UPDATE (9/19/2009) – Darkroom Premium (v.2.3) has finally been approved by Apple and it’s available now in the iTunes Store. So update now! Darkroom Standard, on the other hand, is still awaiting approval from Apple.
Due to the number of support questions regarding Darkroom and OS 3.0 support in the past week, it seems many are still unaware of why Darkroom is not compatible with OS 3.0. Therefore, I have created this blog post for your use. We will to respond to everyone’s general OS 3.0 support concerns via the comments, but if you want to address us privately, you can certainly do so by emailing us.
Here’s the complete rundown of what’s been happening:
- Current versions of Darkroom and Darkroom Premium are NOT compatible with OS 3.0.
- We have an OS 3.0 compatible version but Apple has repeatedly rejected it because we use a custom camera interface. They have approved it in the past, but have since stopped and claims we are using an undocumented API to achieve the interface. In other words, we are at a standstill with Apple.
- If we strip it down to comply with Apple, Darkroom will be no different than default Camera app.
- Other photo apps that uses a custom camera interface are also having the same problems with getting approved.
- We have not been updated by Apple of any changes in developer guidelines that would result in this situation.
Additionally, this past weekend, we noticed Apple has approved a photo app that uses a custom camera interface, Real Cam LE. So, this could be a sign that Darkroom is in line for approval or Apple has some serious issues with their apps approval team, as many have suggested.
So, if the approval action for the photo app mentioned above is not flawed, you could still see Darkroom make a comeback to your iPhones. For now though, we’ve done as much as we could on our end and it’s not resulting in any response from Apple. What we suggest is for you, our users, to contact Apple directly either by their iTunes feedback form or by phone and express your concerns about this matter.
We have cross post this entry into our Support Forum. You may choose to leave your comments in our support forum as well.
Alex Martin
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:38 am
Apple and their shameful behaviour… I hope some common sense step in soon, or I will ask for a refund TO APPLE!
Good luck guys, darkroom is an excellent product.
I’m a premium customer.
Alex Martin
Alex Martin
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:31 am
Ok, this is the letter I wrote the to “iTunes Feedback” guys…
–
Recently I updated my iPhone to OS 3.0, and one of my fav apps, Darkroom Premium stopped working, talking to the developer, he toold that Apple denies aproval due to the use of “not documented API”. I’m a customer, end user, I dont need to know about API, but if Apple is not letting Stepcase to publish an update in Darkroom Premiun I think is clear that Apple shoul refund the money I payed for that application, because seems that I wont be able to use it anymore. I really hope to have a “decent” and “clear” answer on this, because if I dont, means that lots of users of camera apps wont aswell, and be sure, someone will end taking some drastic actions.
Yours,
Alex Martin
Ben Gillam
July 4th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Apple have some serious issues.
Don’t forget you always have the option of cydia!
Peter
July 6th, 2009 at 1:43 am
QuickMark also uses something similar, it scans barcodes without the user having to press anything. That must mean that they have at least access to grabbing the previev image off Apple’s controls. They got approved for 3.0
The Apple iPhone App Store - A Year On | More Zonkyness
July 11th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
[...] and then refuses to allow an update to that application to be released. For an example, see here. Categories : Computing trackback comments [...]
Alexej
July 11th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I just ended a chat session with Apple representative and one can actually feel the vibe of them being _very_ frustrated by my complains..
At the end of it this is what i got at the very end was an offer of a refund. This does not look very bright if you ask me. Which is a shame as i loved this app..
Alexej
July 11th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Last thing they mentioned was that “This issue is definitely being investigated, but I don’t have access to information as to when this matter will be taken care of.”
But hey, I got 5 free songs to my account which is nice :O
Darkroom と Camera Zoom が動かない件
July 12th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
[...] Darkroom： http://www.stepcase.com/blog/2009/06/29/darkroom-and-os-30-compatibility-issue-update/ [...]
