
App Review rejection 10.6 - stefan_kendall
http://www.stefankendall.com/2013/10/app-review-rejection-106-fuck-you.html
======
smsm42
You chose to develop on a platform that has unaccountable bureaucracy with
arbitrary rules controlling your access to the platform and can turn all your
work into garbage on a whim, with no recourse to you. So you shouldn't be
surprised too much when it happens to you - that's what they do.

I'd just make a website and be done with it. Unless you want to sell it, and
then they own the market - it's their rules. You either play by them or don't
get into the market.

~~~
StavrosK
I don't like your "you chose this so don't bitch about it now" viewpoint,
because I think that bitching about things is something that effects change,
but I agree with you on one thing: Why the hell isn't this a site? It sounds
like it would take ten minutes to convert the info to a single HTML page, and
you wouldn't have to go through the app store.

Not to mention that Google would give you instant visibility to everyone for
your chosen search terms, if there's no other page with this info.

~~~
barbs
+1 to this idea. If it's simple enough, it shouldn't be a big deal to turn it
into a mobile website.

------
MaxGabriel
Here's a link to the app on Github: [https://github.com/stefankendall/pokemon-
type-calculator](https://github.com/stefankendall/pokemon-type-calculator)

This is exactly what I was looking for when playing through Pokemon X/Y! My
current method of searching on google to grab the bulbapedia article then
scrolling through to find type information (which isn't always there for brand
new pokemon) was far too slow. I'll probably keep this running on my iPhone
simulator when I play X/Y.

Personally I would have preferred this in website form, but that's only
because I'm always in front of a laptop.

Things that would improve the app:

1\. A status bar on the main listing. I like having the status bar there if
possible to see battery and time and such, but more importantly it would allow
the tap to scroll to the top shortcut.

2\. Slight bug on the detail-page: you can select a type (e.g. 'bug') but it
doesn't go anywhere.

3\. Color labels on the types, like most pokemon websites have. Right now I
find it a little hard to scan the type listings because it's all text.

4\. Maybe make the details page title the name of the pokemon? I think that
would make it alot more obvious what I'm looking at (not a concern when you're
coming from the search page, but when you've left the app on the details page
it's a bit disorienting).

5\. This is a much bigger feature request, but seeing type weaknesses would be
great, too. When deciding whether or not to use or catch a pokemon it's useful
to see strengths/weaknesses.

I'm almost done with X, so I'm not sure if I'll use this much (have been
thinking about doing a Nuzlocke run); if I end up using it I'll submit some
pull requests. Thanks for making it open source!

Edit: Critical bug

a. If you click the search bar, then tap on the table view before the search
bar animation completes, the search bar disappears:
[https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/1658/151914/gkv...](https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/1658/151914/gkvXZyMr297PEPQ/iOS+Simulator+Screen+shot+Oct+26%2C+2013%2C+5.09.05+PM.png)

b. It looks like Aurorus doesn't have any type information provided

~~~
stefan_kendall
This is the most intense v1 review I've ever received. If I get approved, I'll
definitely incorporate this feedback.

I had some issues with the data. I pulled 1-649 from Wolfram, but it was
missing a handful of pokemon that I had to enter by hand by regexing an HTML
page from Bulbapedia.

I've been playing _kind of_ competitively with my friends, and scanning
bulbapedia wasn't cutting it (and it's missing the type weaknesses for some
pokemon for whatever reason)

~~~
MProgrammer
It's possible your app got rejected entirely because you didn't provide a
launch image (formerly known as Default.png).

I'd echo the concern that the status bar should be visible in your app.

Another polish item: rows in the detail view controller get a selection
highlight when you tap them, but don't do anything.

Apple also looks to see if there's a way to provide user feedback within the
app, so you might want to add something for that.

------
SurfScore
I had this happen on an app I worked on before, but it was accepted on appeal.

