

Ask HN: Have you had an iOS app rejected?  If so, why? - wensing

About to submit to the app store.  Rather than page through lots of generic advice, thought it would be interesting to get a few first-hand accounts.<p>If you've ever had your app rejected, why?  And also, how surprised were you by the rejection?  Did you know you were doing something questionable?
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poissonpie
Yup - I've had a couple rejected....both were rejected with the old chestnut:

2.12: Apps that are not very useful, are simply web sites bundled as apps, or
do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected.

The first, I sort of expected - it wasn't terribly useful, but it was free and
reasonably pretty, so I thought it might get through. It was my first app.
Oddly enough, my second app was basically a theme on my first app, with the
added advantage of an extra button that started and stopped the action. It
sailed through.

The second is a great little baby rattle that every single baby/toddler I've
given it to loves and plays with for ages, but Apple just didn't dig it. I was
a bit surprised, especially given the number of other apps out there that are
similar in functionality that have clearly been accepted.

I revised it once and added in some extra features and options, but it got
rejected again for the same reason. My daughter still asks me if she can play
with it about once a week, so I can't complain :)

Good luck on the submission - my best advice is submit and get straight on to
either developing the next app or enhancing this one for a version 2 - it can
take a while to hear back from Apple and you can waste a couple of weeks
hitting the refresh button in gmail instead of working on your next app.

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mjs00
One rejection was for an opaque control bar partially obscuring the Google
logo on a Map view.

Another rejection was not testing for network availability (connection), when
my application requires network connectivity to work.

Also rejection early on for using undocumented API (that allowed app interface
to be viewed on external display). Even though the code was commented out in
the submitted app, it caused a rejection.

In all cases after fix/resubmission, app was approved (2 weeks each time).

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tbgvi
I've had an app rejected for something very minor, but still something to
consider. The app required a login and I didn't include a test account
login/password for the app reviewer. Even though there was a way to register
via the app, they wanted a test account.

There's a spot when you submit where you can add notes for the reviewer,
that's where information like that goes.

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frankus
One totally legit rejection out of probably 50 apps, both solo projects and
employer-related (and multiple updates on each).

It was for allowing multiple popovers to be visible at once in an iPad app.

