The #1 TV and Entertainment App

25 Nov

Hard decisions: We temporarily removed i.TV 2.1 from the App Store

Justin

The following is a message from i.TV CEO, Brad Pelo regarding the recent release of i.TV 2.1 in the iTunes Store.

To the i.TV community,

Unfortunately, tonight we had to temporarily remove i.TV from the App Store because of a critical system error that surfaced shortly after i.TV 2.1 was made publicly available this evening. For some, the new i.TV update is working perfectly but for others it is not. Because many of you were affected by this defect, we chose to temporarily remove the application from the iTunes Store and will make the app available again soon.

In the past year, we have made significant improvements to our development, software testing and quality control processes. We can assure you that i.TV 2.1 was thoroughly tested over several weeks and the application we submitted to the App Store was our most solid app yet. We are working hard to find the cause of this problem and will keep you updated on progress via Twitter, Facebook and here on the i.TV blog.

We take the relationship with you, our customers, very seriously and we offer our most sincere apologies for those of you who had an unsatisfying experience tonight.

Thank you for your support, patience and for using i.TV.

Warmly,

Brad Pelo

chrishough

For those of us with fully dysfunctional apps already: ie. non working remotes, etc… it would have been nice to at least attempt to use the new application just in case it happened to work for us. I understand why you pulled the product, but how about giving us the option to try it? It couldn't be any less functional than the 2.0 version.
Mike

Brad… In trying to get the new update to work, I had uninstalle and reinstalled several times. This means I lost all my settings.. favorites, tv lineups, wallet.. anything else in there that took a LOT of time to set up.

So even with a new version, I am going to have to strt from scratch.

Not a good thing… And I don't know how this was tested so good if it does not work!
Jbr19

How much longer must we wait for a crash-free app? Our patience wears MIGHTY thin with this one.
emiliodouglas

I for one understand these kinds of issues. They can occur despite all manner of testing. In this case I feel such action is warranted if the developer seeks to overcome the possible resentment expierenced by their users. It is explained well and communicated well. I for one, can't ask for much else and certainly can't be intollarant of his proactive approach for doing his best to overcome the unforseen circumstance involved.
Vanessa

I never had any problems at all with this application and was very sad to find that it didn't work this morning. Missing it very much.

Can't wait to have it up and running again!
Ryan

Yeah! Give us our free app back. We are entitled to it… Wait a minute. Maybe we should be a little more patient. We're mighty sorry. Moron.
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

Thanks, we appreciate your patience with this. Thank you for your support and kind words too. We'll have a fix submitted to Apple hopefully by today and get everybody up and running soon.
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

I feel your pain, Vanessa. The people who downloaded the app yesterday and have it working love it and it was fun to start seeing all these tweets and Facebook posts appear from our app as people started to use it. We're doing our best to make sure everybody will be able to enjoy i.TV again very soon!
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

Good question, Chris. We just felt the risk was too great to the majority of i.TV users who had not yet downloaded the application. Again, mega apologies for the inconvenience this causes. We think we've found what the problem is and we hope to have a fix on it's way to Apple today.
orejr

How long does it take to put 2.0 back in iTunes??? DUH!
bobnyaz

I read on facebook that it was submitted to Apple for the fix. Any idea how long Apple takes to get this out for me to download back in again?
Mikey

I used 2.0 for a few months and loved it. I updated to 2.1 last week, which of course broke everything. Why not put 2.0 back on the app store in the meantime? Lots of TV watching during this holiday weekend, and I had to get the TV Guide app to compensate. i.TV is a much better app, and like everyone else, I miss it! I have no doubts you'll get the new version working properly, but if it is possible to put 2.0 back in the store, please do. I, for one, would appreciate it!
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

Hard to say. We hope it'll be sometime next week at the latest. Right now the app approval time seems to be about a week but that fluctuates.
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

