26 ms·

Avoid the Apple App Store

223 points by jonatanheyman 5y ago

realo 5y ago
This app contains a large dictionary of swedish words. Could it be possible that it is rejected simply because none of the reviewers know swedish well enough to guarantee that there is no “taboo “ word in the list?
pinephoneguy 5y ago
The App store is one of the most disappointing things to happen to personal computers. Instead of empowering indie devs it shut them out and empowered corporations.
- ravenstine 5y ago
  What's crazy to me is that Apple could still win over a ton of developers by actually listening to the sentiment and responding to it. As someone who's been dabbling in native development after over a decade of JavaScript/Ruby/Python/PHP, the iOS development toolchain does seem quite nice even though I don't own an iPhone. If Apple quit with the highway robbery and took the unfairness of their system seriously, I might actually want to buy an iPhone and work on building iOS apps. But with Apple taking a massive cut of revenue and having this inconsistent and headachey review process, why would I do that? Life is too short. For many, that's still their thing, but there are easier ways to write code and get it out there. iPhones aren't the end all and be all of app development.
JanNash 5y ago
This is infuriating. I've also had my fair bit of trouble with App Store Review but your this really takes the freaking biscuit. C'mon y'all, let's get this post some visibility.
tragictrash 5y ago
This is why I'll never buy an apple device. I know Google does it too, but apple is worse.
- shakezula 5y ago
  What makes apple worse? In my experience, google is far and away the more sinister brand.
  - gjsman-1000 5y ago
    Not to mention, their Google Play Store curation, they don't even bother with removing clones of any kind unless they get a threat sent to the Legal department.
  - tragictrash 5y ago
    No alternate app stores or way to sideload. God you fanboys are insufferable. Every time I post about not being able to sideload, I get people coming out of the woodwork to argue with me about what defines side loading or some other pedantic take so they can defend their iDentiy. Am I wrong?
- pinephoneguy 5y ago
  They're both unacceptably bad and I'd go without a phone if I had to choose between the two.
- viktorcode 5y ago
  Personally I prefer Apple because there are human reviewers I can appeal to. The option which does not exist if you are rejected by Google's algorithm.
- hinkley 5y ago
  A decade later, it still remains the case that most of the users who are willing to spend money are on the Apple platform. On the question of whether Apple should be more like Google, the answer has again and again, from Apple, from pundits, from financial analysis been 'oh hell no'. You are free not to use Apple. The fact that people keep talking about how they aren't using apple isn't the freedom flag waving you think it is. If you all have to keep bringing it up then it's living rent-free in your head. I don't know if it's jealousy, or wanting to have your cake and eat it to, or what else is going on. I don't use Facebook, but you don't hear me talking about it all the time (talking about having to deal with Facebook users is another matter). In retail 'customers' who don't buy anything aren't customers. They are 'loitering' and many companies have a policy for encouraging people who are not actually shopping to leave. Traffic that does not result in revenue is overhead at best, opportunity cost at worst. A certain amount of overhead has always been tolerated as goodwill or advertising, but in any arena of life there is always someone who tries to take advantage of goodwill efforts. Customers who don't use apps at all are fine. They aren't costing us anything. Customers that buy lots of apps are great. Customers who just want free stuff all the time are bad news. Especially because they become more expensive when the free stuff ends up causing them problems, which they feel entitled to complain about. Tech support calls are more expensive than most of us realize.
eps 5y ago
Well, this does look like a straight Wordle copy. It is also disingenious to say that's a copy of Lingo, when it's bloody obvious it's a Wordle clone. The fact that other clones were approved by Apple points at another issue.
- jonatanheyman 5y ago
  What's your opinion on the Minesweeper clones? Shouldn't they be allowed on the App Store? What about Scrabble? Or Tetris? Also - like the post says - the app is in Swedish with a Swedish dictionary. Wordle is unplayable for anyone who doesn't speak English. Point taken about the wording though, I've updated the blog post to say: "I figured I could make a Swedish Wordle-style game myself"
  - gjsman-1000 5y ago
    Microsoft does not have an official Minesweeper application for iOS, never has, and probably never will, so clones are more acceptable in that case. Scrabble and Tetris are actually trademarked names and have official applications as far as I know. They can sue any competitor for trademark infringement. There are competitors like "Block Puzzle," but they may predate the official Tetris for presence, but I'm not certain on that. > "What’s even less surprising is how (little) Apple apply their Guidelines when it comes to their own apps" (from post) Actually, I think any resemblance is forced (particularly with the Translate app) and that the design decisions are more logically-based than copying. How else would you make a Translate app by Apple look?
