Until now it was possible to import data into an iPhone app using iTunes file sharing. The data (e.g. a pdf, doc or custom file format would then show up in /Documents directory and could be used by the app.
Now that Apple introduced iCloud and changed it's iOS Data Storage Guidelines (http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa1719/_index.html) does not seem to allow to save a document from the PC/Mac to iOS any longer:
Only documents and other data that is user-generated, or that cannot otherwise be recreated by your application, should be stored in the /Documents directory and will be automatically backed up by iCloud.
And I actually got rejected on this by Apple yesterday:
We found that your app does not follow the iOS Data Storage Guidelines, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines. Specifically, your application does not contain user-generated content or content that cannot otherwise be recreated by your application.
So here are my questions:
Does anybody know what Apple's policy will be in regards to this? If they don't want to use iTunes Filesharing for file imports they should disable it in iTunes...
What other ways would you suggest to import data into the app? I haven't figured out, how i could import data into my apps /Documents directory using iCloud from a Mac or PC
iTunes file sharing is still available post iCloud. I've just had an app approved that uses it.
I think the issue here is iCloud backup. You need to mark files in the documents directory that can be re-created, so they are not backed up to iCloud.
See http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa1719/_index.html