App Store Review: 15 attempts of the first release or “You will not pass!”
Only 15 rejects of the first version of the application and we are in the App Store. Below is a description of what was encountered, how the comments were eliminated and what myths were debunked.
Briefly about the application
The idea: to develop an application to connect to a VPN at a more affordable price by comparison.
Development: the implementation took 4 weeks and 3 people who divided the work on UI / UX, BackEnd, Mobile Development and App Testing.
App Store Review: 3.5 months and 15 attempts.
Myths, facts and riddles on the way to release
If the Developer Account already has Ready for Sale applications, then the next Review will be less painful.
In our case, the application was already the 3rd, but we did not feel the beneficiaries. And more recently, colleagues have mentioned services that help with distribute iOS applications, arguing that they have a Developer Account with an application already filled in earlier, which means subsequent fills of other applications will be much easier and faster. What is your secret, guys?
Human factor
Understand the full power of the human factor In Review, you can receive a comment about the screenshots. It is important to remember that the screenshots should not only correspond to their Guideline, but also to please the moderator. And this automatically means that you can not rush to redo them. Perhaps the next moderator will like them more. Especially if you have Panoramic Screenshots.
Reject in 90% of cases in the case
The first thought in case of refusals at the initial stages was: “well, what do they not like again? yet perfect! ", and later changed to" something we have not yet taken into account. " For example, IPv6 support, which must have, but from the 1st time we forgot about it. Or the presence of a mandatory page about accepting the terms of the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions at the start of the application, since the presence of the phrase "By connecting you accept ..." is no longer enough.
Appeal denials: FOR and AGAINST
Appeal failures no one forbids. And sometimes it is simply necessary, because we remember about the human factor. Another thing is if the appeal is hopeless and the sooner you understand it, the better. This happens, for example, when you spied on something from a neighbor in a niche in the App Store and argue: "why can he, but I can not." According to Guideline, VPN applications can be poured only from the organization account. And do not be confused by the tons of VPN applications from an individual that can be found on the App Store. The moderator will politely answer that the company is doing everything so that this does not happen, therefore agree with the rules or do not come. Of course, in this case, you can rely on the human factor, and suddenly the next one will miss. We have with 2 attempts failed.
Riddles that have remained riddles
Working with an in-app purchase is always exciting. A review of such applications is exciting. Our story on this item coincided with the period of iTunes Connect update. Immediately after, the newly created sandbox users were invalid. And if you believe the forums, this is a common problem. Therefore, when the refusal was received, due to the unsuccessful subscription, there was no doubt that this was the problem. To argue “it’s your sandbox is not working” turned out to be ineffective: they immediately send to support. When the sandbox nevertheless was resurrected and there was no longer any doubt that this review was a success, a refusal was received for the exact same reason. And worst of all, when you played the identical case, everything worked for us. No demo-video in our correspondence helped. Shopping does not work and point.
As a result, the application has already been in the process of review for the 3rd month. Especially the functional improvements were not made, but during this time the library for In-App Purchase has been updated 2nd. Among the Release Note, it was possible to meet the fix bugs exactly with our case.
Thus, 2 problems were blurred into one and it remained a mystery how the In-App Purchase is checked. Was it really a problem with the sandbox, which smoothly turned into a problem with the library? Or does the sandbox not participate in the review, it just coincided, and the whole problem was originally in the code?
"You will not pass!"
The long-awaited release did take place, but without the Chinese market.
It includes content that is illegal in China. It has been approved that it has been approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). You have not provided a valid license from the MIIT.
At the end
Do you also think that the App Store Review is not as easy as it used to be? Or is it because VPN? Share your experience and maybe rejects in this world will be less.