Apple 'Surprised' By Developer Frustration With Its App Review Process

[Tech198]

Apple provides this, then reckon they run the show as they don't even care about developers?

That's not how to treat "your customers"

Apple can only do this because where else are developers gonna go if they have an iOS device? Using power to gain the advantage.

In some ways it can be ok, but in other ways, your pushing too much.

 

[Abazigal]

Apple provides this, then reckon they run the show as they don't even care about developers?

That's not how to treat "your customers"

Apple can only do this because where else are developers gonna go if they have an iOS device? Using power to gain the advantage.

In some ways it can be ok, but in other ways, your pushing too much.

Developers are not Apple’s customers.

 

[gank41]

Developers are not Apple’s customers.

We sure are. I pay $99 a year. I’m a paying customer.

 

[KENPHOTO]

Nice to hear from you Phil.

What so my experience doesn't go with the "lets bash the evil Apple" trend so your response it try and denigrate my honest view on being an app developer in Australia?

 

[Abazigal]

We sure are. I pay $99 a year. I’m a paying customer.

Not in the eyes of US antitrust law, where it focuses more on whether harm has been done to customers. In this context, Apple's customers are the people who buy their products. I don't have an appropriate term for developers who choose to release apps on the iOS App Store, but "customer" is not one of them.

 

[floramac]

As an iOS developer, I am frustrated with the process. The review guidelines do not get applied equally and are sometimes even misinterpreted by the reviewers.

Same here. These egoed reviewers instead of finding scam apps, fake reviewed apps apply vague review guidelines which are not clear just give pain to true devs.

 

[Patolino]

Not to mention the appalling mediocre developing tool, known as Xcode, 100K pages missing from the documentation (www.noverviewavailable.com) and the remainder poorly written and lacking practical examples. Not to mention lack of vision on how Xcode should work to accelerate development.

 

[dogslobber]

The arrogance dripping from this from Apple is unbelievable. The folks who say developers are entitled need to understand that this isn't a zero sum game. Both Apple and developers need each other for both to prosper. Apple just forgets that.

 

[alien3dx]

Not in the eyes of US antitrust law, where it focuses more on whether harm has been done to customers. In this context, Apple's customers are the people who buy their products. I don't have an appropriate term for developers who choose to release apps on the iOS App Store, but "customer" is not one of them.

they provide platform and support . so we're customer.

 

[I7guy]

The arrogance dripping from this from Apple is unbelievable. The folks who say developers are entitled need to understand that this isn't a zero sum game. Both Apple and developers need each other for both to prosper. Apple just forgets that.

One thing is correct, some developers are entitled.

 

[DocNo]

I am am the director of a small (6 staff) Australian based app development company and I have to say that overall, I have never had too many dramas or issues with app reviews.

You haven't - so far. What happens when you do? What happens if all of the sudden they backtrack on a previous approval and now say a core aspect of one or all of your apps now, magically for no other reason than 'we say so", violate their terms and they refuse the update or outright pull your app from the store.

What then? Because it has and routinely happens to other developers. Sometimes the public outcry will get Apple to correct itself, but is that any way to run a business? The continued success of your business relying on the voracity of the wailing twitter mob?

 

[Brian Y]

One thing is correct, some developers are entitled.

Not really. Everyone knows, by now, that App store review is a ********, and often complex cases only get resolved when someone with enough media clout gets involved.

Do you think it's entitled to not want to have your entire business put on hold because of a technicality or misunderstanding?

 

[alien3dx]

You haven't - so far. What happens when you do? What happens if all of the sudden they backtrack on a previous approval and now say a core aspect of one or all of your apps now, magically for no other reason than 'we say so", violate their terms and they refuse the update or outright pull your app from the store.

What then? Because it has and routinely happens to other developers. Sometimes the public outcry will get Apple to correct itself, but is that any way to run a business? The continued success of your business relying on the voracity of the wailing twitter mob?

between apple and google. i prefer apple. Reason is apple staff is supportive.. problem just inform them , and they call back in few minute while google.noo ban directly the apps. if more ban forever the acc and if try new one also ban.

 

[chorsefield]

As a developer I can confirm it is like fighting/talking to a wall. Communicating with an Apple reviewer is really a disaster sometimes. It depends a lot on who is 'examining' your app.
Also, the reason for rejection is often very vague (or plain stupid). It also happens that when your app is rejected, you offer your app again the next day without changing anything (except build number) and suddenly it is approved.

100% agree. I one time almost gave up on an app store rejection. The app was rejected on the basis of the app icon. I changed nothing but the build number and it suddenly got approved? I've submitted hundreds of apps and it is purely based upon the who and not the what.

 

[AdamAteTheApple]

The problem with app review is that the scam apps get through with no issues. You see them at the top of the download charts with their $9.99 weekly subscriptions, scammy paywalls and thousands of paid shill reviews. App review lets them through with no issue. The apps get cloned and you have 5 of the same exact app from multiple "developers" running the same scam. Reporting doesn't work, the only thing that does work is creating a small uproar on twitter.

Then legitimate developers get rejected for the nit-pickiest details from the most obscure App Store policies.

Scam apps get through because they allow in-app purchases. Simply, Apple is ok so as long as they get their cut of your profits. We have a SaaS product that is subscription based model and can only be obtained from our web application. The mobile version is a companion app for our registered users. They rejected our apps repeatedly says the same thing - enterprise user do not need to pay in-app but individual users will need to pay. General users don't even sign up for our service first of all, and secondly, our service is only B2B. In the end, it was basically that we MUST allow in-app purchase for consumer else they won't allow our app on their story. What the flying ****?

 

[richpjr]

100% agree. I one time almost gave up on an app store rejection. The app was rejected on the basis of the app icon. I changed nothing but the build number and it suddenly got approved? I've submitted hundreds of apps and it is purely based upon the who and not the what.

Absolutely. My company has a free app that is used in a vertical educational market as a time clock, among other things, and relies on a back end service to be up and running. We were doing maintenance on the back end server and it was offline and Apple approved the app - they literally never even ran it because the API it uses was offline! App went into review and was literally approved in 6 minutes. Other times, they have rejected the app because they didn't understand (i.e. did not look at the basic instructions) and demanded we send them a video of the app running. WTF??? Extremely inconsistent.