Hi everyone,
I’m an indie developer and recently published our first app on the App Store. It was an exciting milestone, but on April 4, 2025, after the app had been live for about 1–2 weeks and one update had been pushed, we received a notice from Apple stating that our app had been removed from the store and that our developer account is scheduled for termination within a month.
Understandably, this was incredibly alarming—but we stayed calm, carefully read through the allegations, and tried to handle the situation with patience and professionalism.
The reason given was:
App submissions from your account have engaged in concept or feature switch schemes to evade the review process, such as dynamically populating different app content after review, submitting apps with hidden features, repeatedly submitting misleading apps, and/or submitting apps with concrete references to content that you are not authorized to provide or is otherwise not appropriate for the App Store.
This was cited as a violation of Section 3.2(f) of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement.
We were accused of dynamically changing game content after review, but we do not have the capability to do anything like that. The game has stayed exactly as it was when submitted, and the single update we pushed included only the changes listed in the “What’s New” section.
They also mentioned hidden features. While we don’t hide anything, our game does include progression-based unlocks (such as new upgrade cards or mechanics unlocked as you play). We believe this is standard for many games, and we’ve explained this in our appeal.
We also addressed another possible issue—some light pop culture jokes in push notifications—which we are more than happy to remove immediately if they were deemed inappropriate.
We’re not here to argue or avoid accountability. If we’ve made any mistakes, we’re more than willing to correct them. But terminating the entire account for a first-time submission, without any discussion or specific feedback, feels incredibly harsh—especially for a small team trying to break into the industry.
We submitted an appeal to the App Review Board over a week ago but have not received any response or update since then. So I’m posting here in the hopes of catching someone’s attention—whether that’s Apple or anyone in the community who’s been through something similar and can advise.
I know the $99 annual fee might not be a huge deal for many developers, but for someone just starting out, it represents more than money—it’s a foot in the door. I’m not looking for sympathy, just a chance to make things right, follow the rules properly, and keep building on the platform I admire.
Thank you for reading, and I truly hope someone can help guide us on the next steps.
Best, Veekshith Kolanupaka
