Hybrid App and WebView

Hello,


I have an IOS app in the Apple store for my business that has been functioning quite well over the years for my customers and I have had no problems with Apple.


Recently I looked into expanding my existing application and adding some web content from our web site using a WebView. The idea isn't to place our entire website but a specific responsive web application that is complete and offers great value to our clients. When speaking to a consultant (who is also the developer) I was told that our app would be rejected if we did this.


I am confused because I thought that was a perfectly acceptable use of WebView.


We have some functionality with radio turned off and our entire app was build in Xcode. I didn't think it would be a big deal for Apple to pull this web application into a WebView to extend the value of our IOS app without redeveloping the web content in Xcode. I would love to hear some feedback from Apple because this has been a stumbling block moving forward.


Thank you for your time,

Jason

Replies

Without the consulting dev here to explain their position, I think the admonition is where an app generally replicates an existing website, not simply the use of a webview*...meaning if your current app is overwhelmingly native, it would be up to app review to determine if what web-based content you choose to include wrecks that balance. Of course only app review knows what they will/won't approve/reject, they aren't here, are there are no pre-reviews.


You don't describe what the web content is you intend to leverage - if it is data from the backend, you may stand a better chance of approval vs. typical marketing/branding which risk rejection, as an example.


*Note that w/iOS, webview was deprecated w/iOS 8 - your app would need to utilize wkwebview otherwise.