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Apple just rejected my app saying the following:

"Upon further review, your app's previous submission was improperly rejected for 11.1. Since the sensor functionality of your app is dependent on the associated hardware, it would be appropriate to offer the sensor functionality to all users through achievements or In App Purchase."

Does this mean, I should resubmit the first version because it was ok?

If not, do I have to implement achievements from the Game Center, or what kind of achievements do they mean?

Any thoughts that can help me to get this app on the App Store?

Thank you

Additional information:

first version

In the first version I had "a kind of"-achievement, where users can provide a code they receive with the purchased associated hardware. And they could buy this functionality if they wanted to test for example the device of a friend or a public one.

Rejected: Because they claimed that the user can bypass the purchase of the function by providing a code.

second version

In the second version I took out the In App Purchase because we do not want that our clients need to pay again.

Rejected: see above.

dfinki
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1 Answers1

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From my experience with the App Store I can say that except for some definite rules (no pornography, hate speech, etc...) most of the review process and decisions are ambiguous and inconsistent.

In fact Apple's App Store policy is vague on purpose so they can exercise a bit of freedom with App rejections. However, from my own anecdotal experience and research, they've always been fair. I have yet to come across an issue where they've rejected an app without having a valid reason for it.

In your case, I believe your app was rejected the first time around since a user could bypass a purchase through purchasing something outside the App Store environment. This means you could sell your code without going through in app purchases and having Apple get its 30% share. This will most likely get rejected again if you submit it.

I'm a bit unclear on what happened with the second case..

Reza Shirazian
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  • in the second case I only had the the code possibility. I for now do not really now don't know how I can solve this problem. Without having to force our clients who already spent 250,-€ for the hardware to buy the functionality. and without giving out the functionality to everybody for free. any suggestions? – dfinki Oct 27 '14 at 17:19
  • @dfinki Perhaps you could submit two apps, and set a higher price for the app with the hardware functionality. – Reza Shirazian Oct 27 '14 at 17:21
  • I don't see that solving my problem. The free app would work as the second version does, because I still need to verify if a user has bought the product, and therefore get rejected. The "not free" app would probably get accepted. But is not what my company wants for the clients who already spent 250,-€ for the device. – dfinki Oct 27 '14 at 17:47
  • Why do you need to verify if the user has bought the product? Does the app only works with the product? If yes, then do you really need to verify that the user has purchased the product? You can always get in touch with apple directly and explain your circumstance to them. They may take awhile to respond, but they will respond eventually. Perhaps if they know and understand your issue they can be of better assistant. – Reza Shirazian Oct 27 '14 at 20:09
  • yes the app only works with the product. and you can buy the product for your personal use, and if you do so the app's functionality shall be free, therefore we deliver the code with the product. But the product will also be publicly available, and in these cases users should buy the functionality to contribute to the work. Also this is kind of a security feature, so that if people copy the product they at least need to pay for the functionality in the app. – dfinki Oct 27 '14 at 21:40