The new appeals process can save an app after it has been rejected, but developers say the most frustrating and time consuming aspects of Apple's process remain. It can take weeks or months of written exchanges with reviewers before an app is officially rejected.
Ben Fry saw that the Covid tracker app for institutions was rejected because it didn't offer medical advice. He turned to the appeals process after he had a number of discussions with Apple. Fry's app was rejected for not providing enough utility, only to be accepted after an appeal for being "well-designed."
Fry says his company has stopped using the App Store. It has been a nightmare for Fry to submit an app. It is personally frustrating that Apple is involved.
Nelson was told that his app was in violation of a guideline. Nelson appealed the rejection and the reviewer refused to tell him which app he was copying or what features he needed to change. Nelson constantly updated his game until Apple approved it.
According to former members of the App Review team, Apple's guidelines are vague and the company's working conditions don't allow or require them to be interpreted consistently.
The guidelines say that apps will be rejected if they are found to be over the line. You asked what line. A Supreme Court Justice once said that he would know it when he saw it. You will know it when you cross it. Fry and Panaitiu's apps didn't meet the guidelines' demand that they provide "some sort of lasting entertainment value or adequate utility."
The former head of the App Store told US lawmakers that Apple's developer rules were "arbitrary" and used against competitors. The qualifications needed to get hired as an app reviewer were that a person could breathe and think.
The guidelines are similar to some aspects of law, according to a former senior App Store operations lead. New reviewers are usually introduced to a database of previous app rejections and approvals in about two months. The former employee said that few reviewers have technical background and their decisions are often subjective.
Over 1,000 calls a week are made to developers by Apple's 500 reviewers who each look at up to 100 apps a day. Reviewers can only spend a few minutes on each case, making it difficult to review an app's every feature, check for precedent, write developer feedback, or perform other steps in the review process.
The former Apple employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the division incentivized haste. To improve a measure of how quickly the team got through the queue of pending app reviews, reviewers were told to work faster. The manager says that tailored communication is not appreciated in the team.
Michael Gartenberg is a technology analyst and former Apple marketing director. He says that until then developers will have no choice but to deal with Apple policies.
Rick VanMeter is the executive director of the App Fairness Coalition, and he says that if Apple were required to allow an alternative to the App Store on its devices, it would create competition that would benefit both developers and consumers. There are no alternatives to hold Apple accountable for having inconsistent rules and self-preference.
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