Dear friends,
I wouldn't be writing this article if I wasn't at a loss. I really don't understand the repeating reviewer’s decision:
Guideline 4.2.2 - Design - Minimum Functionality We noticed that your app ‘ONLY’ includes links, images, or content aggregated from the Internet with limited or no native functionality.
My App (NH2-STEFAN-COOH, Apple ID 6741710895) is a learning app for biochemistry students. In the first review, it was actually mainly a web viewer, so Apple was right at that time - it was my mistake, but I listened to them and made massive improvements adding lots of native stuff:
When you start it for the first time, a welcome message appears, the user name is created and saved. A different biochemistry anecdote appears on the welcome page every day. This can be explained in detail. There are 31 different anecdotes and explanations, one for each day of the month.
An ‘About’ section can also be clicked on the welcome page and from there the impression.
If you click on ‘Entry to the world of biochemistry’, a selection of functions appears. This extends over two pages, which can be swiped back and forth horizontally. From here you can reach the following:
Main menu SWIPED to LEFT page:
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a personalised learning planner where students can enter when they want to start their learning process, how much time they have. The app provides a recommendation for an efficient organisation of the learning material. This recommendation is saved and can be called up again at any time. It is also possible to integrate the learning plan into the calendar app.
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an in-app ‘game’ in which students can learn and understand basic structural formulae of biochemistry. 25 Tasks can be chosen on a game board. The task is then like “draw chemical structure xy”: A drawboard makes it possible to actually draw the structure using a finger of pen. If help is needed, an explanation of how the structure name and the structure are related can be displayed. This detailed explanation is intended to teach students how to derive a structural formula and reduce the learning effort. Each task can then be marked in red (I will have to repeat the task), yellow (indifferent) or green (successfully learned). The mark is saved and can be viewed on the game board at any time.
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a lab calculator has been implemented to support students during internships, experimental doctoral theses or other laboratory activities. This covers 7 typical laboratory calculations: one distinct calculator for a) prepare a solution, b) calculate solution concentration, c) prepare a stock, d) dilute stock solutions, e) calculate stock dilutions, f) prepare buffer solutions, g) calculate concentration from extinction.
Main menu SWIPED to RIGHT page:
- students can enter questions about the material directly in the app and send them to the lecturer
UNTIL HERE, ALL FUNCTIONS ARE IN-APP, NATIVE, WITHOUT COLLECTION OF ANY WEB CONTENT. UNTIL HERE, I CANNOT UNTERSTAND THE MINIMUM FUNCTIONALITY ISSUE.
Main menu SWIPED to RIGHT page leads also to the last functions:
- Students can view videos (using the learn plan the have) where important biochemistry facts are explained. The videos can be started directly out of the app, or via my homepage. This is solved as WebView Content.
What do you think? Is the fact that there is a WebView a reason to declare the whole app Minimum Functionality? Are all my native Functions so crappy? Or is Apple angry with me because during my first submission I really had not enough native stuff…
I would really like to read your ideas, because I have no idea what to do now!
Each time I add more native stuff and resubmit, I get exactly the same text blocks back. Do they even see what I changed? I hope, because when submitting I usually explain all my changes in "Information zur App-Prüfung"-section.
