Location-specific (GPS-based) apps and the Apple Review Process, should they work without GPS too? [edit]
I was wondering if anyone has any experience of submitting location-specific apps to the Apple App store.
What I mean by location-specific is an app that only works when you are at a particular location. For example, a GPS tour of a historical battleground might have content that is triggered at particular lat/long coordinates when the user is at the actual physical location.
So my question is: In order to make the app be likely to be accepted on the app store do I..
(1) Not worry about it as there's evidence that the Apple Reviewers have some way of simulating the GPS. I can then supply lat/long coords to the reviewers so they can experience some of the content.
or (I suspect more likely)
(2) I Need to make it work anywhere in order for the reviewer to see at least some of the content (e.g. have a menu or map interface that allows direct access). This could be a 'secret' option explained in the review notes accessed via a special key combination or something.
Has anyone else run into a situation like this?
Regards, Ben
Edit: Thanks for the responses. My app has now been accepted by Apple. Interestingly I开发者_运维问答 didn't need to make the app work anywhere or add any new methods of using the app at all, they simply asked me for a video of the app in action. I made a YouTube video of the app (unlisted of course) and sent it to the reviewers.. and now it's accepted! I was very surprised that this is how it worked out!
I asked this same question (and answered it myself) a while back. I basically added a "Drop Pin" feature so the testers (and users) could pretend to be somewhere else.
I submitted an app recently that "works anywhere" (and uses GPS) but "works best" in New England when looking for data (on our server) that is near your current location. The app also supports entering a city & state or zip code to perform searches. So, in the submission, you can tell the reviewers how to test it, and we explained the nature of the app and how to test the functionality by using specific New England locations. The app was approved, for what it's worth.
Basically, when you submit an app, there is an opportunity to give the reviewers guidance. So definitely tell them what they need to know to make your app work for them, wherever they might be in the world! :-)
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