I’m wondering whether other App Store developers can reproduce the issue that I’m seeing, which was occurring before the recent App Store Connect analytics design and continues to occur now. I’ve been back and forth with Apple Developer Support for more than a month (case 102827338878 if anyone from Apple is reading), getting nowhere slowly. Their latest unhelpful email response this morning left me frustrated and enraged. And I have no desire to file a bug report with Feedback Assistant either. It seems like blogging is the only way to get the attention of someone who isn't a zombie.
I see the issue in App Store Connect when I select Analytics, Metrics, Updates, By Platform Version:
Updates represent, “The number of times the app has been updated to its latest version.” There is a very long table of platform versions and numbers of updates for each platform version, the latter of which I will not display, because that’s my confidential business information.
The platform versions go way back in time, as early as iOS 8.0 (2014) and macOS 10.14.1 (2018).
Most of the platform versions have zero updates, represented by the “-” character in the table, because the minimum versions supported by StopTheMadness Pro are iOS 16 and macOS 12.
The issue, apparently a bug in App Store Connect Analytics, is that a few platform versions are simply missing from the table, for example, iOS 16.7 and macOS 13.7, 14.7, 14.8. And I believe that these missing platform versions have non-zero numbers of updates. There are two strong pieces of evidence that the missing platforms are numerically significant. First, lower version numbers such as iOS 16.6 and macOS 14.6 have update numbers significantly higher than zero. Second, if I add up all the By Platform Version updates, then switch to the By Device view and add up all the devices, the two sums are different! There are more total By Device updates than total By Platform Version updates, which suggests that the difference is explained by the missing platform versions.
By the way, the same discrepancy in update totals exists when I filter By Date. The total updates By Date is greater than the total updates By Platform Version.
My question is, are other App Store developers seeing—or more accurately, not seeing—the missing platform versions in App Store Connect Analytics? Please let me know! And if anyone from Apple if reading this blog post, please ping someone relevant inside the company to investigate this issue!
The rest of this blog post is just my complaints about Apple Developer Support, so if you don’t care about that, you can stop reading now. ;-)
I submitted this issue (case 102827338878) to Apple Developer Support on February 21. They didn’t get back to me until a week later. They started with an apology for the delay, which was nice, but the response immediately got worse from there, because Developer Support showed no reading comprehension of my support request:
First of all, I would like to apologize for the delay in replying to your query. This is certainly not the customary wait time for a reply from Developer Support. We have been experiencing higher than expected volumes, and your patience is greatly appreciated.
To protect customer privacy, Apple shows App Analytics data only when a certain number of data points are available. The data is aggregated so that customers can remain anonymous.
As soon as there are enough data points to show, you'll see your App Analytics data.
I did see the data. The problem was just that a few platform versions were missing from the data. And remember that the table does show platform versions for which there are zero updates.
I requested that Developer Support escalate my issue, and I got a reply on March 5 from a different Developer Support representative, who asked for more information. In response, I sent a long series of screenshots illustrating the issue. The next day I received a response that essentially repeated the misunderstanding of the first Developer Support representative:
If the data collection for the platform versions you are attempting to view (iOS 16.7 and macOS 13.7, 14.7, 14.8) is insufficient, limited, and/or the data being requested is not shared by the customer, the data for those versions will not be displayed. Apple displays App Analytics data only when a specific number of data points are available.
If you encounter discrepancies between the reports you are viewing and those displayed in App Analytics, kindly respond to this email with additional details regarding the report in question, the source of data generation, and the platform from which you are receiving these reports.
As soon as there are enough data points to show, you'll see your App Analytics data.
I replied with a detailed email listing various update numbers and talking about how the totals are different when I change the analytics filter. And I once again requested that they escalate my issue. On March 8, the Developer Support representative replied to me:
As we continue, I have forwarded your information to our Senior Advisor Team, who will continue with the process on your behalf.
A so-called “senior advisor” did not contact me until March 19:
In your message, you mention that a few platform versions are missing from the Analytics in App Store Connect. To better assist you, we need more information. Please provide the following:
This was followed by a long list of items that I had already provided! I replied:
I don't understand this request, because I've already provided the information requested, including many screenshots. Do you not have the case history? I shouldn't have to repeat everything.
This morning, a week later, the senior advisor finally replied again:
I realize you provided information before however we will need the additional information requested to look into this issue further for you.
Provide the following:
Seriously, what the hell? The previous representative claimed, “I have forwarded your information to our Senior Advisor Team,” yet the senior advisor was acting like they had no information. It’s absurd, and I won’t tolerate this kind of bureaucratic incompetence. Apple takes a cut of all my app revenue, and this is the “service” I get in return?