You should not see the default.png
as a splash screen. And you senior developer is wrong.
Just start an app without a default.png
on an old device, like an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, and you will see a black screen.
The default.png
is meant as a placeholder while your app is launching. Apple suggests you use a screen shot of your app’s main view without any content. For example, the Notes app will launch with an empty list of notes, and the text will fill in once the app has launched.
The comment in the HIG about displaying a splash screen is there because some apps present a splash screen with a company name longer than was needed for the app to start and Apple does not want this because it does not make for a very good user experience.
So in short, yes you should provide a default.png
as a placeholder for the time it takes your app to be launched, but never as a commercial splash screen.