Just got my app rejected because it ask the user to register on startup

Question

I've just received an email from apple saying that the app I submitted to the App Store a week ago has been rejected. The text of the email is reprinted below:

Thank you for submitting iDealwine App to the App Store.   We've completed the review of your app, however, we cannot post this version to the App Store because it requires customers to register with personal information without providing account-based features. Applications cannot require user registration prior to allowing access to app features and content; such user registration must be optional and tied to account-based functionality, as required by the App Store Review Guidelines https://developer.apple.com/appstore/resources/approval/guidelines.html:

      17.2   Apps that require users to share personal information, such as email address and date of birth, in order to function will be rejected   Additionally,  we need additional information about your app and In App Purchase.   Please take some time to review the following questions and provide as detailed information as you can.

-Please provide more information on the length of the Subscription provided by iDealWine App.

-Where is the In App Purchase located?

If you have any questions about this information, or would like to discuss it further, > please feel free to reply to this email.   To appeal this review, please submit a request to the App Review Board at http://developer.apple.com/appstore/resources/approval/contact.html.

We look forward to reviewing your revised app.

The first reason is clear enought but I still wonder if just adding an alternative for the user to sign-in using an existing login/password will solve the issue. So there will be login or register alternative.

For the second reason I don't understand why they have rejected the in-app purchase.

Solution 1

There seem to be a few reviewers who won't let anything through if there's even a tiny chance it might not be 'by the book'. What they are saying with the first section is that:

Your app is asking for credentials, and then it is not obvious that you are providing any extra functionality. It'd be like putting in your twitter password to do a google search.

As for their second section - Sounds like they just want a longer description. What does the in app purchase do? Why is the functionality of benefit to the users?

App store reviews can suck, but normally if you just keep hammering away, you can get through.

Good luck,

Zane

Solution 2

To get pass the reviewers, you might want to have your app provide some basic useful functionality even to someone who will not enter any login or ID. For instance, banking apps in the App store provide maps to the nearest bank branch, banks web site, etc., for someone who has no account with which to login on startup and never will.

Comments

[clide313]

The client really want that registration form. Do you think that adding login option will do the trick or the app may be rejected as well?

[hotpaw2]

Making the registration form and any login optional and easy to skip, and still have the app be useful? Seems OK.

[clide313]

Thanks that's done the trick.