2

My company makes desktop software and we want to create an iPhone app that will be a free add-on for our customers. While the app itself will be small, it will need to download at least 200MB of audio and text files to actually have any use (we don't want to include these files in the app itself because the needed files will vary a lot from user to user).

In response to a different question I asked recently on SO, someone wrote "An app shouldn't download 200MB of data. It is time- and bandwith consuming and may cause Apple to reject your app."

Is this true? If so, what can I do to mitigate the risk of rejection? I see here that there are a couple options for specifying which files should not be backed up to iCloud. Would that help? And which of those options (point 2 or 4 in the link) do I want?

If SO is not the appropriate place to ask questions about App Store submission issues, please let me know where I should move this question to.

EDIT
As a result of the answers I've received thus far, it seems that I need to further clarify my question. I am not concerned about how much users will be bothered by having to download a bunch of data in order to use the app for the first time, nor am I concerned about the app being over 20 MB and consequently requiring Wi-Fi for installation. I'm also not asking about the max app size allowed when submitting to the app store. I am simply asking about whether my app risks rejection because of the necessity to download so much data upon first launch in order for the app to function. And if there is indeed a risk of rejection, what steps may be taken to mitigate this risk?

maxedison
  • 17,243
  • 14
  • 67
  • 114

5 Answers5

2

Only by submitting an app will you know for sure whether Apple will approve it. But Apple has in the past approved apps that contained over 1GB of data, and apps capable of downloading over 1GB of data. Some iPad monthly magazine issues/downloads weigh in at well over 200 MB.

You might want to find a way to make youR app "useful" before, during or part way through any large download. And locking up the UI during a long download has definitely been reported as a reason for rejection of an app.

hotpaw2
  • 70,107
  • 14
  • 90
  • 153
1

I don't think downloading 200MB of data would cause rejection, but to mitigate the risk, let the app be usable even if all required data is not downloaded. The app review guidelines don't talk about the limit of data that you can download in one execution of the app, but if the downloadable content is audio and video you may want to take a look at the following points:

9.3 Audio streaming content over a cellular network may not use more than 5MB over 5 minutes

9.4 Video streaming content over a cellular network longer than 10 minutes must use HTTP Live Streaming and include a baseline 64 kbps audio-only HTTP Live stream

IMO users would hate an app which they spend time to download and then find out that it's unusable until large amount of data is downloaded again.

Vin
  • 10,517
  • 10
  • 58
  • 71
  • In general, I agree that most users would hate this. You'll just have to trust me when I tell you that my users won't :) – maxedison Jan 23 '12 at 20:51
0

Having an application package over 20MB will prevent users from installing it over 3G. They will only be able to install over WiFi or via iTunes software. That would constitute a serious barrier to adoption, IMHO.

Haven't heard of rejections 'cause of sheer size. I have an app installed that's about 170 MB.

That said, I still think downloading files on first access is the way to go.

RE: edit:

to mitigate the risk, don't download the whole bulk all at once. Download on demand, file by file. It's not like the app needs all 200MB to work from day one, right? Also, don't hog the main thread - that's surely a reason for rejection, and also a bad UI design. Spin a worker thread and run your HTTP in it.

Seva Alekseyev
  • 59,826
  • 25
  • 160
  • 281
0

There are big apps but as Seva says 20meg has a huge barrier to adoption. You could do the download on first launch, but even there people won't love you for sucking 200megs of data on first launch and the delay before first launch will be the barrier to adoption. Is streaming or download on demand an option?

Usman Ismail
  • 17,999
  • 14
  • 83
  • 165
  • Unfortunately apple is not all that transparent about these matters. They have rejected app for excessive downloads but its more for hidden downloads that happen over time and lead to huge cell phone bills for users. I don't think a well communicated 200MB download once at the start of the app will lead to rejection. But with apple who knows. – Usman Ismail Jan 23 '12 at 17:31
  • Any idea if only permitting the download if the user is connected to Wi-fi will help? – maxedison Jan 23 '12 at 18:38
  • You can allow the download over 3g as long as its well communicated and there is an option for the user to say no wait for wifi. Apple is more concerned about background downloads. – Usman Ismail Jan 24 '12 at 15:40
0

Adding on to Seva's answer is this question Max Size of an iOS App 2GB is the max App Size so you may be good for a while ;-)

I was listening a podcast the other day and they mentioned some text book Apps for the iPad that were running up against that 2GB limit.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
Peter M
  • 7,309
  • 3
  • 50
  • 91