Well, it won't be 2.0 that appears on iTunes. It'll be 2.1.1. It's been submitted to Apple and is awaiting their approval.
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

First of all, thanks for your support and patience and I'm sorry you had to resort to using another app. The challenge in working with the iTunes Store is that we have no control over the app approval process and we can't repost a previous version again (even though it was already approved once by Apple). So, as much as we wish we could repost 2.0 and have i.TV still available, Apple's system just doesn't allow it. I wish I could give you a different answer other than that but we think a new and improved app will be available sometime next week. Luckily we caught the problem with 2.1 before it became too widespread but our hearts are kind of aching for the thousands who have been affected by what happened. Hang in there!
orejr

You guys really are bad. A working 2.0 is better than NOTHING! Duh!

orellars@yahoo.com
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

Just read the response I gave to Mikey below.
goosecross

Idea to restore 2.0 from Time Machine was priceless and better yet… it works! Thanks to all that made this suggestion. It was so obvious that I missed it!
Mikey

Any new updates on the approval? This tv guide app is AWEFUL!
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

We are still waiting for approval from Apple, so still no idea on timeline. However, there are concrete, encouraging signs it'll be sooner than later. I knew more and could give you a better answer. I hope you don't have to use the other app for much longer. i.TV will be back soon.
Romenoff

7-Dec-09
Sorry to hear of the issue. Is there any update on progress?
Romenoff

I think it's pretty stand up of the Company to post and answer users here. I for one actually appreciate having the updates & answers. Like most here, I miss the App. But I find it hard to believe how ungratefull some people are for a free app.
Hopefully you will have it sorted soon.
Thanks for being straight shooters.
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

Thanks a lot. I'm not just saying this but it really does mean a lot to hear that. This is a frustrating situation for all who can't use the new app (and for us too). App developers are rushing to get their apps approved before Christmas, so we're probably dealing with a backlog in the app review process. Apple's been really good to us in the past as well as through this whole little road bump we've experienced with the app. We'll be back up soon. I just wish I could tell you when.
Mikey

Thanks for responding (to both inquiries). I'll keep checking.
http://Facstaff.colstate.edu/Rendleman_Eliot Name

What if I allowed the netflix access? Can u still access my data while I can't use the app?
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

No, we can't.
zetaprime

I was hoping to see support for Dish Network DVRs in the new version and a bit disappointed to se it still not there in 2.2. But all the same I was glad to see it back in the store again.
Bob

Saturday morning, 12 December, I tried to download the newest update, version 2.1.1, but after the download started, iTunes updater halted the transfer, and stated that the update did not exist. What happened? Did your “bug fix” have a bug of it's own?
http://www.DeckWorkMarketing.com/ Michael Linden

thanks for fixing the problem so quickly…
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

Actually, Apple was having a problem with their servers the night before and the wrong update (i.TV 2.1 with all the crash problems) was sent down to iTunes. People started updating but with the wrong app. We decided to temporarily remove i.TV from the App Store until Saturday midday and then pushed it live again, after Apple had resolved the issues they were having. The new app is available in the iTunes Store now. Go and download it!
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

Yes, we are very grateful for the quick turnaround on Apple's part too.
Chuck M

I like and use the app all of the time, however it is now laden with advertising, you can't touch it without it launching into some advertisement….especially difficult is the lower pop up when you click on a particular program….arggghh, I know you guys want to make money off of this but you may lose many of your tried and true users.
http://i.tv/blog Justin W.

I hear ya, Chuck and you're right about us needing to make money. We knew that would be a risky decision to put ads there but we also tried to make them easy to dismiss. If we could do without ads or a reduced number of ads, we would but according to our analysis, a paid app just wouldn't cover all the expenses in the long term. At some point, we may be able to offer an in-app purchase that would allow you to turn ads off but until then, we'd love for you to hang in there with us. We have some really rad things coming next year and we wouldn't want you to miss out! Thanks for commenting.