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Here's Why Apple Rejected Your iOS App
Nerval's Lobster writes Everybody knows that Apple runs a tight ship when it comes to approving iOS apps for its App Store, rejecting software because it features porn, allows gambling, installs types of executable code, etc. But Apple also denies apps for some pretty esoteric reasons, many of which are only just coming to light. Want to have an App that uses GPS to automatically control a real-world aircraft or automobile? Sorry, that's not allowed, presumably because Apple doesn't want iOS to serve as a drone controller. (Imagine the liability issues.) Also, apps that report your location to emergency services are forbidden, as well as any that misspell Apple product names ("iTunz" will never make it through, no matter how much you beg). Even if Apple's not sharing the exact reason why it just rejected your app from its store (what the heck does "Not enough lasting value" mean?), you can check out Apple's own page on the top reasons for iOS app rejections."
Seriously, I'd get it if some other site had just for whatever reason done a big write up on this. But a shameless dice self post! That's just shitty.
This is an ancient topic, and we all figured this stuff out a while ago. It basically comes down to:
- rejected if the app is poorly made
- rejected if the app is offensive or controversial
- rejected if the app is stupid or pointless
- rejected if the app competes in an arena that apple cares about
Yes we can all piss soup about the 4'th one, but I don't think many people are actually blindsided by it. If you write something that apple also does, you are at least in risky territory and probably know it. Not saying this is a good thing, and it's one of the many reasons I refuse to use apple, but it's at least no great mystery.
I'm not a fan of apple's walled garden at all, but it's their walled garden, and for the most part they seem reasonable about it (again, with the possible exception of number 4, which is what it is).
A list of weird cases _might_ have been interesting, however the only one they listed is the one in the summary.
Don't the fine folks at dice have anything better to do? The beta source tree isn't going to purge itself from existance!
Who are they?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Funny a long-awaited APM drone controller app was just approved yesterday.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/mav-pilot/id649233096
Someone hasn't heard of Parrot, who make some of the best consumer drones there are, which are all controlled by iOS devices running apps that are available on the App Store.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
13% More information needed
11% Guideline 2.2: Apps that exhibit bugs will be rejected
6% Guideline 10.6: Apple and our customers place a high value on simple, refined, creative, well thought through interfaces. They take more work but are worth it. Apple sets a high bar. If your user interface is complex or less than very good, it may be rejected
6% Guideline 2.1: Apps that crash will be rejected
4% Did not comply with terms in the Developer Program License Agreement
3% Guideline 22.2: Apps that contain false, fraudulent or misleading representations or use names or icons similar to other Apps will be rejected
3% Guideline 3.3: Apps with names, descriptions, screenshots, or previews not relevant to the content and functionality of the App will be rejected
3% Guideline 2.20: Developers "spamming" the App Store with many versions of similar Apps will be removed from the iOS Developer Program
3% Guideline 2.25: Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected
3% Guideline 3.4: App names in iTunes Connect and as displayed on a device should be similar, so as not to cause confusion
Submission is as thin as saran wrap on a toilet seat, and just as desirable.
I clicked on the link (without looking at the source) expecting to find stories of all sorts of apps that were rejected for unexpected reasons. The tease was GPS to automatically control a real-world aircraft or automobile. The trouble was .. that was also the only paragraph in the story that mentioned something like that (well ok it also mentioned emergency services) and all that was buried at the end of the article. The rest of the content was a top list from Apple explaining where people go wrong.
Not news and known to anyone who develops iOS apps, and even if you don't develop iOS apps .. the top reasons are still obvious.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
According to the page you told me to read, it means
"If your app doesnâ(TM)t offer much functionality or content, or only applies to a small niche market, it may not be approved."
That's actually pretty useful information, if you want to design something targeted at a relatively small community, perhaps steer clear of Apple.
I'm not saying that everything in the Apple app store is perfect but at least I have confidence that it's reasonably safe to download and try things. (Shady in-app purchases targeted at kids notwithstanding, but that's a different issue and not an apple-only problem either.)
The google play store is a minefield of software I'd straight up call malware. I've seen people's phones crippled by battery draining, data plan destroying, always resident programs that push adds 24/7 even when the app isn't in use.. All because they wanted to play solitaire and naively thought that the top search results were legit programs and not shitware forced to the top of the charts by abusing search algorithms.
I'll take Apple's "restrictive" app store policies any day of the week.
Fine by me, that way I only gotta port it to one platform. Should also make support easier. So if you want my app, get Android. If you don't have one, sucks to be you.
Seriously, I won't bend over backwards just to appease the maker of some hardware. It's not like I depend on the sales. You offer me a platform I want to develop on and I will develop for it. It's not the other way 'round.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Repeated Submission of Similar Apps
Submitting several apps that are essentially the same ties up the App Review process and risks the rejection of your apps. Improve your review experience â" and the experience of your future users â" by thoughtfully combining your apps into one.
