My App Rejected 4.3 Design: Spam

Did you file an appeal?

• Publishing similar apps that differs only in content.

• Publishing white-label apps under your own Developer Account.

• A competitor's app looks similar to yours.

That stinks. I got a 4.3 just a short while ago and feel super stuck on figuring out how to solve it. My content is unique but apple is claiming the same things they did for you. Did you have any luck figuring this out seeing how it's been years? Thx

This happened to me yesterday. I got the same Rejections Reason: "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."

The SPAM REJECTION is supposed to be given to app when a developer makes a copy of one of their already existing apps and then makes trivial changes to it to try to get additional copies into the App Store in order to get more downloads.

This IS NOT what I did. My app was completely written from scratch by me and unlike anything I had written before.

What I think happened is the name I gave it was similar to the name of another app written by someone else and their app was known as being spam in the past. The reviewer must have assumed mine was just a copy that they made.

The reviewer obviously did not even bother to try my app before labeling it spam which is frustrating.

I posted a reply to their rejection and I've been waiting for a day to hear back.

I believe there is a way to appeal but I hope I don't have to jump through all those hoops just because Apple has lazy reviewers. Here is a link to the appeal page.

https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/app-review/appeal/

It's frustrating that Apple hires lazy reviewers and a hundred hours of my time could be wasted because they can't spend 15 minutes trying out the app before falsely labeling it spam.

Did you guys solve your issue? if yes, how?

There seems to be an uptick in recent comments regarding this issue, I wonder if Apple has renewed this behavior lately. Two of my games have been stuck in spam hell, despite the fact that I worked hard on making it work in the Apple system, the store pages, and worked directly with the team to make sure all my in app purchases worked, including giving them detailed instructions on how to trigger every single in app purchase, as if they were my QA team.

I'm actually wondering if we can't get a group together to at least threaten some kind of class action. It seems odd that Apple can charge $99 dollars a year to develop on their ecosystem, and then pick and choose which apps get on their app store (not pertaining to adult or mature content, but rather, simply finding preference to whomever or whatever companies it chooses). If Apple got rid of the membership fee, they'd probably have a better case. I'll do some research. Email me at kugala_bugala_at_hotmail.com if you'd like to give me your story. It would help a lot if we want to get this fixed.

Apple is a terrible company with terrible products. They sell inferior products at higher prices. They are the definition of a company looking to suck from people. Insane to think people still buy their crap when they intentionally push updates to kill battery life and slow phones so people will upgrade.

Apple said my app was spam too. Completely from scratch and not a single other app out there with its functionality. Yet apple over here selling proprietary cables that are inferior to suck from people.

I have the same issue with an update about a application, which I created in 2015.

Hi, 2 years in the store and I submitted the app with a small fix. No feature or content change. I got a rejection with same message. When I asked for some clarification their reply:

"We understand it can be frustrating to receive information that was not expected. However, 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."

I guess they didn't get my question or using some kind template reply. If I updated some feature or content I would understand, the new feature or content is duplicate or spam. Since it's a small fix unrelated to content/feature, I can't just redo my app. My application is a photo editor application and there's thousands of photo editor in the app store. As for the content they are unique.

Did anyone have the similar experience for app fixes? How did you detect which part of the app or content was duplicate?

Thanks in advance.

Hey! We recently had the same issue Rejections Reason: "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."

Any ideas how to solve this?

Thank you!

At WWDC 2023 I updated my app and will get:

Guideline 4.3 - Design «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 asked to write what exactly I copied and how do I understand it in general? This is my application, developed from scratch. There are figma files with the design, roadmap, issue's, etc.

I paid $100, spent a three months and got rejected 👍 Сomplete demotivation. With this logic, if there is a «ToDo» application, then no other developers can create a similar one with their own functionality?

P.S. My application works with Stable Diffusion, text-to-image/image-to-image for macOS.

I have the same issue. I gave hours to develop, but getting this result lost my motivation.

We have been developing a new app for scanning documents and photos for six months. This app has many unique features that other apps don't have.

The app automatically detects holes on the documents that have been punched with a hole punch and removes them from the document.

The corners of the detected document are automatically moved inwards to get clean edges, the user can set how many pixels to indented.

This app recognises the text very accurately and inserts it into the PDF document behind the image at the exact position and text size as the text on the image. The PDF generated by the app can be searched for text and the text can be marked and copied.

Another important feature that no other app in the App Store offers is the function that all four corners of the document are shown enlarged in four circles and are visible at the same time. The user can see immediately if the corners have been recognized satisfactorily or if they should be corrected. The user can move the corners either on the document or directly in the circles. This feature is very suitable for users with visual impairment and makes it easier to use for disabled people.

We also put a lot of work into the very small file size of the generated PDF.

The quality improvement of the documents is very good. We filter away almost all noise, disturbances and dirt spots and improve the appearance of the text enormously.

In addition, we translated the app, the app description and the keywords into 33 languages.

We created and uploaded 1320 screenshots with a lot of effort. (33 languages x 10 screenshots x 4 devices)

Our two daughters (10 and 12 years old) worked on the app for the first time in their lives. They helped us with the design, tested the app, took some screenshots, contributed ideas for the description for the store.

Happy to finally finish the app after long months, we submitted it for review.

The next day the rejection: Guideline 4.3 - Design

We were shocked. We have 19 apps in the App Store for many years. One of these apps has a similar design to the new app in some views. But the functionality of the two apps is completely different. These apps are impossible to combine into one. And why should we reinvent the design of every app from scratch when it works very well and looks good?

