iOS Data Storage Rejection

Question

My app got rejected because Apple found that on launch and/or content download, my app stores 14.18 MB.

Now I'm trying to skip backup of all the images and sounds I use in the game.

So far, I made a folder called "Resources" in my app folder itself, looking like this: App Folder Scrshot

What I did in AppDelegate.m is next:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
{
    [self addSkipBackupAttributeToItemAtURL:[self applicationDocumentsDirectory]];
    return YES;
}

- (BOOL)addSkipBackupAttributeToItemAtURL:(NSURL *)URL
{
    assert([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath: [URL path]]);

    NSError *error = nil;
    BOOL success = [URL setResourceValue: [NSNumber numberWithBool: YES]
                              forKey: NSURLIsExcludedFromBackupKey error: &error];
    if(!success){
        NSLog(@"Error excluding %@ from backup %@", [URL lastPathComponent], error);
    }
    return success;
}

This isn't working.

I have 2 questions:

1)Am I doing the right thing from the start? Should I put all the images and sounds in folder called Resources, and then skipBackup for the entire folder or should I put them somewhere else? If yes, then where? (I saw over internet people talking about "Documents" folder...but I don't know what that folder is nor where to find it.

2)If I could put everything in "Resources" folder, how to I reach that folder from the code? How do I make URL to that folder, from Xcode itself?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

You should deliver the content with your app. downloading the content on first launch is not a good idea due to the connection issue if user is on 3G/Edge.

the document directory is on the device, a folder under your app, and its created by ios automatically. Apple Documentation

getting files from resource folder is easy files from resources

Answer 2

I had this problem before ! The problem is not the size of what you store, it is where you store it. My guess is that you store your file in NSDocumentDirectory, which is bad because this directory should only be used to store data that the user created himself (documents, photo, etc). Adding the NSURLIsExcludedFromBackupKey is not enough. When it happened to me, I changed NSDocumentDirectory to NSApplicationSupportDirectory and my app got approved.

UPDATE

It is best if you first create a subdirectory in your NSApplicationSupportDirectory to store your file there.

Your methods should look like something like :

- (NSURL *) applicationDocumentsDirectory{
    NSString *appSupportDir = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSApplicationSupportDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) lastObject];
    appSupportDir = [appSupportDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"MyAppDirectory"];
    return [NSURL URLWithString:appSupportDir];
}

And don't forget to create the directory first :

    if (![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:[self applicationDocumentsDirectory] isDirectory:NULL]) {
        NSError *error = nil;        
        [[NSFileManager defaultManager] createDirectoryAtPath:[self applicationDocumentsDirectory] withIntermediateDirectories:YES attributes:nil error:&error];
    }