An Apology

Some of you saw my announcement yesterday about the launch of a new update to the Nom Nom Paleo cookbook iPad® app. I wrote excitedly about how there were 15 new recipes in the app, and how we were unlocking all of the premium content so that users would henceforth have access to all 128 recipes – for no additional cost! Henry and I had been working on this update for months, and we dug into our savings once again to fund it. We tested the new version of the app earlier this month, and loved it, so we gave our app developer the green light to submit it to Apple for approval. A week later, the new update was signed off by Apple, and was made available for download – just in time for Christmas. Great news, right?

Wrong. Argh.

If you’re an iPad or iPad Mini owner, keep reading for the gory details…

It turns out that the new update was not, in fact, properly submitted to Apple. Instead, the “new” version of the app is the same as the previous version  – the one that existing users already have on their iPads. As a result, if you already own the app and then “updated” to the new version, you didn’t get anything new – AND you had to hit the “Restore” button to unlock previously purchased recipes (which is free, but kind of a pain nonetheless). So here’s the thing: if you previously downloaded the Nom Nom Paleo app, there is no need to update for now. 

When we learned about this yesterday, our heads pretty much exploded, though we’re doing our best to keep things in perspective. Despite the Mayan calendar, the world really isn’t ending today. (Right?)

Frustratingly, this isn’t a problem we can fix immediately. The Apple folks in charge of approving apps are shutting down for the holidays, and won’t be reviewing our app until they return in January. But we are doing all we can to ensure that Version 1.5 will be released by the second week of January. Once that’s done, we will finally be able to deliver to you the 15 promised new recipes, and all in-app purchases will be unlocked, too.

I want to apologize to those of you who were frustrated and disappointed by the non-update. I get why negative reviews are now popping up on the App Store (though to be honest, it hurts to see our hard-earned 5-star status suddenly drop to 2 stars overnight). We bungled this, and are very sorry for the screw-up. As a mom-and-pop outfit (literally!) with zero programming experience, we’re obviously still far from perfect at this stuff, but we promise to get everything fixed ASAP. The update (and the new recipes) really are pretty cool, and I can’t wait to get them to you. Remember: Everyone who already owns the app will get all of the new goodies for free once the new update is ready.

Of course, if you don’t already have my app, go get it! There’s no reason to wait – the cookbook app is still an amazing product that we are very proud of, and we know you’ll love it. But remember: All the in-app purchases will be unlocked for free in January, so unless you’re desperate to access one of the premium recipes right now, hold off and you’ll get a nice treat soon!

I had sincerely hoped to deliver this present to my loyal app users before Christmas, but sadly, it’ll have to wait a couple more weeks.

Okay. I think I’m going to go weep into a bowl of bone broth now.