Guideline 4.3(a) - Design - Spam

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Hi,

I designed and created 2 apps to help protect 2 dying languages. One is Sonny Goes to School for the Osage Nation in US and the other is Maskosis Goes To School for Samson Cree Nation in Alberta Canada. The concept is similar and the animations are similar. We use the same characters that we drawn for the first project (Maskosis) and reuse them for the 2nd project (Sonny). We now need to update the apps so they can be used on newer devices. However the app review team kept rejected the updates saying we are spaming the app store. They advice us to "submit a unique app with distinct content and functionality."

To recreate all the animations would be very very expensive. I do not know how to proceed, does anyone have any ideas?

I attached part of their reply below. No matter how I explain myself, they just kept replying back saying I am spam...

"Guideline 4.3(a) - Design - Spam

Issue Description

We noticed the app shares a similar binary, metadata, and/or concept as apps submitted to the App Store by other developers, with only minor differences.

Submitting similar or repackaged apps is a form of spam that creates clutter and makes it difficult for users to discover new apps.

Next Steps

Since we do not accept spam apps on the App Store, we encourage you to review the app concept and submit a unique app with distinct content and functionality. "

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Answer 1

Etresoft OP

45m

The App Review decision is policy. Your only option in a policy case would be an appeal.

A technical solution would be to bundle the two apps together into one. On first launch, ask the user to pick which language to use. You should be able to use downloadable asset packs for this. You would need to rename the app as well.

Another possibility could be to change the distribution of the app to make the Osage app available only in the US and the Cree available only in Canada. Perhaps that might be something you could do in the interim that would be acceptable to App Review while you build a multi-language version.

And finally, this is an excellent case of using Apple's "Meet with Apple" service to talk directly to App Review and work things out. They run that service throughout the year. But WWDC is coming up soon and there are also App Review sessions there.

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