Apple is a technology company. We all know that and as such, it subordinates many functions to automatic processes. Processes that would otherwise become tedious and would have many people working on the same thing. Leaving such tasks in the hands of technology has its benefits but you have to be very attentive so that errors do not occur. When these occur, inconveniences arise. Like those that happened to developer Charlie Monroe that for the little thing it loses its business of creation of app for Mac.
Developer Charlie Monroe is known for having created applications such as Downie or Permute, among many others, especially for Mac but also for iOS. The problem arises because distribution certificates had been revoked during the early morning of August 4. The only one with access to these certificates is Apple and it is done automatically.
Every macOS application these days must be co-designed using an Apple-issued certificate for the application to work perfectly on all Macs. When Apple revokes the certificate, it usually application removal occurs. Monroe woke up on the 4th and saw all her apps crashing because they couldn't be accessed and she feared the worst.
Hello everyone, today I woke up to my developer account being suspended without a single letter why which is why the apps are crashing. Please bear with me while I try to get this fixed with Apple. Thank you for understanding.
- Charlie Monroe (@charlieMonroe) August 4
The worst of it all is that users they receive a message telling them that the applications may be a virus and advises them to remove them immediately. It took Apple less than 24 hours to fix the problem and everything was back to normal. This shows the danger of leaving certain tasks to machines. In this specific case, the automated process erroneously marked the developer's account as malicious and was put on hold.
Update: I have just received a call with an apology. The account was erroneously flagged and this is what caused it. Scariest day of my life, though.
- Charlie Monroe (@charlieMonroe) August 5
This time the story has had a happy ending. I don't want to imagine the anguish that the developer and the users will have been through until the problem was fixed.
