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Why can Apple reject your mobile application for its app store? And the new appeal process

by Eshwar Natarajan in General

With over2 million apps now in the iOS app store, entering such a crowded market is not an easy feat. Each day more and more mobile applications are being built and are sent for approval. To get published they must pass Apple’s rigorous review process. It is not always easy to find out what you need to do in order to avoid the rejection of your application as there are multiple guidelines that need to be strictly followed.

To understand how applications, get rejected we must understand reasons and guidelines of app store rejection. The review and rejection of application occur at two levels

• Technical related 
• Content related 

Each of these categories have different guidelines on which the application is assessed. 

Technical reasons:

• Bugs and crashes: Apple does not take it too kindly to application that have obvious bugs or that crash while being tested by it’s team. Unstable performance or crashes is a straight cause for rejection.
• Poor interface and performance: It doesn’t matter how beautiful your application looks it fails to provide a smooth user interface and performance.  Since this results in users being unhappy with choppy navigation and bad interface, apple might reject the App.
• Privacy: Apple has a very strict privacy policy for all applications that appear in the iOS app store. It includes:

• Placing the privacy policy statement in the applications metadata.
• Presenting an explanation of your data retention policies.
• Allowing users to withdraw consent on data collection.
  • Apple specially stresses that the app must include direct links to support with contact information and also should have links to a privacy policy page.

• Hardware and software compatibility: Your app should not have any problems working on latest systems software and hardware. This means that the apps designed must have cross hardware or OS compatibility. 
• Payment system: If your application has in-app purchase for additional features and requires payments then that transaction must go through Apple’s official in-app purchasing system. You must be aware about the payment system while shifting from website to iOS app as websites have different payment solutions. Neglecting this can lead to rejection of your application.

Content Related Reasons:

• Copied application or content: Don’t even think of copying content or modeling your application on existing apps in the App store, as this would result in rejecting your application. Apple wants you to create and deliver unique and original content to users.
• Presence of placeholder content: If there is presence of placeholder data in the receiving end of the application then it is a sign that the app is still incomplete. This makes the reviewer dig deep to find more and in the end it results in the rejection of your application. 
• Inaccurate description: Giving proper description about your application is crucial because describing features that do not exist in your app can mislead the user. Providing incorrect information related to your app can result in serious action by the Apple’s review team. 

What to do if your App is rejected?

If your app is rejected and if you would like to question the review team, then a couple of options are available: 

• The first option is to contact the resolution center and you will receive more information on your app rejection, including any specific app review guidelines missed by Application Review
• The next option is to appeal the rejection of the app if you believe that functionally or technical implementation was misunderstood by the review time. You can write your queries in the appeal section of the app store. To login and apply for appeal you would require your apple developer ID which you used to submit the application for review. 
• Or the final option is requesting expedited review where you will be assisted in the entire process of fixing bugs and errors of your app.

To avoid the hassle of application rejection then going through the entire process of appeal it safe that you take help of an industry expert. Talk to us, our experts will not only guide you through the approval process, but also develop a high-quality application as per your requirements which follows Apple’s guidelines and standards.

Interested? Then contact our team at info@nuagebiz.tech to know more how we can help you.