Changes to TextExpander touch SDK Required

[Greg Scown]

Dear TextExpander touch SDK developers:

Yesterday, after a period of engagement with the App Review Team from Apple, they informed us that TextExpander's use of Reminders for shared snippet data storage is not an intended use of Reminders and will no longer be accepted. TextExpander touch will not clear review until this is resolved. Apps which implement the current TextExpander touch SDK may not clear review until their TextExpander touch SDK is updated.

We have less than two weeks to develop an alternative data exchange mechanism, and this is complicated by the impending Thanksgiving holiday.

We considered revising the SDK to incorporate code to access users' snippet data directly on Dropbox. This is not possible due to Dropbox's app sandboxing. We considered the Datastore, but its limit of 5MB per account is too small for many users' TextExpander data, and this is not how it was intended to be used. Dropbox is not a viable choice for the available timeframe.

Our only alternative appears to be providing TextExpander data via x-callback-url. User action will be required to acquire and update snippet data. Each app will have its own copy of the TextExpander data, which will not sync automatically with user updates made in the TextExpander touch app. It's not ideal, but it is within the App Store Review Guidelines. It also means users won't lose TextExpander touch support in your app.

We plan to provide an updated SDK by the end of Monday, November 25th and to submit a revised TextExpander touch with the requisite x-callback-url support. We're optimistic that we can get the TextExpander touch review expedited.

We welcome your feedback. If there's something we failed to consider, please let us know. As with our previous actions on the TextExpander touch SDK, we are doing the best we can with what we have available.

Thank you for implementing TextExpander in your app, and thank you for your support of Smile as we have worked to find a solution that meets Apple's requirements.

Regards,

Greg Scown for the TextExpander touch Team

tet...@smilesoftware.com

PS  If you're unfamiliar with the history of the TextExpander touch SDK on iOS 7, please see the other posts on the tetouch-sdk Google Group, starting on August 6, 2013:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/tetouch-sdk