An open thread/rant about Apple's approval processes
Sparkyidr
Member Posts: 2,033
After seeing a thread earlier today about a game that WAS approved, despite being containing blatant copyright infringements, it got me thinking about how flakey the whole approval process is.
At times, it seems like all they do is check to see if something crashes or not, at others, it seems like the app-nazis are checking out an app.
Case in point....
We had an app, Rodger the Raccoon, which was basically a nice looking swearing soundboard. We had a pretend Disney animated opening, and we tried to give the whole thing a very Disney like feel......whilst obviously not breaking any copywrite. (almost in a satirical way...hey look at this cute raccoon saying filthy things)
Anyways.
Round 1, we were rejected because we had used the Disney font in the opening animation. Fair enough, we should have known better there. So we removed it, and were approved.
A few months down the line, we realised there were a few glaring errors in the app, and we also wanted to re-launch it as a free app after the changes had been made. So rather then just doing an update, we decided on a total re-launch.
So.....after fixing up the errors, and chucking some iads in, we re-subbmitted as a new app.
Round 1 (again), we were rejected. The reason being that we "had used assets belonging to the Disney corporation"....we hadn't by the way. We were also rejected on the grounds that the app was too profane and vulgar, and we should read the rules regarding such apps. Those rules state that any app with vulgar, offensive and overly profane language be given a 17+ rating........which we HAD done, but that they also could reject such apps at their discretion.
I asked them to clarify which assets they believed to be owned by Disney.
A week later they responded, but rather than giving me the specifics I had asked for, just said that the Disney Corporation had shown to be unhappy about apps using their imagery in the past and that we should remove it.
!!!
So...all I could glean from that was that Apple were a bit itchy that Disney would try to sue them if anything could be even slightly confused with one of their products.
With that in mind, I made a bit of a guess, and removed the opening animation.
The animation was of a castle much like the disney one from the 80's in style...but very different in structure, and was made from scratch by us.
I re-submitted.
Round 2. We were rejected.
This time though, there was no mention of Disney....hurrah!
But we were still rejected because of all the bad and crude language in the app. Even with a 17+ rating, they still rejected.
My point to all this you might ask???
Well. The approval process seems far to arbitrary, and dependant on who you get looking at your app on the day.
The same app as mentioned above could be accepted, or rejected.
And as an earlier thread on here has shown, apps which blatantly disregard any copyright law can get through.
Would love to hear any of your rejection stories, or just general thoughts on the whole process.
At times, it seems like all they do is check to see if something crashes or not, at others, it seems like the app-nazis are checking out an app.
Case in point....
We had an app, Rodger the Raccoon, which was basically a nice looking swearing soundboard. We had a pretend Disney animated opening, and we tried to give the whole thing a very Disney like feel......whilst obviously not breaking any copywrite. (almost in a satirical way...hey look at this cute raccoon saying filthy things)
Anyways.
Round 1, we were rejected because we had used the Disney font in the opening animation. Fair enough, we should have known better there. So we removed it, and were approved.
A few months down the line, we realised there were a few glaring errors in the app, and we also wanted to re-launch it as a free app after the changes had been made. So rather then just doing an update, we decided on a total re-launch.
So.....after fixing up the errors, and chucking some iads in, we re-subbmitted as a new app.
Round 1 (again), we were rejected. The reason being that we "had used assets belonging to the Disney corporation"....we hadn't by the way. We were also rejected on the grounds that the app was too profane and vulgar, and we should read the rules regarding such apps. Those rules state that any app with vulgar, offensive and overly profane language be given a 17+ rating........which we HAD done, but that they also could reject such apps at their discretion.
I asked them to clarify which assets they believed to be owned by Disney.
A week later they responded, but rather than giving me the specifics I had asked for, just said that the Disney Corporation had shown to be unhappy about apps using their imagery in the past and that we should remove it.
!!!
So...all I could glean from that was that Apple were a bit itchy that Disney would try to sue them if anything could be even slightly confused with one of their products.
With that in mind, I made a bit of a guess, and removed the opening animation.
The animation was of a castle much like the disney one from the 80's in style...but very different in structure, and was made from scratch by us.
I re-submitted.
Round 2. We were rejected.
This time though, there was no mention of Disney....hurrah!
But we were still rejected because of all the bad and crude language in the app. Even with a 17+ rating, they still rejected.
My point to all this you might ask???
Well. The approval process seems far to arbitrary, and dependant on who you get looking at your app on the day.
The same app as mentioned above could be accepted, or rejected.
And as an earlier thread on here has shown, apps which blatantly disregard any copyright law can get through.
Would love to hear any of your rejection stories, or just general thoughts on the whole process.
Comments
You pushed the envelope and apple rejected.
Maybe at the beginning, when they needed apps, it would have passed but quite frankly, if a reviewer "feels-as-if" s/he was playing a Disney game then you shouldn't be surprised at how they handled it.
Personally, I dislike apps that use bad language especially if such apps are given away for free.
Children copy and mimic the sentences and nothing good comes of it.
Sorry to see that you put so much time into creating the artwork but this should have been caught at the design stage.
The times of fart pianos are over. Thank God!
Let's connect the dots...
1 - Steve Jobs does seem to be the largest Disney shareholder.
2 - Steamboat Ventures is the venture capitalist arm of Disney.
3 - Steamboat Ventures invested a lot of money in GameSalad.
Very interesting. It reminds me of The Question.
"Hey Mike, you've just got the #1 app on the app store. What are you going to do next?!"
"I'm going to Disneyland!"
HA HA! That's just a joke, but it certainly does seem like an appropriate way to celebrate
just to clarify, the thread is not really about me being bitter about being rejected or anything. It's more about inconsistencies in the process.
We had already had the same app approved, less than 6 months earlier.