Update: received a response, but it appears to misapply Guideline 3.1.1, looking for input
Following up on my earlier post about a stuck submission (Submission ID: 1522a8de-defd-44f8-92e8-9edbb0d85c28).
After a week of silence, we finally got a response on Aug 25, but it's a rejection under Guideline 3.1.1 that we believe misreads our app. The reviewer flagged our business/organization account registration screen, stating: "The app includes an account registration feature for businesses and organizations, which is considered access to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app," and asked us to remove business/org registration entirely.
The screenshot they attached shows only our Company Registration screen, just a work email and password field with a "Create Account" button. There's no purchase flow, pricing, or payment mechanism on that screen or reachable from it. Our app is a B2B marketplace connecting NYS-licensed security agencies with security guards for real, in-person shift coverage. Billing (a subscription for platform access) happens separately, later, and only for agencies that choose to subscribe, similar to how any B2B SaaS tool (Slack, Notion, etc.) lets a business create a free account before selecting a paid tier, without that account-creation step needing to go through in-app purchase.
Has anyone dealt with a similar 3.1.1 rejection for a B2B/enterprise account registration flow, where the reviewer seems to conflate account creation with an external purchase mechanism? Curious whether this is a known pattern and what resolved it, a specific citation to reference, particular wording in App Review notes, or an actual call with Apple that got it unstuck.
Is there anything else we should try, or can someone from the App Review team take a look at this case? Happy to provide any additional information needed — we just want to understand what's needed to move forward.
Apple ID: 6799377443 Submission ID: 1522a8de-defd-44f8-92e8-9edbb0d85c28
Appreciate any insight.