermore, what are you even talking about lol? Everyone can “tap a notification and open an app” in iOS in the notification center and in Today. In fact, iOS 6 allowed us to tap on a banner notification to open that app WITHOUT having to pull down notification center first, something Android has just caught up with in Lollipop. As always, your wealth of ignorance is entertaining. Thanks for that!

      • Dmitriy Kozyrev - 9 years ago

        Then why call it “widgets”? Just call it “fancy notifications” or “live tiles” (hello Microsoft). But NO, sir – we must have our widgets too, like big guys.

        That’s what I like about modern Apple (well, not only Apple, but many other big companies these days): for every step forward they make two steps back. Punching their users in the ass by the way.

  5. Michael Dryja - 9 years ago

    Love Apple, but ‘eff ’em.

  6. Scott Whitlow - 9 years ago

    This is the kind of stuff that is starting to drive me nuts with Apple. Let developers develop. Period. Otherwise, we are all going to go somewhere else. Seriously, buttons on a notification widget? I’m pretty sure the consumer can *decide* not to use the widget if they don’t want to. This is getting ridiculous.

  7. pineapplevanl - 9 years ago

    Well at least Android has real homescreen widgets that work. Android widgets found in the notification shade have button interaction. If apple just took advantage of the home screen space and added widgets like Android (instead of limiting their programable functionality and putting them in a long list found in the notification pull down) I’d be satisfied with my iPad Mini With Retina Display. I know of iPhone 6/6+ users (Even a 4s user) who would want the same for their devices. Its good though accessing your iOS “widgets” (more like third party information at-a-glance replacing/adding traditional notifications) from any screen through the notification view. (Android can have widgets anywhere in the notification view like iOS anyways).

    • Cal - 9 years ago

      Yes but those same widgets, always pinging, is the biggest cause of rapid battery drainage.

    • giskardian - 9 years ago

      When I first got my Nexus 7, I thought the homescreen widgets were awesome. Then I started using my Nexus 7 and realized they are actually bad UI design. First off, most are useless without an internet connection, so if I have the wifi off to save batter, the homescreen widgets are a waste of space. Ok, so suppose the internet connection is always on: then those widgets are always updating, using up battery. But the worst of it is that when using a tablet, one is normally using an App. Thus a glance at a homescreen widget requires leaving the App.

      Apple’s solution really is better: I can just pull down the widgets from within any App. All the widgets are in one place instead of being spread across multiple homescreens. A year from now I expect we’ll have widgets for most apps for an even more superlative user experience.

    • jrox16 - 9 years ago

      Widgets in the Today view pull down are far more practical than those on the home screen because I can access them from within any app at any time. If you need to leave the app you’re in to go see some info in a widget back on the home screen, and then go back to the app you were just in, you could have just multitasked to that actual app in the first place. On iOS, you can see all your widgets without leaving the app you’re currently in, which is far more practical and advanced. For instance, I’m in my messaging app and want to check my calendar appointments so I can respond to someone, I can pull down Today and do all that with my Fantastical Widget. At the same time, I can make a quick calculation on the calculator, see the weather report, and how many steps I took today, then flick that up and I’m still at my messaging app. You can’t do that in Android, and even if you could, it would turn your single available notification area into a total and complete mess.

      No sir, iOS has widgets done the best way, as long as they don’t ban the ability to interact with them. If they do, like this article is discussing, then they will ruin most of the wonderful benefit of what I just explained and it’ll be a very stupid decision.

      • jrox16 - 9 years ago

        Oh, forgot to mention, I can pull down the Today view while the phone is locked, and see all my widgets. This can be turned off for more privacy if you want, but again, much better more efficient access to widgets.

  8. Gregory Wright - 9 years ago

    If I understand what’s written here Day One journaling App does this exact thing. All one need do is to touch “open new entry” and you will be taken to a blank journal entry page.

  9. lowtolerance - 9 years ago

    Ffs, stop crippling widgets, Apple. People have demanding them for years, you finally delivery them, developers make great use of it, and then you say “No, you can’t make the notification center more functional”. WTF.

  10. Lach Ruhig (@LachRuhig) - 9 years ago

    Seems to me they just want to prevent apps from using Notification Center as a launcher. I don’t see the big deal, really.

    • giskardian - 9 years ago

      No, almost all widgets can launch the parent app with a tap. Apple want users to launch the app to perform tasks rather than performing them inside the notification center.

      • jrox16 - 9 years ago

        And that’s fine as long as they don’t prevent things like being able to check appointments on certain dates in a calendar widget. But adding a new event or changing an event, that is fine if it’s required to open the app. As long as they don’t banish the latter functionality, I’m fine with it. There’s no need to run the app from Today, that in fact defeats the purpose of having a lightweight quick “view”.

  11. giskardian - 9 years ago

    I believe Apple is making a mistake here. One of the reasons OS X’s GUI is so awesome is due to the multiple ways to reach the same end. Apps can be launched in several ways, the menubar offers great functionality as well as the dock, etc. Blocking this sort of innovation for iOS leaves users with a more rigid user experience that doesn’t feel as natural.

    At the very least, Apple need to provide an explanation for their policy. Don’t just explain the policy, tell us WHY the policy is in place.

    I remember a similar move early in OS X development when Jobs wanted to keep the menu bar off-limits for 3rd party items. It wasn’t what the users wanted so eventually he changed his tune. Jobs was controlling, but he wasn’t rigid, and I fear the current Apple team may not get it.

    • jrox16 - 9 years ago

      They just don’t want widgets to replace apps. And that’s fine, widgets are supposed to be lightweight small bits of programs, not provide major functionality. They just need to draw the line and define it, but doing that can be difficult when there’s so many different ways to exploit the concept. For instance, a calendar widget should be allowed to be interactive in such that I can tap a date and see the appointments on that date. But it does not have to allow me to create events or alter appointments. At that point, it’s acting like a full app and that’s not the purpose of widgets.