Guideline 4.3 -- made from template... but they are not.

The part you seem to be glossing over is the "as the same template as many of my other apps".

None of my apps are similar nor made from a template.

When the reviwers say template, I understand they mean, for example, submitting multiple sport team apps for each sport team with slight diffrences between them. AB Player is nothing like that.

Also they said AB Player has enough functionalities, not like apps that are saturated in the store like FaaT or BURP apps. The rejection reason is solely AB Player is made from the same template as many of my other apps (which is not true). I am confused... Which template are they talking about??? I want to know but they refused to tell.

>The rejection reason is

Can you share the exact rejection, thanks.

It your APP doesnt get enough downloads per week thet are removing it. Its part of Apple cleanup process where they are removing all the apps that doesnt get enough downloads. Smae thing happend to my APP

According to iTunes Connect's App Analytics, AB Player has 10,000 monthly active opt-in sessions, 500 monthly downloads, total of 35,000 downloads since 2012.

ya 500 per month is low.

wow you are the author of fast finga and they are doing this to you?

SMH

Wrapping up...

"eLaws" app (law dictionary) and "AB Player" app (music player) are totally different apps.

The review board somehow decided they are "the same"... only their contents or languages are different.

I got phone calls from two different staff. They were not from the review board but they were telephone specialists. One said that he would approve AB Player's last update so that users can migrate the app's data to eLaws app. The other person agreed those two apps fall within totally different categories and the rejection should be reconsidered.

None of their promises were made. (I don't think they have authorities to overturn reviewer's decision anyway.)

AB Player still got rejected, no reason were disclosed.

Now the App Store has..

one law dictionary app that is strangely a music player as well, and a music player app that crashes on iOS 11.3,

instead of a perfectly working law app and a perfectly working music player app.

I got another phone call from Apple.

• My account is flagged as a spammer. (It's sad)

• The original rejection reason 4.3 is nothing to do with the quality of the app itself. It's based on the spammer flag that is added to my account.

• I have to appeal to the review board when I got rejected.

• App Review Board originally maintained the rejection, but they have changed their decision last week. They will approve AB Player as an independent app.

• That decision hasn't gone through to the reviwer yet. That's why I got rejected yesterday again and I got another copy&paste reply from the reviewer a few hours before the phone call.

The above was the fact heard from Apple.

The reviewer (who reviews apps on firsthand) thinks I'm a spammer so he doesn't think anything, just copy & paste Guideline 4.3 rejection.

That's why he can't tell any particular rejection reason and he doesn't reply anything other than copy&paste message. (Don't waste your time by trying to communicate with the reviewer.)

This is sad indeed.

I am having a similar situation. I only ever made two apps, one chess game and a radio app, they are doing the exact same thing to my account. They say my apps are very similar and should make it into one app. Things used to be great before November 2017, when app updates went through without problems, since then my apps take weeks to get a rejection message and for very silly reasons. I reply only to realize it takes them another few weeks to respond with the same canned message.

I have a feeling that some of the app reviewers and middle management are just taking the **** and / or are corrupted.

And probably app reviewers are uploading apps themselves these days.

We should create and sign a petition to ask top level management to review their app review team.

Hhow did you determine that your account has been flagged as spammer. I think i am having same issue

The guy who made a phone call said that my account is flagged as a spammer.

I'm making apps since 2009.

He said these things made me a spammer.

• releasing upgraded version as a separate app without removing the previous version.
• releasing free version and paid version (aka PRO version) as separate apps. ... this used to be allowed, but not anymore. Developers must use in-app purchase.

"Spam" does not necessariy mean releasing many apps that were made from a single template. If the functionalities of two or more apps are very similar even though they have been built from scratch separately (like making an upgraded version from scratch), they become "spams".

And the similarity is decided by Apple, not by actual users who actually use the apps. This decision is mainly made by their appearances such as icon, UI, etc. They often refer to these elements as "framework". Thus, when they say "your apps share the same framework", it does not mean the apps use the same template framework. It simply means, "they look too similar."

Once you are flagged as a spammer, other irrelevant apps are rejected instantly, without being reviewed properly, according to violation of Guideline 4.3 even if there's no other similar app.

So how do you unflag your account as spammer. Is there anyway??

I don't think there is.

I have separating of free and pro version for one app. Last two months I struggle against spam rejection without details. But week ago I got approved after appeal. It seems you are right that free-pro is not allowed right now. What is your opinion - deleting one of them will solve potential rejections in future?