Apple Updates App Store Guidelines, Calls Out 'Creepy' Apps for Exclusion
Apple today updated its App Store review guidelines ahead of the launch of iPhone 6 and iOS 8, adding sections for new features such as extensions, HealthKit, HomeKit and TestFlight. Additionally, Apple tweaked its introductory remark to specifically call out "creepy" apps as unwelcome in the App Store.
We have over a million Apps in the App Store. If your App doesn't do something useful, unique or provide some form of lasting entertainment, or if your app is plain creepy, it may not be accepted.
The new guidelines, primarily in sections 25 through 28, outline what use of the new features would get an app rejected from the App Store. For instance, extensions must provide some functionality and must remain functional without network access. Keyboard extensions can only collect user data for improving the functionality of the keyboard and nothing else.
The sections for both HealthKit and HomeKit include guidelines for user data, with apps using HomeKit not allowed to collect any sort of user data for advertising and data mining while HealthKit is only allowed to collect data with a user's permission. TestFlight guidelines include limitations on distribution and compensation for beta testers.
Additionally, Apple added some notes to its Metadata section for the App Store's new app previews feature, noting that apps may only use video screen captures for previews and that app previews cannot display personal information without permission.
iOS 8 will be included on the iPhone 6 reportedly arriving later this month and likely launch a few days earlier for current devices.
Popular Stories
The iPhone is Apple's top-selling product, and it gets an update every year. In 2024, we're expecting the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineup, with an arguably more interesting feature set than we got with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Capture Button All four iPhone 16 models are set to get a whole new button, which will be...
Apple is widely expected to release new iPad Air and OLED iPad Pro models in the next few weeks. According to new rumors coming out of Asia, the company will announce its new iPads on Tuesday, March 26. Chinese leaker Instant Digital on Weibo this morning 日发布%23">claimed that the date will see some sort of announcement from Apple related to new iPads, but stopped short of calling it an...
Apple suppliers will begin production of two new fourth-generation AirPods models in May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Based on this production timeframe, he expects the headphones to be released in September or October. Gurman expects both fourth-generation AirPods models to feature a new design with better fit, improved sound quality, and an updated charging case with a USB-C...
Resale value trends suggest the iPhone SE 4 may not hold its value as well as Apple's flagship models, according to SellCell. According to the report, Apple's iPhone SE models have historically depreciated much more rapidly than the company's more premium offerings. The third-generation iPhone SE, which launched in March 2022, experienced a significant drop in resale value, losing 42.6%...
MacRumors was first to report that Apple was planning to rebrand "Apple ID" to "Apple Account" across its software platforms and websites like iCloud.com as early as this year, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has corroborated this change. A mockup of the new Apple Account branding In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new "Apple Account" branding will start to be used later this...
iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 should be released within the next few days, with a build number of 21E235, according to a source with a proven track record. MacRumors previously reported that Apple was internally testing iOS 17.4.1. As a minor update for the iPhone, it will likely address software bugs and/or security vulnerabilities. It is unclear if the update will include any other changes. ...
Top Rated Comments
I feel like I used to find cool apps a while back, but not as much anymore. Maybe I need to find some review site or something.
- "We view Apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical App."
- "If your App looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or you're trying to get your first practice App into the store to impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection. We have lots of serious developers who don't want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour."
- "We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, "I'll know it when I see it". And we think that you will also know it when you cross it."
- "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."
- "2.11 Apps that duplicate Apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them, such as fart, burp, flashlight, and Kama Sutra Apps"
- "14.2 Professional political satirists and humorists are exempt from the ban on offensive or mean-spirited commentary"
- "15.5 Apps that include games of Russian roulette will be rejected"
- "18.1 Apps containing pornographic material, defined by Webster's Dictionary as "explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings", will be rejected"
:D
Yeah seriously! The resizable iPhone simulators are garbage and impossible to really design around.