Apple answers app developers’ frustrations with 10 reasons for rejections

2 Sep 2014

Apple has released a 10-point list outlining some of the most common reasons why the consumer tech titan rejects apps.

While some of the reasons might not come as a surprise, Apple is still keeping shtum with regard to detailed explanations of why it refuses to publish apps.

A pie chart of the main reasons why Apple rejects apps, however, shows that in 14pc of cases, ‘more information was needed’.

On top of this, 42pc of apps have been rejected with little explanation other than it didn’t qualify because of ‘other reasons’.

Eight per cent of apps have been rejected because of Apple’s guideline 2.2 relating to the appearances of bugs or significant glitches in the app, while 6pc of apps have been refused for lacking a clean and easy-to-use interface.

Perhaps one of the most interesting reasons mentioned in the rejection list is that a developer’s app may not have the ‘lasting value’ to be considered for inclusion on Apple’s App Store.

According to Apple, if an app only caters to a small niche market, it is unlikely to be approved, citing that the already available apps on the market are a guide as to what developers should create.

Last February, bitcoin users criticised Apple after it pulled Blockchain, the most widely used bitcoin apps, from the App Store for seemingly no reason. One of its developers claimed the company was “focused on preserving Apple’s monopoly on payments”.

Reject button image via Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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