YOKOHAMA (Señor Tomato) – It’s sad to say that Apple, Inc. has recently started a software submission rejection scheme in the name of Guidelines 4.3 – Spam and 4.2.6 – App Generation Services. It’s true that they have been facing a surge in the number of software submission partly because vibe coders. Instead of solving this issue of their own by hiring and training more reviewers, Apple, Inc. has come up with a simple, cleaver solution by discouraging software developers to submit new apps. What they do is they reject multiple software submissions waiting for review all at once by saying
Issue Description
The app does not appear to meet App Store requirements to prevent the distribution of spam submissions.
Specifically, the app appears to match one or more of the following kinds of spam, which make it harder for users to find the apps they want:
– Apps that duplicate content or functionality already on the App Store. See guideline 4.3(a).
– Apps that are indistinguishable from what’s already widely available or is an opportunistic variant of an existing category or popular app. See guideline 4.3(b).
– Apps that are created from a commercialized template or app generation service but are not submitted directly by the provider of the app’s content. See guideline 4.2.6.
Almost every rejection case is reversible. I have submitted a combination of more than 400 iOS apps and macOS applications in the past 15.5 years. But there are several exceptions. I have abandoned one iOS app so far this year. It’s a music-related app. I know there are several more software products that I have abandoned in the past.
How to deal with a rejection case depends on the guideline violation the reviewer has referred to. Even if it’s 4.3, you may handle it differently, depending on whether it’s 4.3(a) or 4.3(b) or it involves 4.2.6. So how have you handled your rejection case?
When a 5 trillion software giant denies our software submission based on falsehoods, what can little people like you and me do? You pay your annual membership fee to Apple, Inc., and they deny the service they’ve promised in the name of Guidelines 4.3 – Spam and 4.2.6 – App Generation Services. Who wouldn’t call their conduct scam? It doesn’t look like there is much government oversight. Hopefully, it’s time for FTC to investigate Apple’s software submission rejection scheme.