App rejection appeals???

[Shaun Pryszlak]

Hi all

I have just had an app rejected for the 2nd time.  It's a tag cloud based tech news app.  They say

Reasons for Rejection:

• 12.3: Apps that are simply web clippings, content aggregators, or a collection of links, may be rejected.

However it is a cool front end and I actually have two app on there that do exactly the same thing, just for different subjects (music and games).  They approved those ok.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/indie-rock-news/id439650074?ls=1&mt=8

Same code base, just different icon and back end XML file.

Would it be the same person doing both reviews?  Should I fight it or would they likely pull my other apps as well?  I am actually breaking even on the dev connection subscription thanks to these two apps so I would hate to lose them.

Shaun

Sent from my iPhone

[Adam Martin]

It seems that these days the reviewers read each other's review notes,
so that (finally) there's some consistency review-to-review for a
given app.

I haven't heard of anyone's pre-approved apps getting pulled for being
brought to their attention when trying to get another one through - so
you're probably fine to mention that to them - but ... I also doubt it
will work.

You need to convince them that this is more than what it appears to be
- it *looks* like a simple app that any developer could write as "my
first app". If it's more than that, make it more obvious. Sometimes
stupid changes are enough - with the Ker-Ching app (a sound effect
that goes "ker-ching"), the developer only had to add something tiny
to get approved. Cant remember what, but it was something trivial,
like "a count of the number of times you've hit kerching".

Maybe do something more with the cloud? I recommend something "visual"
- they tend to notice it that way :).

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[Chris Ross]

Recently had an appeal process that was successful.

If you go for appeal, they will in certain cases tell you what you need to change, we did, made the changes and it went through review.

Warning though, the appeal process will likely take 3+ weeks.

So the question is: is it quicker to make changes, submit and wait for review, or go for appeal and wait to see what changes you've got to make to then submit wait etc.

My gut instinct is that if they are saying the app is too simple - irrespective of what they have let through previously - you need to make changes as per Adam's advice.

(NB. the issue for the app we had submitted was for something I'd done, submitted and successfully got into the app store previously)

[Paul Ledger]

I've also read in the review guidelines that just because there are apps that have made it to the store that doesn't guarantee that yours "can slip through" so I wouldn't mention them

Adam is right you need to show that it's not just rendering content that could easily be done as just a web app

As for the same person reviewing your apps, it's unlikely. And even if they had they see so many each day I'd be surprised if they can remember one from the other

I've had apps approved, only to be rejected at the next update because the reviewer had noticed something in the app description they didn't like even though it was there in the original submission

[Adrian Driscoll]

It is worth additionally noting that they will reject some apps if they in a popular area - tech news might fall into that category. They are also tending to move against cookie-cutter apps - some of the dictionary and travel publishers are being told to great container apps and not specific app per category.

We have had some mixed results, first with Modern Toss when we successfully appealed with our Daily Toss app and then failed in appealing for Periodic Table of Swearing. Another book sampling app for a big UK trade published failed for "lack of entertainment value" - we never got to the bottom of whether the publisher appealed properly or not.

It is just part of the game - they are a shop that looks after its customers and they make the call. They might be wrong but we can go elsewhere.

Adrian
Aimer Media

[Adrian Driscoll]

(corrected some typos)

It is worth additionally noting that they will reject some type of apps if they are in a popular area - tech news might fall into that category. They are also tending to move against cookie-cutter apps - some of the dictionary and travel publishers are being told to create container apps and not specific app per category.

We have had some mixed results, first with Modern Toss when we successfully appealed with our Daily Toss app and then failed in appealing for Periodic Table of Swearing. Another book sampling app for a big UK trade published failed for "lack of entertainment value" - we never got to the bottom of whether the publisher appealed properly or not.

It is just part of the game - they are a shop that looks after its customers and they make the call. They might be wrong but we can go elsewhere.

Adrian
Aimer Media

On 11 Apr 2012, at 20:37, Adam Martin wrote:

[Robert Friston]

Could it be that they already realize your new App is actually more or less a re-skinning of you previous Apps! I think that is frowned upon too.

Bob

Ps I just got rejected for leaving a redundant info.plist in the bundle that was not even being used by the app :(

Sent from my iPad

[Shaun Pryszlak]

Thanks for all the comments.

Yes, two things I had been toying with were 1) saving stories for later reading and 2) sticking on a menu page and combining them all into one app.  It is all configured by .plists and .xml files.  Then I could control the content via the back end, adding extra subjects without having to bother Apple.  Of course I will probably have to come up with some cursed Web 2.0 name for it which won't get as many hits as "Indie Rock News", but hey.  

Shaun