iFlash Touch is now available from the App Store, so go ahead and download it now! Or, learn more about it from the new iFlash Touch site.

Along with the iFlash Touch release, there’s also a new version of iFlash available for the Mac (2.8). The biggest change that 2.8 brings is, naturally, support for exporting to the iPhone. It also fixes some key bugs that have been affecting many users (like card decks ballooning in size with images). If you already have iFlash, it’ll tell you about the update next time you launch it.

Please, enjoy iFlash Touch 1.0 and iFlash 2.8. They’ve been cooking in the oven for a long time, and I hope the overall result is worth it!

- Davey

I have some good news to report! I was just contacted by someone at Apple over the phone, and we cleared up all the confusion that had surrounded the rejection of iFlash Touch.

The person from Apple made it clear to me: iFlash Touch was not rejected because it requires a companion desktop application (the person from Developer Technical Support was wrong about this). It was rejected because the reviewer downloaded the public version of iFlash for the Mac, which did not have support for iPhone exporting. I explained that to the person from Apple, and emphasized that the reviewer should download the unreleased iFlash 2.8 instead. He completely understood, tried it out himself over the phone, and assured me that it would get into the store.

Expect to see iFlash Touch available in the App Store for free within a week or two.

Thank you to everyone who offered me support. I am extremely grateful for all your awesome comments. It was because of you that this story got noticed and resolved.

- Davey

Update (5/6/09): I have been contacted by Apple! Read the full explanation here.

I never imagined I would have to say this, but iFlash Touch has been rejected from the iTunes App Store. I was originally going to leave it at just that, but I feel that I owe a full explanation since it’s already been such a long wait (short story: I don’t know why it was rejected. I’m looking into it).

On Monday, April 27th, I received an email from the App Review team stating that they couldn’t get exporting to work from iFlash on the Mac into iFlash Touch. I found this strange, since I had posted in the original submission notes that an unreleased version of iFlash was required to export, along with a download link. I promptly replied to explain the situation, and didn’t hear back from them again.

On Friday, May 1st, I called Apple Developer Technical Support to find out what was going on with the review process, and to see if my earlier comments had been received. They then told me the shocking news that writing an iPhone app that requires a desktop “companion” app was prohibited.

I say this is shocking since I have seen many, many other apps in the store that require a companion app (including Apple’s own Keynote Remote). When I mentioned this to the support person, he said that Apple could not comment on that. When I asked to speak to whoever approves or denies the applications, he told me to send an email to the same team which hadn’t responded to me in a week.

I have no idea whether that conversation led to iFlash Touch’s rejection, but thirty minutes later iTunes Connect said it was rejected, so there may be a link. However, at this moment I am stuck in a state of limbo, since I have not received any official communication from Apple as to why iFlash Touch was actually rejected.

So that’s where everything stands right now. I can’t start fixing anything, since I have no idea what Apple found wrong with it. All in all, I wish that it would be simpler to get in touch with someone at Apple about this matter. This could probably be solved with a three minute phone call with an App Store reviewer, but that’s impossible to do.

I’m really sorry for this delay. I know many of you have been waiting a long time for iFlash Touch, and I’m going to keep emailing Apple until I find out what I need to do.

- Davey