Christine P.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
This is my post to Apple, via iTunes:
Get me my Darkroom Premium app back!!!! Approve the OS 3 version update! The iPhone 3G camera sucks – can’t get anything but a blurry picture, with Darkroom Premium, I can get WAAAAAY better shots, and the camera feature of the iPhone is actually something USEFUL. As it stands now, my iPhone camera is mostly useless – unless the light is bright, the wind is not blowing, the stars are aligned, and I can stand stiff as a board while trying to get a photo. You guys NEED this app for your iPhone camera!!!! With Darkroom, I actually get compliments on the photos… “You took THAT with a phone?!?!” Yup, my iPhone…
I don’t even bother with the camera anymore, which is a pain in the @($&@&@, considering all the other applications I’d like to import photos into to use – ie, iPhone to iPhoto to Computer Application. It’s all pointless at the moment – do I REALLY have to start carrying my “real” camera around again? Jeez. iPhone w/ Darkroom got the job done SO much more conveniently, since my iPhone is always in my pocket. Talk about taking a backwards leap.
C’mon Apple. I’ve already paid for it through YOUR store. Back me up here. Shame on you for not approving the OS 3.0 update version. Really. Please, please just get it done.
Thanks for listening. I’d send a “thank you” photo card, but it would be blurry.
-Christine
iSkythe
July 15th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Why couldn’t you just change your custom camera button bar to look like the default one in 3.0? They probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Don B
July 17th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Apple, just get Darkroom approved. You’re starting to act as arrogant as Microsoft!!
Mishendr
July 18th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Can’t you put the update in Cydia?
GregD
July 18th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Sadly, I have given up on this app being certified… thus rendering my iPhone camera nearly useless.
Björn Sundberg
July 19th, 2009 at 4:34 am
Please put up to Cydia!!!
Scott
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:43 am
So when Apple see’s a good idea, Apple takes that idea but then kills the competition by breaking the app, then not allowing the update to fix it…
The App Store is just a way for Apple to let others come up with creative ideas & test them(R&D) then takes those succseful ideas.
Seems like Apple hasn’t stopped stealing ideas from others since the day they where founded (Xerox GUI)…
I vote for Cydia
Jamie
July 25th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Subject: iPhone App: Darkroom Premium — ie, C’mon Apple What’s the Darn Hold Up?
Dear Apple,
I’m writing in regards to the iPhone App Darkroom Premium by Stepcase specifically and in regards to my concerns about where the iPhone and iPhone Apps are heading more generally.
First, prior to OS 3.0, I used Darkroom daily. I paid for this program and downloaded it through the “Apple App Store” just like all my other apps to use on my iPhone which I bought from Apple and AT&T at the same time I bought my wife’s iPhone. Without any warning, installing OS 3 rendered Darkroom unusable. Naturally, I first blamed Stepcase and waited (and waited) for an update. Finally, I discovered that Stepcase had/has an update ready and it is you, Apple, that has made useless the app I bought — through your store!
This is wholly unacceptable. The camera app you built into the phone lacks much of the functionality Darkroom provides — why add insult to injury by denying the people who buy your products an app that fills that need? Further, it is a shady shady business practice to render unusable a product people paid you (through your store) to buy. It’s really a form of bait and switch.
As a long-time Mac user, I am used to the often bizarre control issues Apple has… and I often ignore them, because I understand the benefit to the user that sometimes results from having relatively tight controls over hardware and software. This is obviously a big part of the AT&T / Apple / iPhone thing too. But at some point it gets embarrassing (for Apple) and unacceptable (to me) to pay such a premium for Apple products only to find that my product and services are being crippled in such specific and unnecessary ways.
AT&T is not a particularly good carrier (cost, service, or signal wise), yet I’m stuck with them to use iPhone. Fine. I have to buy all my apps from YOUR store. Fine. But when I have to wait until version **3** to get copy and paste functionality (duh!) and still waiting for Flash capability (there is *not* an app for that)… and now remain unable to use an app I paid money for… that you approved and now apparently don’t like anymore… This is the stuff that starts to turn “evangelists” into serious “haters”. I’m not there yet, but boy it gets harder and harder to defend y’all.
