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A Tumblr developer on the App Store approval process

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21–30 of 165 posts

Re: A Tumblr developer on the App Store approval process

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC the most popular Reddit app on iOS is Apollo, which is just a solo developer.

I doubt this, Reddit has had their own app for years now and every Reddit mobile page on the web nags you to download it

The official reddit app is garbage. Apollo is a genuinely good app and people recommend it heavily on reddit itself.

Spamming users is not always a good tactic.

Re: A Tumblr developer on the App Store approval process

#23
post #20

Last week we published a news article advertising a holiday deal for our premium subscription. Of course, our app shows our news articles. So the following day, while we were submitting a bug fix release, a reviewer rejected the app on the grounds that it advertised a premium service that was not available via Apple’s IAP subscriptions. We later found out they were talking about the news article preview tile. Their d…

The other side of this coin are apps that blatantly show banners on opening them to go to their website and purchase a subscription for cheaper. I reported one such app a few times to Apple (using the new report an issue feature on the App Store). It’s probably been at least a couple of months, and that app still continues to do the same. It’s very clear that the rules are arbitrary and are not enforced uniformly. Ap…

No post body was provided.

Re: A Tumblr developer on the App Store approval process

#25
I agree that it seems unfair that Tumblr has to deal with this while Twitter for example does not. Nonetheless, IMO it's not without reason. At least as of not long ago, it was much easier to accidentally bump into or see recommendations for adult content in Tumblr than in other social media. There's plenty of memes about "girls" being a banned term now, but Tumblr was notoriously full of CSAM.

I don't know if and how much Tumblr has improved in these fronts recently, but say what you will about Reddit, Twitter, etc. if you don't look for sexual material, you won't have it on your feed. They're also very good at keeping illicit material out of the platform.

I really hope Tumblr gets better at moderation. Outright banning a bunch of terms like this sounds like a desperate attempt at just getting rid of porn after years of not being able to control it, but far from an actual moderation strategy.

Re: A Tumblr developer on the App Store approval process

#26

> In the case of Tumblr, this would be a reviewer going to search, typing in something like 'tits’ and finding porn. Just want to emphasize this part. App Store Reviewers are completely asinine. Like, dumb as a rock. It’d almost be funny if their stupidity didn’t block your app approval. To be explicitly clear: if your app contains UGC, they will explicitly go and search for things to ding you on, and then fault you…

How do Reddit and Twitter pass the App Store review process? I'm pretty sure you can trivially find porn by searching for it.

Re: A Tumblr developer on the App Store approval process

#27

> In the case of Tumblr, this would be a reviewer going to search, typing in something like 'tits’ and finding porn. Just want to emphasize this part. App Store Reviewers are completely asinine. Like, dumb as a rock. It’d almost be funny if their stupidity didn’t block your app approval. To be explicitly clear: if your app contains UGC, they will explicitly go and search for things to ding you on, and then fault you…

> App Store Reviewers are completely asinine

I recently had an interaction with a food delivery customer care executive (many like this; of other businesses as well) and the kind of conversation I had with them it seemed to me that someone must have flattened the brain matter with a rock before stuffing it back inside their skulls.

Then it dawned upon me. Nope. They just are as much a victim of these huge corps and their lawyers and their policies that any slip could mean losing their jobs if it turned out that they didn't toe the written line by the letter.

Re: A Tumblr developer on the App Store approval process

#28

> In the case of Tumblr, this would be a reviewer going to search, typing in something like 'tits’ and finding porn. Just want to emphasize this part. App Store Reviewers are completely asinine. Like, dumb as a rock. It’d almost be funny if their stupidity didn’t block your app approval. To be explicitly clear: if your app contains UGC, they will explicitly go and search for things to ding you on, and then fault you…

How do Reddit and Twitter pass the App Store review process? I'm pretty sure you can trivially find porn by searching for it.

Have designed and built apps for several high profile brands.

When you are big enough: apple occasionally send an engineer to share upcoming features, or nudge you in a direction they are keen to promote (2018 it was all AR) and at this point someone in C-Suite has a human contact to smooth out App Store BS.

So OP is correct in that it’s about size/apple seeing you as an asset and not a problem - they want those shiny family friendly releases for advertising material.

I used to think the App Store governance was a good idea. I no longer do.

Re: A Tumblr developer on the App Store approval process

#29
post #20

Last week we published a news article advertising a holiday deal for our premium subscription. Of course, our app shows our news articles. So the following day, while we were submitting a bug fix release, a reviewer rejected the app on the grounds that it advertised a premium service that was not available via Apple’s IAP subscriptions. We later found out they were talking about the news article preview tile. Their d…

The other side of this coin are apps that blatantly show banners on opening them to go to their website and purchase a subscription for cheaper. I reported one such app a few times to Apple (using the new report an issue feature on the App Store). It’s probably been at least a couple of months, and that app still continues to do the same. It’s very clear that the rules are arbitrary and are not enforced uniformly. Ap…

Why would you report such a thing? Cut out the middleman.

Re: A Tumblr developer on the App Store approval process

#30
It's appalling to me that iOS developers still exist after all the hoops you have to jump through to get an iOS app out. I'm a web developer that got roped into developing and then publishing a react native app for android and iOS. The android process was relatively painless compared to the crap Apple has you do. For starters, you can't even produce an app build without running on iOS, so the company had to procure an old Mac just so we could compile. Once I got Xcode set up, I learn that I need to connect to an iPhone as a target device in order to build. Thank god for small companies and being able to get things done quick. Another hoop and painful 30-40 minute compile times later (for a relatively small app mind you, also caching didn't seem to help whatsoever cause even back to back compiles were still slow as hell), we finally get out a build out on TestFlight, only to wait an undisclosed amount of time for Apple's approval.

I realize these aren't issues if you're already drunk on the Apple Kool-aid and have the latest Mac with the latest iPhone. Then these barely seem like hurdles, but to someone who hasn't already sold their soul to Apple, publishing an iOS app should not be this difficult.

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