Filed under: Developer, Apple, iPhoneIn a surprising move toward transparency, Apple just announced that third-party development tools are fair game for building iPhone apps, and opened up its App Store Review guidelines so that developers can see why their apps have been rejected. The guidelines have been a mystery for so long that it's a breath of fresh air to see the reasons behind so many bizarre app rejections.
Most of the document is exactly what you'd expect -- albeit written in a tone that makes it sound like these guidelines were handed down from on high by mighty Jobs himself -- so we'll just cut to the interesting parts:
"Apps with metadata that mentions the name of any other mobile platform will be rejected." So, that explains the fiasco where apps were being rejected for mentioning that they also had Android versions available. I guess dual-platform developers will have to be more careful how they advertise.
"Apps that use location-based APIs for automatic or autonomous control of vehicles, aircraft, or other devices will be rejected." Um, wow. This one makes an enormous amount of sense, but the fact that it's included suggests some App Store MacGyver actually tried to do this. As Steve Jobs would say, "Boom!" "App user interfaces that mimic any iPod interface will be rejected." and "Apps that look similar to apps bundled on the iPhone, including the App Store, iTunes Store, and iBookstore, will be rejected." Hi, developers. What's happening? Great. So, we're going to need you to follow the iPhone Human Interface Guidelines, but if you could just design your own user interface, that would be greeeeat. Thanks.
"Apps that alter the functions of standard switches, such as the Volume Up/Down and Ring/Silent switches, will be rejected," Camera+, Apple is looking at you!
"Apps containing 'rental' content or services that expire after a limited time will be rejected." Netflix, you're cool. Hulu, you're cool. Anybody who wants to compete with us in renting a la carte TV shows? You're screwed.
"Any app that is defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited, or likely to place the targeted individual or group in harms way will be rejected. Professional political satirists and humorists are exempt from the ban on offensive or mean-spirited commentary." Now all I have to do is get that professional political satire license, and I can finally get my "50 Ways to Kill Justin Bieber" app approved! I'll be rich!
"Apps that contain user generated content that is frequently pornographic (ex 'Chat Roulette' apps) will be rejected." There's a general ban on porn, too, using a dictionary definition, but now we have in writing what everyone already knew: Chatroulette is really about naked guys showing their junk. Today is not such a good day for potential Chatroulette investors.
Apple also makes it clear that the Guidelines are a living document, and that they could be changed at any time if devs find new ways to make their apps behave badly. If you want to read the whole thing for yourself, without having an Apple developer account, our friends at Engadget have the PDF.Reading Apple's App Store Guidelines - Just the Juicy Parts! originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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