Sincerely,
Jamie
Reg For
July 26th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Seriously looking for an alternative like Android or whatever non-Apple and non-Microsoft PDA device.
Mike
July 27th, 2009 at 7:06 am
Why is the app “Camera Zoom” allowed to update and work with 3.0? it seems to have all the capabilities of Darkroom plus zoom.
Alex Martin
July 29th, 2009 at 10:52 am
QuadCamera also been 3.0 aproved, and I think it also uses custom UI.
Anyone can confirm?
VC Nickels
July 30th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
What a shame… I really love my iPhone, I literally just bought the 3GS, but this is just more of the same from Apple. This reeks of being a whim of the Great and Powerful Jobs. Seriously, why do they do this sort of thing? Part of the reason why my only Apple product is my phone, I’d never actually let my computer be subject to this sort of chaos.
Shame on Apple…
Sub@omic
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:14 am
Feedback sent to Apple:
>>
Dear Apple
I write to express my concerns about the unwillingness to authorise an OS 3 version of the Darkroom app developed by Stepcase.
I understand from the developer that Apple have refused to authorise the app because of the way it uses a custom camera interface. I am fully aware of the reasons why you wouldn’t want apps connecting in non-standard ways, however, you really need to understand how infuriating for consumers it is that this app has just packed-up. The app was approved and authorised previously and this change of heart has dented my belief in the App Store somewhat.
From the perspective of the end user, Darkroom is a LOVELY app that delivers the pin-sharp photographs that the default Camera app simply seems unable to achieve.
If nothing else, surely the App Store is a truly great way for innovative ideas to hatch and an alternative way of funding R&D. PLEASE don’t crush this innovative app, please authorise it or, perhaps better still, license the app from Stepcase and give the Camera app the upgrade it so badly needs now.
<<
Steve
Angus Lau
August 2nd, 2009 at 7:19 pm
@Mike and @Alex, yes, we did notice Apple updating these two apps recently.
The recent updates does give us hope that they will soon update Darkroom and other camera/photo apps as well. We are just not sure when as we have yet to hear back from Apple.
Alex Martin
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:28 am
@Angus Lau
Yes, I had hope that those recently approved apps will show that Darkroom is in the pipeline. I also noticed that “Real Cam SP” has a “steadycam” option aswell and it is 3.0 compatible… Let´s hope some commen sense is happening at Apple…
Alex Martin
August 8th, 2009 at 3:37 am
And another “steadycam” and “custom UI” app that has been approved for iPhone 3.0: “Camera Genius”. Seems that all those are getting approved lately, so what is happenin with darkroom?
By the way, I bought Real Cam SP and Camera Genius (sorry, cant wait until Darkroom is approved… and loosing good shots….), if you need a “steadycam” in your iPhone 3.0, you can go for them.
Angus Lau
August 8th, 2009 at 8:26 am
@Alex You gotta do what you gotta do. Those Kodak moments only come once and we understand that.
We’re just hoping it’s in their pipeline and will update if there’s any developments.
Carlos Rivero
August 9th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
hey guys … i’m a premium user too…
you guys should give cydia a try.. without saying its official … you know… ops.. a beta..got leaked or something….. that way you don’t run the risk of getting your dev license revoked
Alex Martin
August 10th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
@Angus Lau
If I am still around is because I still think that the “steadycam” built in DarkRoom Premium is the best of all I tried. Even if I have my needs covered now, I really would like to have Darkroom working back in my iPhone. So I wish you luck and I hope we will share the good news soon.
Best,
Alex
Angus Lau
August 11th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Thanks for the support Alex. We hope the news will come soon too.
Scott Cushman
August 12th, 2009 at 12:49 am
I bought Darkroom Premium a couple of weeks before 3.0 came out. I wasn’t worried about losing functionality because it’s expected to happen and developers usually release updates pretty quickly. Well, the last thing I did expect was for Stepcase to create an update and have Apple deny it. I look at the App Store for updates everyday, hoping that it gets pushed through soon.
If all the other apps are getting approved, why not Darkroom?