This would explain why there's 500 flashlight/text-scrolling/mirror apps.
None of this would be an issue if Apple would allow for alternative stores. Even these could be filtered to some point.
Apple can run their store however they want, but having to jailbreak my phone to install a competitor to iTunes seems like anti competitive behavior.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/ap...
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Apple rejected your app because apple is not selling a product, it is selling a means of consumption to a product. Any productivity or meaningfulness actualized from iDevices is purely coincidental and is designed to keep the user entertained long enough to interact with apples ecosystem of other products which in turn sell other apple products and services, along with the users personal information to third party vendors. Apple isnt interested in making waves, its interested in herding cattle and the best we can do is wildly speculate as to why apples nontransparent review process green-lights or curb-stomps your code. "not enough lasting value" means you arguably havent committed enough value to the idea of keeping people engaged in their apple product, not that the function or end-goal of your application is devoid of any value. If you submitted your app under the GPL thats an automatic rejection.
stop writing apps for apple and microsoft. At worst you should consider writing them for Android, but even then its the same business model with a slightly roomier yoke. Write applications for the open source ecosystem F-Droid. Interesting and legitimately worthwhile products like firewall, adblock, and an mpd client licensed under the GPL can be made available.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Does /. have a list of random anti-Apple click-bait posts queued up that get posted when the site traffic starts to slow down? Haven't we been over this a good dozen times already?
Can't wait for the iFart and Android! Android! Android! posts.
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/14/09/02/1335258/apple-reveals-the-most-common-reasons-that-it-rejects-apps
1. Proprietary Software/Closed Source
2. NSA Spying
3. Corporate Spying
4. Cannot (easily) change battery on IPhone
5. Proprietary power/data cables on IPhone
6. In the 80's, unlike my TRS-80, Apple computers required a boot disk just to fire up.
7. Steve Jobs is a weiner (Wozniak, by comparison, is a minor deity).
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
All those billions of iPhone users won't have access to your critically super-important app, left only to make due with the literally 1 million other apps that are available on Apple's app store.
And think of Apple, having to wallow in misery that your app isn't available to their customers; forced to lead a hopeless existence of swimming in their hundreds of billions of dollars like Scrooge McDuck while not even knowing that you or your breathlessly important app even exist.
>apps that report your location to emergency services are forbidden,
As opposed to apps that report my location to people who pay Apple to get my location. That's allowed.
Including stuff that didn't meet their "moral" standards, stuff they want no competitors on and stuff they just don't like...
Come develop your shit for Windows 8 phone then, where the app store is completely unmoderated and unfiltered. Where the top app is "Google Hangout Features" which tells you Google hangouts lets you chat.
You don't even have to check the links. The submitter is Nerval's Lobster, Slashdot's Dice-bot.
I automatically bypass any submission from Nerval's Lobster; they're always just Dice-bait. The inclusion of any non-Dice links in the summary are just packing material to deliver the Dice clickbait payload.
It's amazing how often that straight-up lie is bandied about by people who just wish it was true soooooo much.
Enjoy your open source droid made out of hemp or whatever. The rest of us will be here in the real world.
Here is a link to a site that _really_ knows everything about app store guidelines and rejection reasons:
https://developer.apple.com/ap...
You don't even have to check the links. The submitter is Nerval's Lobster, Slashdot's Dice-bot.
I just checked his profile and gave up before I could find a submission that did not contain a Dice link
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
> 1. Proprietary Software/Closed Source
Like the software that runs on your microwave and your automobile? Do you plan on protesting outside of GE and Ford?
> 2. NSA Spying
Do you realize that the NSA is actually not the same as Apple? Do you also realize that no company has made more of a stand against the NSA than Apple?
> 3. Corporate Spying
?!??!??
> 4. Cannot (easily) change battery on IPhone
Then don't buy one. It's not a political party--pick the product you want, you don't need to march on Washington because you made a different choice than other people.
> 5. Proprietary power/data cables on IPhone
Ditto.
> 6. In the 80's, unlike my TRS-80, Apple computers required a boot disk just to fire up.
That one is actually pretty original and funny. It's not actually true because the TRS-80 did require a boot disk--but at least you finally said something original that wasn't fed to you verbatim by the Slashdot orthodoxy.
> 7. Steve Jobs is a weiner (Wozniak, by comparison, is a minor deity). ...groan...what is it with wannabe nerds and their geek-hero worship?
what's it like to be a huge liar?
One thing that that article didn't mention was that App approvial is mostly automated. That's why so many garbage apps get in (Apps that just display a single jpeg, or Apps that are just repackaged game demos).
You sure don't come across as someone who lives in the real world when you say absurd things like "Enjoy your open source droid made out of hemp or whatever."
Are you sure you're not a delusional Apple fan?
