MIT App Inventor for iOS version 0.9

[Susan_Lane]

We track known issues through a private github repository.

We’ll have a list of changes in the next TestFlight release once it is submitted, but it we can’t commit to how long it will take the new version to be approved by Apple.

[ewpatton]

Here’s an updated list of Known Issues that we are trying to address for the next release:

• Some CloudDB projects with high throughput, such as SketchAndGuess, can occasionally result in a use-after-free bug that crashes the companion. We are still working to track this bug down.
• Add margins to buttons, labels in device default mode
• Constraints in nested components using percent sizing results in infinite “loop” until the size of the component is changed
• Investigate media asset issues
• Fix barcode scanner hotspot
• Port generic event handler support to iOS
• Setting image on arrangement tiles the image rather than stretching it
• Companion on iOS 13 reports AIComponentKit.Component not found FIXED
• Orientation property not applied to Screen FIXED
• Canvas and ImageSprite not positioned properly in Screen.Initialized FIXED
• Support Dark Mode in iOS 13 FIXED
• Marker LongClick doesn’t appear to be working FIXED

[Dro]

Hi Evan,
In my experience with the iOS companion only small single screen or single view screens work.
My big app does not start even after changing percent sizing to pixels.
Question: is there a way to trace the app startup in the iOS companion?
Thanks

[ewpatton]

@Dro we fundamentally understand the issue affecting your app, but it’s going to take us some time to fix it because it requires rearchitecting how we construct the view hierarchy. My goal is to put together a proof of concept based on the AIA you sent me. If I get it working, I’ll send you a special build you can use to try it.

[ewpatton]

Just a heads up that we’ve sent out another batch of iOS beta invitations via Apple TestFlight.

[kangris]

Is App Inventor for iOS will OpenSource?

[ewpatton]

We haven’t yet decided at what point we will open source the iOS version.

[JSauer12]

Does this mean that there is something I can use with my students that will work with ios13? Will the information Beryl sent out about the other option for running app inventor programs work on iOS 13 now?
Thanks!

[ewpatton]

The preview server we put up for teachers to use will work with iOS 13. The version on TestFlight still needs to be updated to include the bugfix for iOS 13.

[ewpatton]

Hi everyone,

We just sent out a batch of 500 more invitations for the iOS beta program. Thanks to everyone who is helping us test. Please keep the bug reports coming.

Regards,
Evan

[Point]

I found some problems on the list,
I turned on the Show Filter Bar
And it didn’t work on iOS (it only worked on Android)
Android:

IOS:

And when I tried to put in such a list Hello, World (with list from csv row )
I got a weird result (it only happens on iOS):

And the SelectionIndex block doesn’t work properly (only on iOS)
It gives the index that follows (for example, the first index in the list would be considered as 2 instead of 1)

[ewpatton]

@Point
Thanks for the report, but in the future please submit issues using the iOS Beta Testing form as it gives us a centralized way of managing incoming bug reports.

[Souvik_Bera]

I have a question related iOS version as I have not tested it yet.
Will it support extensions ? If yes will we have to write extensions in Java and Swift both ?

[Anke]

@Souvik_Bera

Will it support extensions ?

That would be too good to be true, but I have little hope ...

[ewpatton]

@Souvik_Bera

Will it support extensions ? If yes will we have to write extensions in Java and Swift both ?

Our current position on this is that extensions will not be supported in the iOS version of the companion as it likely violates App Store Review Guideline 2.5.2, which prohibits apps from downloading and executing code to change the behavior of the app.

However, once we have the system (companion plus build servers) stabilized we may decide to support extensions in compiled apps, in which case you will need to write a Swift version in addition to the Java version.

[Point]

I do not think this violates the review guidelines, note that this sentence is also written there:

Educational apps designed to teach, develop, or allow students to test executable code may, in limited circumstances, download code provided that such code is not used for other purposes. Such apps must make the source code provided by the Application completely viewable and editable by the user.

[ewpatton]

In my interpretation, extensions would violate the clause “Such apps must make the source code provided by the Application completely viewable and editable by the user.” as not all of them are open source nor would they be editable on the device.

[Point]

Got it, but I think you should still ask apple about it (in my opinion this is an unusual case😅)

[ewpatton]

The challenge is that App Inventor is already balanced on a knife’s blade with respect to Apple App Store approval, and we’ve already had many back-and-forths with them as they review versions coming in. Extensions could be the thing that pushes us firmly into the reject side of things so we need to be extremely careful. As far as I have been able to determine through second hand sources, the iOS dynamic library linker will only link code that has a digital signature trusted by iOS, so it’s also possible that extensions won’t be feasible because the operating system flat out denies the capability, in which case we might need to fall back to JavaScript based extensions (which depending on what you want to do may or may not be useful).

[actech]

With regard to extensions, the situation is understandable, but are you considering the possibility of creating, along with extensions, a block for adding source code to the project, how does this work in Sketchware using the example of the “add source directly” block? In this case, the code is mounted in the source code and there should be no conflict with Apple.