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Apple Reveals Common Reasons for App Rejections on New Developer Page
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Apple are not there to extensively and exhaustively test every function of every app, on every iOS, on every model. That PayPal bug requires a very specific configuration to encounter it - my PayPal app works just fine. Not to mention every app has bugs, because they're written by humans. There are zero applications on the face of the planet that are bug-free. Apple are just doing a sanity check for obvious problems. The responsibility for bugginess resides - always has, always, always will - with the developer.
Did you even know Apple did a bug check? What do you imagine things would be like if they didn't?
There's a big difference between Apple bugs which typically affect only a small portion of a very large user base, and the bugs Apple is rejecting apps for which are apparent from the first moment you open an app. When you have 500 million users some of them are going to find bugs.
And the lack of trials/demos. There were a bunch of apps for which I had to pay, but then felt that they weren't for me. So, I wasted a bit of money. I really wish there was a way to trial paid apps before you bought them. Like how some apps are free with ads, but you can make an in-app purchase to remove them.
Bleh - I want a Finder alternative but I tried PathFinder and it was garbage. (For the record, I have tried all existing shells/file explorers for OS X and Windows and hate them all. I also hate everything I've tried on Linux. Finder is by far the best of them all, but I still envision something so much better. I started writing my own but I don't think I'll ever have the time to finish it...)
Best oddities I have come across.
I have enjoyed a few discussions about acceptable apps one when making a film the DOP and effects people wanted a fixes image on the iPhone screen so that they could put in something suitable later. As you may realise when the actor touches the screen it changes which makes the post production hard. I created a little app that had a green screen and position marks on it and everyone on the team thought it was great and asked if it could be in the app store.
Unfortunately an app that does nothing isn't an acceptable app yet its sole purpose was to do nothing and adding functionality or timings would have reduced its utility on set
The second was a companion app to a movie (available in the iTunes store and elsewhere R rated in the US) it had some really cool features allowing you to have the movie synced to the script and display the movie on an airplay device while you followed the script and story boards on your iPad.
Unfortunately the subject matter was considered too risqué for the App store even though the content of the movie was available to purchase in the iTunes store.
I have enjoyed a few discussions about acceptable apps one when making a film the DOP and effects people wanted a fixes image on the iPhone screen so that they could put in something suitable later. As you may realise when the actor touches the screen it changes which makes the post production hard. I created a little app that had a green screen and position marks on it and everyone on the team thought it was great and asked if it could be in the app store.
Unfortunately an app that does nothing isn't an acceptable app yet its sole purpose was to do nothing and adding functionality or timings would have reduced its utility on set
The second was a companion app to a movie (available in the iTunes store and elsewhere R rated in the US) it had some really cool features allowing you to have the movie synced to the script and display the movie on an airplay device while you followed the script and story boards on your iPad.
Unfortunately the subject matter was considered too risqué for the App store even though the content of the movie was available to purchase in the iTunes store.
Have you ever perused the Google Play store? It's an enormous pile of garbage. It's essentially impossible to find a decent app just by browsing or searching. You have to do additional research outside the store and know exactly which app you're looking for in order to find anything that isn't terrible.
being a knock-off of another game isnt a bug, and doesnt even define something as ****. after all, flappy itself is a knock-off.
I've seen updates that claim they are for 8 compatibility, already. Do you mean apps that require 8?
Yeah, cuz, like, bugs are totally obvious and easy to fix ALL the time.
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Yeah, totally! Like maybe they could even make it super easy for everyone and just put that button right in the app. You could just download everything, try it for free enough to check it out, and then decide whether to press that button for the full experience. I've actually thought about this a lot. They could name it "Internal Application Purch-"
Wait, wut?
With hundreds of app submissions per hour, there's only time for a limited number of spot checks for each rule/guideline.
Think about how many more there would be if Apple weren't at least spot checking.
Think about how many more there would be if Apple weren't at least spot checking. But this is really more about incompetent (or occasionally very unlucky) developers. Any competent developer should be doing a ton more thorough device testing than any spot check.
