Mikey Campbell
In a reported change to its iTunes Connect developer portal, Apple recently deprecated the use of special emoji-type characters for app descriptions, limiting app makers to standard text for submitted updates.
The exact date of the reported change is unknown, but a developer at TapeACall, who informed AppleInsider of the modified rules, said the use of special characters was available when they updated their app a little over two weeks ago.
As seen in the image above, Apple is no longer allowing developers to submit app description edits with the unique character sets, which in this case includes a checkmark, explosion, "no symbol" and a speech bubble. It is thought that others are included in the new restrictions, but that has yet to be verified.
Developers sometimes use non-standard characters like checkmarks in bullet lists to draw attention to tweaks or the addition of new features to an app. For example, YouTube's most recent update on April 15 utilized checkmarks to denote the app's basic feature set.
If the new rules are indeed rolling out, Apple has not specified why it is restricting emoji use in descriptions. It can be speculated, however, that the move is meant to create a more unified App Store experience.
Update: Another developer has reported the date of Apple's new iconography requirements to have been set on April 19.
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11 Comments
Thank you Apple. When app descriptions start looking like horrible craiglists and backpage ads, I'm glad Apple has constrained this behavior.
And this is Bad!? This can only be good, not that I've seen any emoji only or partial named apps. It will prevent such things and makes the developer think harder for a name title for his or her app.
I don't think PC users can even see those characters can they? They would just see lots of squares?
[quote name="irnchriz" url="/t/157119/apple-reportedly-restricting-use-of-special-characters-in-app-descriptions#post_2315024"]I don't think PC users can even see those characters can they? They would just see lots of squares?[/quote] They would see those horrible DOS graphics characters from the PC extended character set, circa the 1980s.
I have only one thing to say:
????