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Comment by ikawe | Hacker News Reader

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ikawe

>Apps or metadata that mentions the name of any other mobile platform will be rejected

So if I have a cross platform messaging app, I can't say, "syncs with android and Windows phone devices". Really?

>Apps cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind

Ahem Lyft.

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> So if I have a cross platform messaging app, I can't say, "syncs with android and Windows phone devices". Really?

Really[1].

1: http://www.cultofmac.com/320141/apple-rejecting-ios-pebble-a...

> So if I have a cross platform messaging app, I can't say, "syncs with android and Windows phone devices". Really?

You can't say it in the application or its metadata (e.g. appstore listing), no.

> Ahem Lyft.

Report them?

How? With a bad review, or some other method? I didn't see anything on the App Store page, but I might have been looking in the wrong places.

> Report them?

Why? It's a clear win for everyone but Apple to mention cross-platform capabilities when you have them. The iOS store is full of apps that refuse to acknowledge the existence of any non-apple products you might use or want to sync/integrate with.

If anything, you should push back against Apple directly. Good luck....

Edit: disregard, I cannot read.

He means report Lyft for spamming you with promos and ads via notifications.

> Apps cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind

What if that is the whole point of the app? ie we run a deals engine, users who install would be installing exclusively for such content!

Then Apple does not want you in their store?

I figured not... which is why we've never made an app anyway. Fair is fair

That particular rule is pretty universally ignored. Even Apple breaks it [0].

[0]: https://marco.org/2014/12/01/app-store-rule-5-6

> 10.3 Apps that do not use system provided items, such as buttons and icons, correctly and as described in the Apple iOS Human Interface Guidelines may be rejected

Edit: Alright, I'm taking a slaughtering on karma. Point taken. You can implement your own widgets on iOS.

Please accept my apologies to all for my original comment that I thought Google wasn't in compliance and for my misguided interpretation.

"Apps that do not use system provided items...correctly...may be rejected"

[deleted] - I apologize for my misguided interpretation of 10.3, you may implement your own controls. I have taken your point via moderation.

To all whom I have offended, I apologize.

The small studio I work at has shipped numerous apps with non-standard UI and we've had no problems. I think they reserve the option to reject something they find unusable or otherwise objectionable.

I believe, if I'm reading it right, that you can implement your own, but if you use theirs you can't use them incorrectly.

Not even that, such a use may lead to rejection, but won't necessarily do so. Most other rules state that breach will lead to rejection unconditionally. This one is conditional because it's contextual, so that developers correctly use standard controls[0] for regular applications, but can still implement their own controls in e.g. games. There's also a fair bit of leeway for developers with their own "style" e.g. I don't think tapbots uses a single system-standard widget.

[0] and their accessibility support, and "skin" changes with the system's evolution

99.9% sure your reading is not correct. I'm not sure how you read it that way actually, it seems pretty clear. If you choose to use system provided UI objects they must be used the way Apple intends them to be used. For example a user tapping a UIButton expects a certain action to take place. Using buttons to display text (not perform in actions) in place of the correct object (UILabel) would lead to rejection.

Got it. I have never tried submitting an app that implemented my own controls other than using the iOS supplied ones, so I'm not speaking from experience.

>but part of me believes that if it were any publisher other than Google or Adobe, acceptance of an app that implemented its own widgets and UI contrary to the uniform look of iOS apps would be on the whims of the reviewer.

There are like 300.000 apps on the App Store with their custom UI contrary to iOS look -- including truly hideous items.

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