Scott Cushman
August 12th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Hey, a thought…when Apple finally gets on their butts and approves Darkroom, you guys should look at adding a zoom feature. You could always release it as a Deluxe version or something. I’d pay an extra dollar or two to have all my needed functions (steady function, tap anywhere shutter, whatever else you think of…) in one app.
Anyway, keep up the good work. I’m praying for approval soon!
regfor
August 13th, 2009 at 4:50 am
Still not approved yet?
I believe switching to native US product is better from the customer point of view:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=296186779&mt=8
Grehund
August 15th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Hi guys, please put Darkroom on Cydia!!! I used the “report a problem” via the AppStore to say the same thing, hope Apple reads it and realises it is because of crap like this that ppl Jailbreak their iPhones!
KY
August 18th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Is this App already ended?
Can we have a refund from Apple or from Stepcase directly?
I’ve already lose my patience to wait any longer.
Angus Lau
August 19th, 2009 at 9:26 am
@KY
We still have hope that Apple will release our update, so we are not giving up at all. Please also send our support an email support @ stepcase.com and we can help you further.
Thanks
FreeLancer74
August 20th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I like and support Darkroom Premium. I purchased and used it daily. I have been patiently waiting for the new approval, even posting a positive review in the appstore to support the publisher. *If* this does not happen, do refund requests approved by Apple get billed back to Stepcase?
Paul
August 24th, 2009 at 8:22 am
As Alex has done I’ve purchased Camera Genius but frankly it doesn’t take as good a picture as Darkroom did. Not sure if anyone else will have noticed but there’s something relating to app approval on Apples website- http://www.apple.com/hotnews/apple-answers-fcc-questions/
It seems ridiculous that a developer is as much in the dark as the customer as to when or if their product will be approved.
Darkroom （iPhoneカメラアプリ）その後… | TAKE’S EYE
September 8th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
[...] →そのブログ記事 [...]
Alex Martin
September 10th, 2009 at 8:31 am
September 10th, still hoping to take crispy photos with Darkroom Premium… Installed OS 3.1 on my iPhone… Same crashing situation.
Cheers
Apple’s App Store and installing what you like on an iPhone - Robert's talk
September 15th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
[...] as outlined in Darkroom and OS 3.0 Compatibility Issue Update, they have repeatedly been rejected by Apple for doing something which they have always done. The [...]
svzurich
September 18th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Just a few minutes ago Darkroom Premium 2.3 was released on Itunes. It’s great to have it working once again on iphone OS 3.1.
Alex Martin
September 19th, 2009 at 4:42 am
Yes!!! FINALLY!!! It is been a long wait… Gratz Stepcase
Thomas
September 20th, 2009 at 5:10 am
I’m happy to read that a 3.1 compatible update was pushed recently. But I’m not seeing it displayed in iTunes as an available update. What gives? Did you not push it to worldwide AppStores but only to the US one perhaps?
Angus Lau
September 20th, 2009 at 7:54 am
@Thomas, if you are using Darkroom Standard (free) version, then you’ll have to wait a bit longer for Apple to approve. The current update is for Darkroom Premium. Which version are you using?
@Alex Martin, Thanks again!
Thomas
September 20th, 2009 at 9:32 am
@Angus I have bought Darkroom Premium of course. Otherwise I wouldn’t ask.
Angus Lau
September 20th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
@Thomas, just checkin’
because Apple did not approve both apps at the same time. I’m assuming you are trying to update from the iPhone? If so, can you tried to re-download it from iTunes desktop app? Note the new version, v.2.3.
Thomas
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:15 am
@Angus, I already wrote that I am looking for the update in iTunes *sigh*. Redownloading would charge my CC according to iTunes so I’d rather avoid it.
Can you confirm (pretty pretty please) that you made the update available on all iTunes Stores worldwide?
Angus Lau
September 22nd, 2009 at 4:48 am
@Thomas, Darkroom Premium is available in all iTunes store worldwide. Here’s some info from Apple regarding re-downloading an app. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519