From what I have seen in the App Store, I think standard procedure is to
reject "basic" looking apps like this as a matter of process. The thinking is
that rejecting them weeds out the spammers who won't bother appealing the
rejection, and people who actually appeal are obviously more emotionally
invested in the app, which leads to a higher chance of being accepted.

~~~
weixiyen
I think this is the best way to think about it. Just don't take it personal
and appeal / resubmit.

------
gte910h
They are actively trying to discourage "10 minute to write fart apps"

It looks like you may have looked like you fit in the category of "copied a
web page into a tableview, hit publish"

~~~
rfnslyr
It's a very bland looking app. Add a few more features, give it a nice colour
theme, throw some icons in there.

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sarreph
Get used to it. As a developer for iOS, you have to be ready for seemingly
arbitrary rejection. It's part and parcel of the App Store submission process.

------
Afforess
This seems like a good example of where a website targeted for mobile
interfaces would have been best.

~~~
myko
Unless the user might find this information useful without an internet
connection?

~~~
pornel
Websites can work off-line.

This type of webapp is simple enough to use AppCache without trouble:
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/HTML/Using_the_applica...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/HTML/Using_the_application_cache)

~~~
StavrosK
This type of Web app is simple enough to not require any storage at all,
really...

------
stevewilhelm
I am constantly surprised by people who don't understand it is in Apple's and
their customer's interests to keep the pool of applications on the iTunes
Store as small as possible.

At this point, to prevent quality from being lost in the long tail, Apple's
default response should be rejection, and only the most novel of applications
should be accepted.

------
da_maire
Was Stefan's app actually rejected by Apple or something? That's what's
implied by the title but the post itself makes no mention of it.

~~~
pavanky
> App rejection. Sometimes it's legitimate, and then sometimes it's this

That is the first line of his post. I guess this means his app got rejected.

~~~
da_maire
The 'this' he's referring to is a quote from Apple's submission guidelines.
I'm not just nitpicking; I was hoping there'd be some interesting information
here, like maybe an account of his interaction with Apple regarding the
rejection, but what I actually read was a vague post about how Pokemon apps
shouldn't play Pokemon sounds or something.

------
natch
This is just some web view type data copied into a table view. And if we're
going to trot out f-words, let's just note that it's fugly. I'm not surprised
it was rejected.

~~~
ne0codex
Besides, why bother with submitting this as an "app" considering it could just
as easily be a webapp..

~~~
joshvm
My thought was the same, but the I assume the point is that if you're playing
somewhere without an internet connection, this could be handy.

------
zmitri
I recently had an App rejected too under 10.6 because they said it needed to
use more of iOS' features.

I replied back letting them know, that the App was greatly enhanced by the
multitouch interface, and asked if they had any suggestions. The App Store
reviewer was actually very nice (almost excited that I wrote back?) and
reasonable. Their biggest concern was actually relating to lack of iPad
specific features/views on the iPad version. It seems Universal apps are
reviewed a little more harshly.

I think they have a lot of rules, and sometimes it's hard to keep up the
manual review process when they don't see the immediate value of the app. In
general, they are quite nice however and will let you know what they are
thinking.

For what it's worth I opened sourced the rejected app anyway
[https://github.com/dmitric/tap-pad-ios](https://github.com/dmitric/tap-pad-
ios)

------
jcutrell
You know, there really should be a better way of contesting rejections. I'm
surprised at how often we hear this same type of story of rejection.

------
woah
OK, hold on... Stefan is offended by Apple's frank language, and then calls a
competing app a "steaming pile of trash"? At least Apple is somewhat
impartial.

------
interpol_p
I'm glad Apple rejects on a quality basis, and feel they should be even
stricter.

I say this as someone who has gone through over 30 Apple rejections, including
some due to really bad policy. But in the end I feel it made my apps better,
and led me to respect my customers more.

Edit: that said, this app doesn't look bad, but it is using entirely default
settings — perhaps just using a custom tintColor on the window would have got
it through.

