4.3(a) Spam Issue – Appeal Not Receiving Any Updates

Hello,

I’m contacting you for assistance regarding an App Review issue that our company is currently facing.

Background

Several months ago, a former employee submitted an early prototype of our app using his personal Apple Developer account. That submission was never approved, and after the employee left the company, he removed the app from his account. It is no longer available on the App Store and no longer listed under that account.

Recently, we rebuilt the product completely — new UI, new codebase, and a fully updated design — and submitted it under our company’s official Apple Developer account.

Issue

Our recent submission was rejected with 4.3 – Spam, indicating that our app is considered a duplicate of another existing app. However, the only similar app is the old prototype submitted several months ago by the former employee, which was removed and never published.

It seems likely that our submission is being linked to that previous prototype, even though it no longer exists and was submitted under a different personal account.

Appeal Status

We submitted an Appeal right after receiving the 4.3 rejection. It has now been one week, and we have not received any update or confirmation:

No email response

No status change in App Review

The Appeal does not appear in the Resolution Center

The app remains unable to move forward in the review process

Request for Assistance

Could you please help us with the following?

Could you confirm whether our Appeal was successfully received?

What is the typical response time for Appeals in cases like this?

Is any additional information required from us to continue the review?

If the previous submission under the former employee’s personal account is influencing the review, how can we resolve this issue permanently?

Is there a recommended way to escalate this situation, given that this app is critical for our company?

We sincerely appreciate your time and assistance. Thank you, and we look forward to your guidance.

It seems likely that our submission is being linked to that previous prototype, even though it no longer exists and was submitted under a different personal account.

How so? It has not passed the review process, and he's removed the binary, you have said. The only possibility is that he keeps and lists it at App Store, I guess, then.

4.3(a) Spam Issue – Appeal Not Receiving Any Updates
 
 
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