The requests for the exact reason for the rejection in the app review page are not answered. The same rejection text is written back every time. We have submitted an appeal but have not received a response yet.

We are now worried and uncertain. We had other new app projects planned, but it's too dangerous to invest money and hard work for months and then find out that the app is being rejected. A large part of our income comes from revenue from the App Store. Our apps have millions of active users. Now we are really thinking about whether we should urgently focus on a business in a completely different area. After all, we have two children counting on us.

The exact text of the rejection:

Guideline 4.3 - Design

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.

The next submission of this app may require a longer review time.

Next Steps

• Review the Design section of the App Store Review Guidelines.
• Ensure your app is compliant with all sections of the App Store Review Guidelines and the Terms & Conditions of the Apple Developer Program.
• Once your app is fully compliant, resubmit your app for review.

When creating multiple apps where content is the only varying element, you should offer a single app to deliver differing content to customers. If you would like to offer this content for purchase, it would be appropriate to use the in-app purchase API.

Alternatively, you may consider creating a web app, which looks and behaves similar to a native app when the customer adds it to their Home screen. Refer to the Configuring Web Applications section of the Safari Web Content Guide for more information.

Submitting apps designed to mislead or harm customers or evade the review process may result in the termination of your Apple Developer Program account. Review the Terms & Conditions of the Apple Developer Program to learn more about our policies regarding termination.

I finally got rid of this problem. In my application, lastly, I was making a city search using Mapkit. I was showing the location of the word the user was searching for on the screen as a map. They agreed to delete the map.

I created 3 of 10 reminder apps that are meant as part of a suite. Two of them are in the store, while the 3rd was just rejected. Apparently suites are considered spam because, of course they're all going to have the same theme .. it's a "suite". But it would seem they're recommending squishing 10 apps into one? No thanks. Not worth it. Why force users to have to have apps they don't want in an overcrowded app because Apple doesn't allow themed suites?

Looks like the Play Store will be the only available outlet for these. A bit disappointing, but unfortunately not surprising.

Since its inception in 2008, our dating brand has been at the forefront of the online dating industry, introducing features that predate popular platforms such as Tinder and Bumble. We have consistently leveraged technology to enhance user experience, evidenced by our long-standing Android application. Recently, we invested a significant sum in the development of an iOS application to complement our Android offering. Despite this, our submission to the Apple App Store was met with a suggestion to pivot towards a web application.

This response from Apple poses a considerable challenge to our operations and strategic direction, especially given our substantial employee base of over 150 professionals. The implication of Apple's stance not only impacts our ability to compete effectively in the marketplace but also calls into question the equitable treatment of developers within the App Store ecosystem. It is noteworthy that several of our competitors, some of whom entered the market well after us and even modeled their platforms on our pioneering efforts, have successfully launched iOS applications.

We are currently at a crossroads, contemplating a significant shift away from Apple products and services. This decision does not come lightly, given our commitment to providing the best possible experience for our users across all platforms. The situation raises critical concerns regarding the level of investment and compliance required to gain acceptance into the Apple App Store, highlighting a need for clearer guidelines and a more transparent review process.

Regards, Matchmakers Inc

Hi,

has anyone been able to fix this issue, if so how did you do it? I have seen that getting on a call with the App Store team may help understand the issue better. I just requested a call and still waiting for it. Anyone knows how long this takes?

l recently got my app rejected as spam. it’s a dating app that uses wearable technology and there’s a patent in it so definitely not a spam or copy. please help i would really appreciate any insight on how to overcome this objection. thanks

Also facing the same issue, App got a 4.3spam, it's an update to an existing live App. I hope we as Indi developers can have better support and concrete solution regarding this dreaded 4.3 app killer. I have read in some threads that even a container app gets rejected. hours/days/months/dollar spent all down the drain with this 4.3.

Hi

Add me to the list of 4.3 victims.

I have a very niche client/server app that has been on the store for nearly 12 (TWELVE) years! (the software consists of 2 apps, the client and the server), so this is just an update, not a new app.

There is NOTHING even remotely similar to it as it is a very niche market with a limited userbase.

We did an update 2 weeks ago (client) and everything went fine.

Of course after updating we noticed a couple minor changes that needed to be made, nothing operational, all cosmetic like a spelling error and limiting the number of ad's shown. Literally changed 5 characters in the source.

Submit a new build and now we are in 4.3 spam hell.

Of course we keep getting the same canned response from the review team that tells us absolutely nothing.

Appealed the rejection last week, and so far, not a peep out of Apple. No calls, no emails no nothing.

We also updated the server app, and no problems whatsoever.

The 2 apps are totally different, but all i can suspect is possibly the review team is seeing them as the same/similar app?

Both apps are obviously dependent on each other so you cant have one without the other.

Fortunately the one we sent 2 weeks ago is ok, so we aren't dead in the water, but i'd really like to be able to update my apps!

Has anyone found any kind of solution?

It's the same issue with me.

Took almost 6 months to make the app and do all the internal testing but stuck in this deadlock where they told me it was similar to another app but didn't tell me which one. They just copy and paste the same reply.

Any way to resolve it? I don't want to change the core features of the app

I have been updating my app for two weeks, making changes based on feedback. It now focuses on self-improvement and guidance, but it keeps getting rejected with the same response.

I have followed all the requested changes and want to make sure it meets the guidelines. What can I do to move forward?

I am in the same boat. I appealed 3 times, got one reply, the appeal result is still a rejection without noticing the uniqueness in my app. I can see many approved low quality dating apps attracting victims' attention on TikTok.