FlickType disappears from the App Store
FlickType founder Kosta Eleftheriou has been in the news regularly, drawing attention to all kinds of scam apps that Apple allows unseen. But personally he also appears to have a difficult relationship with the App Store review team. After numerous rejections, he has decided to remove the iPhone portion of the FlickType Watch Keyboard from the App Store. He regrets that this app for blind users can no longer be offered on the iPhone.
“Apple has thrown obstacle after obstacle at our feet for years as we tried to create an app that makes people's lives better. We can't take it any longer,” said Eleftheriou. He even talks about bullying.
FlickType is an alternative keyboard for the Apple Watch and can be used as an alternative to the Scribble function. You can tap or swipe to type. That works up to three times faster than on the standard keyboard, claims the maker. There is also an iPhone section for blind people and users with low vision. It has large keys, high-contrast colors, and VoiceOver support. This portion of the app will disappear, while the Apple Watch app will remain.
Forty pages of rejections
Last week, another update to FlickType was submitted to the App Store, containing bug fixes and improvements to the VoiceOver feature. This didn't include any new features, but Apple turned it down anyway because it only works if you give it full access. This point was already solved three years ago, but Apple started to make a fuss about it again. The FlickType maker tried 9 times last week to contact Apple, but failed, even though Apple previously indicated to “mainly get in touch if further explanation was desired”. He now has 40 pages of rejections, which Eleftheriou says are often unreasonable and groundless.
The developers wanted to keep FlickType alive through TestFlight, but Apple declined that too.
Eleftheriou previously sued Apple for failing to deal with counterfeit and scam apps. He also criticizes Apple's keyboard APIs, which have been bugged, inconsistent and ever-changing since 2014. He has now pinned his hopes on developments in the US, whereby Apple could be forced by the courts to open iOS to alternative app stores and sideloading.