Fellow developers, have you ever faced this situation? You’ve worked hard on a cross-platform app, finally ready to launch on the App Store—only to find yourself stuck in an endless policy loop that makes approval impossible.
Apple’s “No-Win” Formula Let’s break down Apple’s brilliantly engineered review process:
Want to use Apple’s IAP? Sure! But you must first create an in-app purchase (IAP) item.
Created an IAP? Not so fast! Apple requires your first IAP to be submitted together with a new app version, but your version 1.0 can’t submit an IAP.
Okay, let’s submit 1.0 without IAP first? Nope! Rejected under 3.1.3(b) because your app has in-app purchases on other platforms, so iOS must have them too.
Fine, I’ll use a third-party payment system (like WeChat Pay) for now. Nice try! Rejected under 3.1.1 because third-party payment systems aren’t allowed.
So, no matter what you do, your app gets rejected.
Is This Really a “Mistake”? Or… Apple is a company full of brilliant minds—they surely see this contradiction. This isn’t a bug; it’s a feature. This policy ensures that cross-platform apps are either fully locked into Apple’s IAP or kept out of the App Store entirely.
Think about it: If this were just an oversight, why hasn’t it been fixed? Why does Apple remain completely unresponsive to appeals? Why can they adjust policies elsewhere but refuse to budge when it comes to IAP revenue?
Developers, What Can We Do? I’ve already sent multiple appeals, all ignored by Apple. If you’ve encountered the same issue, let’s discuss it here. Maybe together, we can find a workaround—or better yet, apply pressure to Apple to explain why launching a cross-platform app on iOS feels less like a review process and more like an impossible puzzle.