    - salamandersauce 5y ago
      Several of those are clearly ripping off assets from Windows minesweeper. Which is worse than mimicking gameplay. There's also no Wordle iOS app either, just a website. Apple also happily accepted 2048 which is pretty much a straight up clone of the earlier Threes.
    - scarface74 5y ago
      I bought a Tetris game from EA back when I had an original iPod Touch when the App Store was first introduced. It was a one time purchase. It was never updated for larger screens and disappeared with the 32 bit to 64 bit transition. Of course EA released another version around the iPhone 5 with ads an in-app purchases (?)
blakesterz 5y ago
I don't exactly agree with many of the points made in that post, BUT, I think this was the paragraph that made the best point: "But even if you disagree with me, and you think that Apple should be allowed to be the only gatekeeper to 60% of people’s mobile devices. Surely you still agree that Apple should apply their rules consistently? In this case that would mean either allowing Wörd on the store, or purging all apps that resemble other apps from App Store. Starting with their own Apple Music and Translate apps."
- gjsman-1000 5y ago
  Contrary to the author's opinion, I actually don't believe his premise that the Translate app and the Apple Music app were visually copies of competitors. The design decisions appear to me to be more about what makes sense on a phone with a limited screen size than a deliberate copying. The Translate app comparison feels particularly forced.
- viktorcode 5y ago
  That point is a good example of casual logical fallacy. Make a statement which is true or universally acceptable ("Surely you still agree that Apple should apply their rules consistently?") and then add incorrect conclusions: > In this case that would mean either allowing Wörd on the store, or purging all apps that resemble other apps from App Store. Starting with their own Apple Music and Translate apps Here's the equivalence of copycat status of Wörd and of Music / Translate is implied, which is very questionable indeed. Also, "you think that Apple should be allowed to be the only gatekeeper to 60% of people’s mobile devices" hides other logical fallacies. First, it is implied by the wording that Apple somehow became the gatekeeper of 60% of devices, whereas customers chose to buy the devices where Apple is gatekeeper, and at least some of them did it because of the fact. Second, the number 60% does not correspond to market reality. Apple is the gatekeeper of all their devices, in all countries, and worldwide share is obviously lower.
  - FalconSensei 5y ago
    Just to add to that, seem like iPhone's market share is around 23% [0] And as you mentioned, people decided to buy Apple's phones, either despite the App Store, or maybe because of it. Although I don't like not being able to sideload apps (although I had only 1 on Android), and how they are way too prudish (it's annoying you can't configure reddit/imgur on the app to show NSFW content), I surely don't miss how the Play Store is overriden with crappy and VERY dubious stuff. Also don't miss having the Galaxy Store without being able to get rid of it. So yeah, each person makes their choices regarding their devices, and at least for now, I'm going to stick with iPhone, since it has more pros and less cons according to my tastes. [0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/216459/global-market-share-of-apple-iphone/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/216459/global-market-sha...
drewolbrich 5y ago
Is it possible it was rejected because it's called Wörd which is too close to Wordle? Try naming it something else and resubmitting.
- andjd 5y ago
  Like "Wurdle" which did get through?
  - drewolbrich 5y ago
    I'm proposing why Wörd might have been rejected, not suggesting that the App Store review process is perfectly consistent. The App Store reviewers are people, and some of them follow the rules more strictly than others. Perhaps Wurdle passed review because it got lucky and was paired with a permissive reviewer, or a reviewer who happened to be unaware of Wordle.
marvel_boy 5y ago
Seems to me like a blatant copy of Wordle. I only agree that the other clones shouldnt have been approved.
ectospheno 5y ago
I love the App Store. If you want my money then you will be on the App Store. I have purchased zero items for use on my phone from places outside the App Store. I am very happy with this. I love my walled garden. I purchase apple products for this as I consider it a feature. I understand why some people don’t like this and don’t participate. I spend very little time discussing it as people should be able to make their own decisions. What I don’t get is the angry soap box lectures from the people who disagree. The intense planning on their part to mess up a thing I love just because they couldn’t make their money… Oh. Nevermind.
