Stephen Martin

Mark and I submitted an app a few weeks ago but were rejected for using a private API, which I'll explain in a minute. But first:

Really excited to say that, after an interesting (and long) review process, Next Pint is now available on the app store.

It's a really personal project that we started working on for fun. When we were in San Francisco for the WWDC sampling some local beers, it occurred to us that we should be keeping track of these craft beers we were drinking, especially the ones we liked. We had already started working on a beer app for a specific club, but felt like the app needed a broader audience. So, Next Pint's focus changed and we went after a simple task: Find and keep track of beers and Tweet the beers you're drinking.

Private APIs

The first initial drafts were pretty simple, but we eventually came up with a nice theme and carried it throughout the app. According to Apple, we carried it out a little too far. In order to theme the search bar, we used a private API in attempt to tighten up the user experience. Unfortunately it backfired and Next Pint was rejected.

We fixed the design and jumped back into the review process.

We feel like the search bar doesn't fold into the design as well and that this is a compromise. After hearing so much about creating rich user experiences at the WWDC, this seems really hypocritical of Apple. Our guess is that they would want us to roll our own search bar rather than customizing the stock control.

With that said, we're completely pleased with our first release and hope Apple will open UISearchBar a bit more in the future.