Apple has changed the way in which App Store developers update their app screenshots, potentially causing some mild grief for legitimate studios.
Screenshots are now locked once your app is approved by Apple, and the only way to upload new screenshots or replace the originals is to submit a binary for an update to the existing app.
This replaces the original system, by which developers were able to swap out screenshots without getting approval from Apple beforehand.
TouchArcade suggests that this move has been put in place to stop scammers, who would wait until an app or game was approved, and then immediately replace the screenshots with a completely different game.
However, the news will come as a worry for those studios who simply want to alter their screenshots to perhaps display a scheduled cut-price sale. These studios will now need to submit an entirely new update just to alter screenshots on the store.
I can understand why they did this, but updating your game is part of the App store ecosystem, what if you add something really cool into your game, you now can't display that in a screen shot? doesn't seem the best solution to the issue.
If you're adding something cool to your game and updating it then you're doing a new submission anyway and (according to the new policy) can update your screenshots alongside.
@Steven
There are plenty of ways to implement server-side content updates, or new Store components. Sure, you can't run dynamically generated or downloaded code, but that doesn't prevent you from using a data-driven design to change/add all sorts of behaviours within your app between updates.
There are many factors that affect conversion and it's possible that your game's screenshots influence the download or purchase of a title. Sometimes we don't get screenshots right the first time so the option to alter it post-submission was a benefit. the article points out that this is meant to prevent scammers but the new policy drags down honest developers with them.
There are plenty of ways to implement server-side content updates, or new Store components. Sure, you can't run dynamically generated or downloaded code, but that doesn't prevent you from using a data-driven design to change/add all sorts of behaviours within your app between updates.