This is precisely why Cydia and jailbreaking exist: so that you can put the software you want on your phone or tablet instead of being subject to Apple's dictatorship. I have the iPhone and iPad quite simply because it is the best quality hardware/software combination out there. I understand that part of the reason it's so stable is because it's such a closed ecosystem. I wish Apple would have an advanced user mode that would let you use Cydia but a use at your own risk with no technical support clause other than hardware warranty.
Just what it says, I imagine - your app sucks.
sic transit gloria mundi
+1. This is why other industry players (carriers / CurrentC / google wallet) are so upset about apple pay - while most people make money off of tracking what people buy, Apple doesn't even have access to the info (any purchases go straight to the CC and don't pass through apple servers.
Fuck, maybe next they'll post the one weird tip Lindsay Lohan uses to save money on car insurance.
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I liked Slashdot when the stuff pushed on us was just from nerds with strong opinions who happened to be in control of the site.
Here's Why Apple Rejected Your iOS App
My iOS app? What iOS app? I haven't written one.
Just give me the news without trying to pal up to me.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Because Apple sucks.
what the heck does "Not enough lasting value" mean?
Two words after this question, you link to Apple's guidelines, which clearly explain:
Not enough lasting value
If your app doesn’t offer much functionality or content, or only applies to a small niche market, it may not be approved. Before creating your app, take a look at the apps in your category on the App Store and consider how you can provide an even better user experience.
If they reject your app, they can tell you exactly why they reject it.. So why the F don't they do it, it's just ridiculous not to tell the exact reason..
Apple’s App Store Director Sells His Own Fart Apps
http://www.wired.com/2010/08/apple-fart-apps/2/
Also, apps that report your location to emergency services are forbidden
... because that is *exactly* what this app does as it's only purpose. 112 is the emergency number in most of Europe, and the app is the official danish app for reporting your location to the emergency service.
https://itunes.apple.com/dk/ap...
It seems to be official and made by government institutions here in DK.
I don't have a TV anymore so I haven't seen it as a public service announcement, but they might have aired it, I don't know.
(not in english) https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Denmark’s official 112 app is developed by The Danish National Police, Copenhagen Fire Brigade and The Danish Geodata Agency. It is financed by TrygFonden.
With Denmark’s official 112 app you can call the emergency center and simultaneously send the GPS-coordinates of the cell phone. That way you can get help faster.
- The 112 app is operational only in Denmark
- The 112 app does not send any GPS-coordinates, if the GPS on the cell phone is deactivated
- The 112 app can only send GPS-coordinates in locations with data connection.
If your battery level is lower than 25 % the 112 app will make the call to the emergency center, but it will not send any GPS-coordinates. This is to make sure, that you can talk with the emergency center without running out of battery. The 112 app will also automatically stop sending GPS-coordinates, if your battery level gets below 25 % during your call.
You can read more about Denmark’s official 112 app at www.112app.dk (Danish)
Read more about when to dial 1-1-2 at www.112.dk (Danish)
I've got a great idea for an iOS app!
Step 1: Record a song.
Step 2: Ask Apple to load your song onto every iOS device in existence regardless of whether they want it or not!
Step 3: Laugh heartily!
Well, the lie is the same for Google.
The reality is that neither of them sell personal data to third parties because the data is pretty damn valuable. What both of them do is sell access to you to advertisers who have products or services that those advertisers believe you might be interested in.
I had my app rejected for "downloading information from the Internet", yes, it's true.
Guess I invented something new then...
Compare/Contrast with this article:
"How Google Kills Your App"
-------------------
This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
please go to 4chan where you belong.
Perhaps Bennett Haselton might like to weigh in on the feasibility and relevance of Nerval Lobster's pithy submission. He is a frequent submitter, afterall.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
But if you app fails the Apples check do we really want your app?
Last time I checked, iOS contained no public API to enumerate nearby Wi-Fi access points' SSIDs. This means Mozilla Stumbler, an application to help build an open location service by trilaterating from nearby SSIDs, can't be distributed in Apple's App Store, and similar programs such as WiFi-Where were pulled because they used APIs that Apple deemed private. Or are you claiming that nobody wants to help build an open location service?
I've made a list of other checks that Apple performs not for quality but for forbidden functionality.
That'll never happen. Virtualization requires that the VMM be allowed to flip pages from writable to executable, and in iOS, only the system executable loader and Safari JavaScript are allowed to do that. And good luck getting Apple to optimize Safari JavaScript for asm.js.
Went the Android route and am very happy. I use a basic smartphone --one game that I chose, calculator, sms, telephone, email, camera, internet browsing and hotspot
It fits into my shirt pocket. I don't expect it to break if I accidentally sit on it or drop it.
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
I remember years ago when Slashdot had links to SourceForge or something about VA Linux, which owned Slashdot at the time. I believe there was always a disclaimer stating their relationship. Shouldn't there be a disclaimer if linking to Dice?