Do new ToS conditions apply to my app?

[howardk]

I've just read the new Terms of Service referenced in the announcement
"consistency and ecosystem opportunities". It's unclear to me if those
terms apply to an app I've just finished. I've developed a very simple
iPad app that allows the user to maintain a list of feeds and stream
any of those timelines banner-wise across the screen on demand.

It's useful if you want to quickly check the most recent tweets from a
particular source and also serves as a vehicle to show off some
interesting and creative use of 3D typography on the iPad to display
the content. There's almost no interface: Tweet content is shown
exactly as-is, with only the addition of a username to identify the
feed and an elapsed-time-since-publication placard.

I submitted this app to the app store in December and was rejected.
I've rewritten the app in response to Apple concerns and am one (1)
day away from resubmitting to the app store. I've got +/- five months
of effort into this project and will be devastated if I'm disallowed
from publishing at this late date.

Who can I talk to re determining whether what I've done falls under
the umbrella of applications that are now prohibited by the new ToS?
Best,
Howard Katz

[Ellsass]

(Howard, I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I'm guessing a lot of people will have the "is my app okay?" question so I will keep mine here rather than start a separate thread.)

I'm also curious if my app is okay. It's purpose is to let the user filter their Twitter, Facebook, and RSS feeds. Think of Echofon's recently added "mute" feature, but it gives a lot more control than that, and it also lets you make tweets more prominent as well as hide them. It's a web app, and it doesn't get any content (trends, who to follow, etc) or generate anything outside of Twitter's API (aside from Facebook and RSS, of course, which are kept separate).

[Ellsass]

Another use case: what about semi-private, hobby clients that do not generate revenue? If my app is forbidden because it's a "client", I'd like to maintain it for personal use (i.e., just a few user accounts).

[Dustin Shea]

Yeah, I wrote one in TCL that is non revenue generated as a personal hobby. I sure hope it don't get banned. I worked hard on it.

On 3/12/2011 9:37 AM, Ellsass wrote:
> Another use case: what about semi-private, hobby clients that do not generate revenue? If my app is forbidden because it's a "client", I'd like to maintain it for personal use (i.e., just a few user accounts).
>

> --
> Twitter developer documentation and resources: http://dev.twitter.com/doc
> API updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitterapi
> Issues/Enhancements Tracker: http://code.google.com/p/twitter-api/issues/list
> Change your membership to this group: http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk

[kosso]

Out of interest, what did you get rejected by Apple for? Was it
anything to do with Twitter? Or was it all objectiveC stuff?

I too have a Twitter client waiting in the wings for submission. Not
long to go now.

I'm just going to launch it and see what happens.

if Twitter 'rejects'/disables it (considering they actually hold the
'keys' to whether the app is allowed to communicate - thanks oAuth)
then I'll be making a big fuss about it ;)

Good luck!
K

[Scott Wilcox]

For those following this thread, I've just posted on a similar one.

I don't think any fear of having your application shut down will come to fruition. I feel that I could safely say that only applications that generate spam like noise will be removed. I really don't see non-spam like applications being shutdown. Every application has a purpose to either one or a set of users, that is why it was developed in the first place.

I think what Ryan has said is firing a shot against the bow of the spam generating applications - that their type of activity is not wanted on the platform.

So in short, your personal projects, applications and tools should all be fine - just don't generate spam with them.

[howardk]

No, the rejection didn't have anything to do with Twitter. There was
too little functionality in the app -- I was only showing John
Gruber's Daring Fireball feed -- and Apple rejected it as being "not
sufficiently useful or providing long-term entertainment value". So
I've generalized it to allow the user their choice of Twitter feed.
Hopefully that'll answer Apple's objections. And now I have to satisfy
Twitter as well. Sigh.
Howard