Tomas Chlebek There was a post yesterday on developer Ryan McLeod's blog detailing the journey from the first idea through the pitfalls and eureka the moment after the rejection of a functional application in Apple's approval process. The idea was to use the iPhone 6S as a digital scale – its new display with the 3D Touch function works by measuring the force exerted by the finger on the display. After all, the ability to weigh things by placing them on the display presented your smartphone with Force Touch, Mate S, Huawei.
The first problem Ryan and his friends Chase and Brice faced was converting the unit of force used by Apple in the available APIs to weight. They solved this by calibrating with US pennies (a thing that "everyone has on hand"). Then came figuring out how to actually weigh anything on the display.
The display starts to react (measure) only when it comes into contact with a finger, i.e. a conductive material of a certain shape. After trying coins, apples, carrots and slices of salami, they arrived at a coffee spoon that ticks all the boxes – it's the right shape, conductivity, size, and everyone has at least one at home.
An application that McLeod et al. sent to the App Store, after calibration it was able to weigh objects placed on a coffee spoon up to 385 grams with an accuracy of 3 grams. They called her Gravity. Unfortunately, after a few days of waiting, the application was rejected by Apple citing a "misleading description".
The developers interpreted this as a misunderstanding on the part of the approval people. There are dozens of apps available in the App Store that pretend to be digital scales, but are labeled as pranks - they can't really weigh anything, just like iPhone lighters can't ignite anything (except for the user's frustration at the stupidity of the app). Gravity, on the other hand, stated in the description that it really works as a scale.
So McLeod put together a small home movie studio (an iPhone, a lamp, a few shoe boxes, a white shelf as a mat) and made a video demonstrating how (and that) the app works. However, Gravity did not go through the approval process and they were told in a phone call that the reason for this was "the unsuitability of the weight concept for the App Store". That answer isn't very revealing, so McLeod suggested a couple of possible explanations of his own in his post:
- Damage to the phone. Although the app is only able to weigh small objects due to the limitations of 3D Touch capabilities, the available API and the size of a coffee spoon, it is possible that someone with a slightly lower brain capacity would break their iPhone and then complain loudly.
- Weighing drugs. Weighing only small volumes, and using a spoon at that, quite easily brings to mind the possibility of abusing Gravity for illegal activities involving drugs. While it's unlikely that anyone would actually choose to rely on a very expensive scale with an accuracy of 1-3 grams, Apple takes its moral image, at least when it comes to App Store content, quite seriously.
- Poor API usage. “We understand that Gravity uses the API and the 3D Touch sensor in a unique way, but we also know that there are many published apps that use iPhone hardware in new ways. At the same time, we appreciate that these apps won't make it to the App Store immediately."
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Ultimately, if the idea of weighing something with an iPhone appeals to anyone, one can only hope that sooner or later Apple will change its position and anyone with the relevant smartphone model will be able to try out Gravity, or perhaps find out which of the two plums is heavier using Plum-O-Meter.
Because then some US Hambáč would try it as a personal scale and the weightgate affair would arise :D
Or when someone hears the news long before the keynote. :)
Yes, I see a lot of geeks who will be happy to try it maybe 2-3 times and then what? And that's why Apple doesn't like it, it's useless.