I had an app rejected for reason #1 (More information needed). I simply added a few sentences to the app description and included help info (so that someone even more clueless could figure out how to use the app), and it was quickly approved.
Think about how many more there would be if Apple weren't at least spot checking.
Think about how many more there would be if Apple weren't at least spot checking. But this is really more about incompetent (or occasionally very unlucky) developers. Any competent developer should be doing a ton more thorough device testing than any spot check.
I had an app rejected for reason #1 (More information needed). I simply added a few sentences to the app description and included help info (so that someone even more clueless could figure out how to use the app), and it was quickly approved.
Dose anybody know what the android or google play stores top reasons for rejection when apps are reviewed before released to the public?
App submissions for apps built against iOS 8 should start to be accepted once the GM build is released to developers so that apps being submitted have been built against the anticipated release version. I would be extremely surprised if the iOS 8 / XCode 6 GMs aren't made available immediately following the iOS 8 / iPhone 6 event next Tuesday.
They need to list "Just plain crappiness".
Some friends of mine were being stupid and thought that they would get rich by making a game and they slaved for almost a year making probably the worst game I've ever seen.
They talked about buying houses, and cars, and taking vacations with the millions they'd be making.
Then the app got rejected. As someone who play tested it for them, I knew it would.
It had no way to get back to the main menu, the first submission attempt it was rejected for bad artwork (thats how bad it was. Think, MS Paint with a mouse). It crashed constantly, and it just wasn't fun. It was also only four levels, and one didnt work.
Needless to say they hissed and boohooed and still hold a grudge against apple instead of sucking it up and realizing their game was **** and learning from their mistakes.
They decided to release it on Android where it got a whopping 6 sales...all within the first day, undoubtedly from relatives.
Some friends of mine were being stupid and thought that they would get rich by making a game and they slaved for almost a year making probably the worst game I've ever seen.
They talked about buying houses, and cars, and taking vacations with the millions they'd be making.
Then the app got rejected. As someone who play tested it for them, I knew it would.
It had no way to get back to the main menu, the first submission attempt it was rejected for bad artwork (thats how bad it was. Think, MS Paint with a mouse). It crashed constantly, and it just wasn't fun. It was also only four levels, and one didnt work.
Needless to say they hissed and boohooed and still hold a grudge against apple instead of sucking it up and realizing their game was **** and learning from their mistakes.
They decided to release it on Android where it got a whopping 6 sales...all within the first day, undoubtedly from relatives.
There's some economics going on that don't seem to add up.
Let's say it's 400 per hour, even hour. That's 9600 per day, or 3.5 million apps per year. They're not getting that many, but let's say they are.
Hiring, say, 1000 people at, say, $50k loaded salary, is $50m. For an entire year. To uphold their guidelines, provide a good experience for users and developers. Heck, bump my license from $99 to $129. Let me pay for 'premium' review service.
It's 'good enough' right now, because they control the market, but someone else *might* take an edge at some point (I doubt it in the next couple of years - everyone else seems afraid to do what needs to be done to compete head-on).
But... $50m tops to give a much better experience?
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-it-really-sucks-to-be-an-app-reviewer-for-apple-2012-7
"people think it's ... 100 people... it's much smaller than that".
Perhaps if they paid better or actually recruited and trained? Yeah, it's not the simplest job to do, but... given the literally 10s of billions of dollars, and as a shareholder, it pisses me off that the process is so broken.
What would you want to see in a finder alternative that is lacking from the others? Genuinely interested.
It needs to show more info in fewer windows. It should automatically recognize the best way to present any directory and use that (to the point that the user facing option is removed entirely), it needs to be better at showing deeply nested items (think of what a PITA it is to navigate a Java project, or a large Python module). It needs to be better at recognizing when items are related and show them together. It should replicate more of bash, and in a way that's faster, to the point that bash isn't used anymore. It should be cross platform.
I have plans for how to accomplish all of this and more, and I have written some code to demonstrate each feature, but I don't have the time to actually bring it all together. Already have a day job and already moonlighting as a CTO for a startup.