Also... I've submitted a minor bug fix and got flagged on something I did not change that was previously approved and their terms did not change. That gets frustrating. I feel like every update is a gamble. Some parts of it seem pretty vague. Sometimes I just resubmit and get a new reviewer and he approves on the iffy ones. But with people in the loop interpretation is always a thing and I can't get too mad over it.
Luckily, this is something they recently said they won’t do anymore
I had a bugfix update rejected a little while ago for a business app.
Apple wanted a video walkthrough of every screen in the app, explaining what each screen is for and with a breakdown of device permissions needed on each of those screens. That day was a complete write-off. If the app required excessive permissions I could understand there might be some concern, but it doesn't. Any permissions we do need are justified in the info.plist as required, and are very descriptive.
They then rejected it again the next day, as I had apparently failed to mention what we use ARKit for in the video. We don't use ARKit and it is not in the codebase.
Another day goes by and they finally approve, with a friendly disclaimer that they will now require an updated video with every future update.
It just seems like busywork to me.
My main point is not about rejecting an update, but about pulling you out of the store entirely or never accepting your app. Even deleting your Apple dev account as we just saw with Epic.
Even if they are representative of 99% of experiences - imagine the damage and anger caused by the remaining 1%.
> I shit you not, I've personally had apps rejected by the review board because they didn't like the screenshots. Those were screenshots of the app itself.
My experience sending applications to the app store was certainly frustrating as a first-comer as the App Store has numerous rules about the screenshots, descriptions, naming etc. that you have to follow.
However, every time the app got rejected, the reviewer sent clear feedback on which rules the submissions were violating and how to fix those issues. After that, you could send your app for another review. Calling that "shutting you down" is slightly harsh in my ear. We fixed the problems they had with our submission and then we got approved.