iphone - Pre-release checklist before building final version for App Store

Question

Curious what practices people have learned before making their final build and submitting to the App Store? Aside from switching from Debug to Release & commenting out calls to NSLog what other basic and/or not so basic things should we be watching out for?

Answer 1

This is a good question and I'd like to restate some of the answers and add a few of my own. I've made this answer Community Wiki, feel free to add to it.

1. Delete the app from your device, turn off WiFi, off cellular data, now install and test app. Does it work properly (as much as it can without Internet)? Does it at least tell the user that a network connection is required (if it is) or does it crash?

2. If you use CLLocationManager: Delete the app, fresh install and run, but do not allow app to have Location Data. Does the app behave well or does it crash? Does it at least tell the user that it can't run without location data (if that is a requirement)? Does it work on an iPod Touch that does all geo location using WiFi only?

3. Run the app in the simulator and for each view controller do the following steps: (a) From the iPhone Simulator menu select "Hardware" --> "Simulate Memory Warning", (b) now navigate around your app to other view controllers and see if everything is working, (c) repeat test for another view controller.

4. If you support older firmware (ie: iOS 3.1.3), install your app on a device running 3.1.3 and test it there (if you don't have one, use the 3.2 simulator).

5. Start your app while on a phone call or when Personal Hotspot is active. Are all the screen layouts correct (the status bar is 40px high instead of 20)? Did the bottom 20px of the view get pushed off the screen or did it resize correctly?

6. Accept a phone call while in your app, does it resign active and resume properly? Do sounds from your app stop playing while in the phone call?

7. Start your app while playing music, does the music continue to play? Do your sounds mix properly or fade the music appropriately?

8. Test performance on a slower devices with limited RAM such as: iPhone 3G (128MB RAM, 412Mhz CPU) or iPod Touch (1st or 2nd gen).

9. Run the Clang static analyzer and fix (or at least understand) every warning.

10. Make sure NSZombiesEnabled is NO in the environment variables (caution: not sure if this is still a problem)