~~~
hetman
Yes. Changing some background colours seems like it would add a lot of value
to the app...

~~~
interpol_p
Not even the background colour — just the tint colour, which is supposed to be
chosen to suit your app. The OP has left the default blue tint colour in his
app.

Giving an app a key colour adds value in the same way a unique and distinctive
icon adds value.

I understand that you may view apps as purely functional, but I don't believe
Apple views them this way. Given the vast number of apps, both functionality
and design quality are important. I happen to agree that they should reject
poorly (or undesigned) apps from their store, I only wish they would be more
picky.

------
ryandrake
From the review guidelines:

* If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps.

...just sayin :-)

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tomhallett
I made an app called "Foto Lock" which allows a user to choose a photo from
their camera roll and disabled the ability to swipe to the next photo -- which
would prevent those awkward moments of someone seeing a taboo photo.

Apple rejected it under the guidelines it provided no value or was too simple.
I don't have the exact verbiage, but I can get it when I'm back at home.

They suggested I add more features... Yes my app was simple, but it solved the
exact problem many people have.

Here's a video of it:
[http://www.fotolockapp.com/](http://www.fotolockapp.com/)

------
skizm
FYI: it was posted a fews days (weeks?) ago but Wolfram|Alpha has Pokemon data
now. Example:

[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=charzard](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=charzard)

~~~
stefan_kendall
It has holes, and it stops at 649. If you check out my other repo, you can see
how I pulled out a lot of the type information.

[https://github.com/stefankendall/pokemondatacollector](https://github.com/stefankendall/pokemondatacollector)

There's an API limit of 2k requests/month, which worked just about perfectly
for my ~800 API hits while grabbing the data :)

------
nkuttler
It looks like your app only displays data that is probably copyrighted by the
pokemon company (heh, I didn't even know that company existed). I doubt that
it was rejected due to simplicity.

~~~
PeterisP
Facts can't be copyrighted, and the trademarks of pokemon names can be used
w/o permission if properly acknowledged.

~~~
nkuttler
I'm not a pokemon expert, but I think they are the product of a human's
creative work. If pokemons were real there would be facts about them. I'm not
a lawyer either, but I think creative works are covered by copyright law.

~~~
PeterisP
It doesn't matter if the facts are about reality or fiction. If I say 'There
are 1234 notes in that Beatles song, and C-F-G-C chords are often seen there'
then it doesn't matter that the song is product of a human's creative work,
the facts are not that creative work.

If I say 'hobbits in Tolkien's work have hairy feet' then again, Tolkien made
that fact up, it didn't exist before his writing, but it's still not
copyrighted or 'copyrightable'.

Copyright is about copying the actual prose or drawings from Pokemon, but
stating the facts about that prose or drawings is allowed.

~~~
nkuttler
"Name Charizard, Types fire/flying, electric 2x rock 4x water 2x" etc. don't
at all sound like "facts" to me. They seem to be the core of an individual
pokemon, they are what makes that pokemon a unique creative work. This sounds
more like publishing the chords of a song, it's melody and lyrics, but not
using the cover art.

Anyway, the fact that there's even a discussion about this is proof enough
that apple did good to reject the app. It's not apple's job to have a team of
lawyers review apps with regard to the intricacies of copyright law.

------
joeblau
I bet if you add some graphics such as the pokemon and add a background, you'd
get accepted.

~~~
pornel
or rejected for alleged copyright infringement.

~~~
joeblau
LOL maybe! Nintendo isn't really that big on tracking that stuff down though.

~~~
city41
That's not the Nintendo I've known over the decades. They are very big on
stopping copyright infringement and piracy. Just look at the recent Full
Screen Mario copyright claim.

~~~
joeblau
Oh I didn't know they acted on that.

------
betawolf33
Does Bulbapedia not work very well on a mobile or something?

[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Charmander#Type_effec...](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Charmander#Type_effectiveness)

------
joshvm
That Pokedex app is $1.99 when I checked. Not $26.

~~~
itafroma
> That Pokedex app is $1.99 when I checked. Not $26.

You need to look at the IAP:

* Kanto region Pokémon $5.99

* Sinnoh region Pokémon $5.99

* Hoenn region Pokémon $5.99

* Johto region Pokémon $5.99

Those, combined with the initial price, equals $25.95.

~~~
joshvm
Aha, my bad. Sneaky!

Still, it could have been made a little more obvious. Some people may only
care about Kanto. That still means it's $8, but anyway.

