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4.3 guideline; Is there a way out?
Is there a way out of this madness? If there are businesses that are impossible to consolidate their apps (i.e. when your business model is food ordering and your direct competitors are marketplaces so you cannot become a marketplace -it is stupid to have an online ordering marketplace with 100 clients throughout the world, we go for quality not quantity since we offer a premium product-), is Apple directly saying to us that we have to shut down? Is there an official and serious response from Apple as to what their Review Team has to see in order to accept apps? Should we rewrite 100.000 lines of code for each client so they are happy? Should we design separately 200 different online ordering apps so they are happy? What makes an app different enough for them? How can a development business make sure that if they have 20 clients for a specific kind of app and are under contract that they will not get drawn to the courthouse for not delivering to their clients?Is there really a way out of this madness?
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Sep ’17
Bizarre situation involving 4.3 guideline and app that cannot be deleted
I've exhausted all avenues getting this resolved; so I'm posting this here mainly to document the absurdity of what happened, and as a warning to other developers.We built an app that was rejected because of its name. We happily renamed the app, creating a new app record because we also wanted to rename the SKU and Bundle ID, and you can't do this any other way.Big mistakeNow there are two factors combining to put us in an impossible situation.The little-known, bizarre limitation of iTunes Connect that An app that has never been approved can never be deletedThe improper enforcement of the 4.3 guideline such that Similar apps you have submitted in the past apparently includes apps that were rejected and are not on the App Store.So now, our New Name app is being rejected for being too similar to our Old Name app. And the Old Name app can't be deleted because it was never approved.To make matters worse, thanks to inconsistent enforcement, our New Name app actually was approved in its first version (1.0)
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Oct ’17
Reply to Guideline 4.3 - Design - Abuse against developers?
Basically, I have been dealing with the same issue. Apple is just basically sending auto-responses. So here is basically what Apple will allow you to do.1. If you upload an app and get hit with 4.3 or 4.2.62. Build your container app3. Your container app will get rejected because of the auto scans apple is doing.4. Reply in the first rejected app that you have built a container app and reference that container app5. Apple will reply super quick6. Your app will go into review!So basically Apple is giving you one more app to make in your developer account... If you follow their rules they will work with you very fast. I don't like what is happening but I do like that they are giving us an option... Hope this helps everyone.
Oct ’17
Reply to 4.3 Design Spam (Suggestion for Apple)
Thank you. We're in the same boat--dinged on 4.2.6 and 4.3.We make software for trucking companies. Large trucking companies have their own app developers, accounts and marketing teams. Small to mid-size companies don't, but want to be as competitive as the big guys or else they're toast.Our apps help those companies provide a level of service that their customers only expect from larger companies. The last thing they want is to be forced into some container app that screams we're not as good as the big guys!
Oct ’17
Reply to 4.3 Design Spam (Suggestion for Apple)
While still struggle to find a solution for 4.3, knowing that some Apple employees might look into these forums, we have some thoughts which I believe holds true to many of the businesses affected by 4.3 to share:1. Many of white label businesses are not only not-spamming the App Store but are serious enough to always keep their apps up-to-date, follow all the Human Interface Guidelines and make sure they always fix bugs2. Many of our businesses are not extremely interested for the App Store presence; We could still live with hosting our links directly to the App Store for our clients to download, we are not particularily interested for search, therefore we don't really care to spam.3. Each of our so-called similar apps may share a common flow (fleet management through a map with route details for brianm@MCLEOD, food ordering for our business etc) but the real service we offer is completely unique for each of our client and their end-customers. Unique products, unique offers, prices, stores,
Oct ’17
Linking Bundle IDs
I have separate apps that have the same UI/UX but are different 'under the hood' and each app is distributed to different countries. Under Review Guideline 4.3, Apple are requesting that the apps be consolidated into a single app. My concern with this is that when the container app is released, the users of the existing apps will not be aware of the new update (or any updates after that) because the Bundle IDs will be different.Is there any way to somehow link the Bundle IDs (even if temporarily) so that users of the existings app will be notified that an update is available when the consolidated app is first released?
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Oct ’17
updating an app for iOS 11, what about iPod touch?
We have an app which has been in service for quite some time and was built to run on both iPhone and iPod touch devices. It was last updated in 2014 and at the time was set to target iOS 4.3 (which wasn't the latest at the time IIRC but it worked and we didn't need newer features so had left it at that value).With iOS 11, the app no longer works and we're trying to get it updated to work in this environment. After updating the development machine OS and Xcode to the latest and opening the project, one of the mods it required was to target at least iOS 8.0.This brings to mind the iPod Touch. I believe the iPod touch OS stopped moving forward at around v6 or so? I don't think an iPod touch can move up to 8 can it?It was nice that customers could use either an iPhone/iPad or iPod touch to run the app. Is it just understood that you can't target the iPod touch and the newer devices with the same app? Anyone else have experience with a similar issue?If we do update the app to run on iOS 11 will the iPod t
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Oct ’17
Guideline 4.3 - Design
I am being completely blocked from creating apps, or even updating apps. This is the message I receive every time:We noticed that your app provides the same feature set as other apps that have been submitted to the App Store (either under your own account or across multiple developer accounts) and simply varies in content or language.Apps that simply duplicate content or functionality create clutter, diminish the overall experience for the end user, and reduce the ability of developers to market their apps.We encourage you to review your app concept and incorporate different content and features that are in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.Best regards,App Store ReviewNo matter what I do I get this for any app I put up. I uploaded 2 bug fixes to 2 apps already on the store, and 1 new app, completely different than any other app I've ever put up, and they all were put into review and rejected in 1 minute. 1 minute for all 3. The reason, is stated above. When I asked about it further I was presen
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Oct ’17
Reply to Bizarre situation involving 4.3 guideline and app that cannot be deleted
By way of an update, even though it would cause our customers to lose their purchase, I've followed Apple's implied advice and deleted the 'new' app and gone back to using the 'old' undeleteable app record (so there's only one app record, no chance of confusion).But my submission has been rejected yet again, citing the same 4.3 guideline. Since the app is not similar to any other app we have... what are they talking about??I'm really out of ideas.
Oct ’17
Reply to "container" app
We are facing also the same issue with games for kids. All new games get rejected forGuideline 4.3 - DesignWe noticed that your app provides the same feature set as other apps that have been submitted to the App Store (either under your own account or across multiple developer accounts) and simply varies in content or language.Apps that simply duplicate content or functionality create clutter, diminish the overall experience for the end user, and reduce the ability of developers to market their apps.We encourage you to review your app concept and incorporate different content and features that are in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.Creating a container app for kids games seems crazy too. Kids cosume apps more like TV episodes (fast) so we create new app with new content, new topic and release as a sequel. It does not make sense to have one huge app (2-6 Gb) that combines all content inside. I really don't understand Apple vision for this kind of content. The worst part is, they do not
Oct ’17
4.3 - Design
Hi,I created new app and submitted but the answer from Apple is:We noticed that your app provides the same feature set as other apps submitted to the App Store; it simply varies in content or language, which is considered a form of spam.I coded and designed it by myself. There may be similar apps on App Store doing the similar job but that shouldn't make my app a spam! My algorithm is different and my UI is better. Why I can't compete with other apps? No sense.
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Oct ’17