My company is about to start the development for an app iOS, android and WebGL. It’s not actually a game, it’s a simple architecture design thingy, kinda. We have a feeling that the bottleneck will be to go throughApple’s reviewing process as this will be a first for us. It just happens that I am the one that have to make sure it goes smoothly.
Do you guys have a list of dos and donts, the stuff that we should avoid at all cost and the things that we need to do for that purpose ? I didn’t find much information on the web so far.
You best bet is to review the actual guide from Apple:
I was rejected once due to an orientation flaw. I didn’t thoroughly test my app when I got it on the device. So! Make sure you do that before you submit it.
Good luck!
I had no problems with the review process with my game. Biggest problem was just the long wait to go from Waiting For Review to In Review (takes up to 10 days sometimes).
Obviously content violations won’t be an issue for you (or at least, I hope they wouldn’t be). Just make sure your meta complies with their standards, like not mentioning other platforms anywhere, and if you’re collecting personal information of any kind, make it clear to the user what that is in the app or in your linked privacy policy.
Dealing with Apple will be a headache no matter how experienced you are with them, different reviewers on different days will have their own opinion on what is wrong with your app. I can only suggest that you submit a basic version first that is not released and update it gradually with every major feature. This will allow you to get feedback from apple as you design the app rather than an entire list of things once it’s done.
I don’t agree with this. I think the number one problem people run into is when something goes against the content guidelines.
Yes, Apple can be a bit arbitrary with enforcing the guidelines. While they clearly state you can’t have guns, gore, or excessive violence, there are a ton of games that have these things in them. But that’s within their right to reject the app based on this, and you have the ability to appeal their decisions.
Additionally, lots of developers get their submissions rejected for silly things like using disallowed words in their meta, including names of competitors (I.E., Android) or words like Beta, which suggest your app is incomplete.
Maybe I just got lucky, but I had my app approved repeatedly without any problems. Biggest pain, as I said, was the long wait times before it even gets reviewed.
Nor do I. I’ve only ever had an issue once, and that’s with an app I knew wasn’t finished.
This. Their guidelines are straightforward enough, and written in a manner that’s pretty easy to test against. So… make sure you do that. Do it at least once for your design up front to make sure you’re building the right thing, then do it again for your implementation to make sure you’ve built the thing right.
Basically, all of the stuff in Apple’s guidelines just become additional requirements for your app. If a client had given you that list then how would you handle the things on it? Do the same thing here.
Completely agree with you, but on multiple occasions I have had an app rejected for something that existed within a similar app submitted around the same period. The headache I get is from their automatic style responses, not sure about you but I don’t like to talk to someone who sounds like a machine.
@alexisrabadan Never having been rejected (humble brag), I can’t speak to their automated-style responses. I think we’d all prefer to talk with real people, sure, but for things like rejection notices, and when considering the sheer volume of content Apple has to deal with every day, I think their system is fair. You can respond to the automated-style response and your appeal is evaluated by a real person. I don’t know if they send another automated-style response or what the case is there, but I do know that real people are involved in the decision.
As far as the arbitrary nature of them enforcing the content guidelines, that’s just how it is. I think the biggest deciding factor when comparing two games that contain the same violations (let’s say, in this case, it’s guns and shooting people) is quality.
Game A is made by a small but professional studio, is highly polished, and has real sales potential. Meanwhile, Game B is Unity Joe’s first game, uses a bit too many primitives and Asset Store content, and has a UI that looks like it was handcrafted by a Kindergartner. I don’t think it’s any surprise which one passes and which one doesn’t in that scenario.