Emergency Information is back on the App Store, now under the BitBQ brand. Unfortunately, because I had to submit it as a new app, if you’ve bought Emergency Information in the past, you will need to buy it again to continue to receive updates. I’m really sorry about that, but my hands were tied by Apple. You can find it here.
It’s been almost a month since I announced the acquisition of FitnessTrack and Emergency Information from Justin Williams at Second Gear. Since then, both Justin and I have been patiently waiting for any word from Apple on the transfer request Justin made back in September. Every time either of us call, it’s like talking to a brick wall with the only information we’re told is that “It’s with an Internal Team”.
Additionally, we’ve heard rumblings from others in similar situations that Apple’s policy seems to be that they will only perform these transfers if the entire company is sold, not just specific apps.
So where does that leave us? Where “Where To?” was about a year ago. Basically, it appears that Justin will need to pull Emergency Information and FitnessTrack from sale on the App Store and I will need to submit all new binaries from BitBQ. Justin is going to pull the apps from sale today and I’m going to be submitting BitBQ versions on Friday.
What does that mean for users? It means that existing customers of FitnessTrack and Emergency Information will no longer receive updates unless they repurchase the apps from BitBQ.
Justin and I were doing everything we could to avoid this outcome as it obviously is going to upset those who have already bought the apps. Unfortunately it appears to be out of our hands and in Apple’s and we can’t wait on them forever.
As the BitBQ versions work there way through the review process, I will be considering ways to help alleviate the pain of having to repurchase the apps.