Apple's App Store Review Guidelines Offer Remarkably Candid View of App Store Philosophy

Just a short time ago, Apple announced that it is making some changes to the App Store review process, and among the changes is publication of the company's App Store Review Guidelines, offering developers a more transparent look at how their app submissions are examined by Apple's team of reviewers.

Engadget has re-published the guidelines, in which Apple utilizes a remarkably direct and candid tone in the introduction in an attempt to connect with developers.

Okay, so while Apple's tone throughout the guidelines is extremely direct, the highlights definitely come from the introduction, where the company basically lays it down:

- "We have lots of kids downloading lots of apps, and parental controls don't work unless the parents set them up (many don't). So know that we're keeping an eye out for the kids."
- "We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don't need any more Fart apps."
- "We have lots of serious developers who don't want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour."
- "If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps."
- "This is a living document, and new apps presenting new questions may result in new rules at any time. Perhaps your app will trigger this."
- "If it sounds like we're control freaks, well, maybe it's because we're so committed to our users and making sure they have a quality experience with our products."

The meat of the document consists of a multi-page list of well over 100 brief, to-the-point guidelines broken down into sections that primarily provide developers with concrete reasons why their apps might be rejected, but also offer a few tips about specific situations to define what may be permitted.