- wackget 5y ago
  You don't see anything wrong with the obviously highly subjective and demonstratably hypocritical approach that Apple is taking here?
  - pbronez 5y ago
    I like the AppStore and want it to be good. Clearer, more consistent app reviews and better developer experience would increase the quality, quantity and variety of apps available to me in the AppStore.
    - curt15 5y ago
      So the answer is no?
- HeyHugo 5y ago
  Yeah high quality guaranteed... https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1480626605370142724 https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1480626605370142724
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- have_faith 5y ago
  No one wants to take your walled garden away from you. Freedom for me maintains freedom of choice for you also. You seem to want to limit my freedom because the only available option happens to be your preference.
wackget 5y ago
Wow, that gallery of Wordle clones is really infuriating, especially when seen in the context of OP's submission. The absolute gall of Apple to reject OP's submission repeatedly despite him providing differentiating features... but then to allow all those trash-tier blatant clones into the app store. That's what infuriates me the most.
- gjsman-1000 5y ago
  If I were Apple, the clones should not be on the App Store and Apple appears to be removing them. However, I don't really know if the OP's original submission should be approved either. Yes, it uses a different language, but the name is very similar, it's being released around the same time as a trend, it looks like a clone.
  - InTheArena 5y ago
    Yes. Apple still sucks at curation (as does google, as does Steam), and needs to be more consistent here.
    - Semaphor 5y ago
      Steam curates? I always thought they let anything in considering what you can see on the later pages of some search.
      - nazgulsenpai 5y ago
        Steam basically doesn't moderate content unless its illegal as a matter of policy. https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/27766192/view/ https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/27766192/view/
    - wintermutestwin 5y ago
      Exactly this. I am all too happy for a walled garden on my phone, but spend some of your $$$ actually curating it to prove that your walled garden is worthy. What we need is an ecosystem of competing curated app stores.
seafoam 5y ago
Not a bad time to start building an App Store for iOS apps. Related : https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/28/us-states-back-fortnite-maker-epic-v-apple/ https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/28/us-states-back-fortnite... https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/11/ios-sideloading-questions-answered/ https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/11/ios-sideloading-questio...
- fsflover 5y ago
  Even a better time to escape the walled garden and develop for mobile Linux: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30364337 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30364337
  - viktorcode 5y ago
    You are implying that the walled garden keeps developers in, whereas in reality those walls are for keeping developers out. One does not escape walled garden; one infiltrates it.
    - fsflover 5y ago
      I think it's both.
  - jamil7 5y ago
    What would this look like practically? Say I want to port an iOS app to mobile linux? I know it's early days but what does the toolchain and distribution look like?
    - fsflover 5y ago
      Perhaps this page has an answer for you: https://linmobapps.frama.io/ https://linmobapps.frama.io/.
      - jamil7 5y ago
        Thanks
etchalon 5y ago
"Sometimes, the humans who do a thing make mistakes, but it's only fair when those mistakes benefit me too." is a weird take.
InTheArena 5y ago
copycat going to copycat, and then complain that's unfair that others copycatted before he was rejected. I’ve only gotten the answer that I’m free to “report” these apps if I believe they don’t follow the Guidelines. I don’t think these apps breach the Guidelines, but I guess Apple intentionally chooses to misinterpret me. Apple's not misrepresenting him. He just chooses to disagree. You can argue that it should not be allowed, but his argument is totally based on the fact that he disagrees on the guidelines, and therefore it should not apply for him. The point that apple needs to be consistent is fair, but also, scammers are scammers. They do a lot to get crappy copycat and plain old illegal apps into the store.
napolux 5y ago
Every time I read something like this I see it as a clue there's a "secret" cult of AppStore reviewers getting paid by scammer to skip validation and just approve everything they're paid for. Prove me wrong, Tim Cook. If I make a clone app I'm banned. If a bunch of people do the very same app they get approved.
- viktorcode 5y ago
  That's not how logic works. The burden of proof that there's a secret cult is on you.
  - hinkley 5y ago
    Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
    - napolux 5y ago
      I can probably find one if I offer enough on some forums or reddit.
- fatnoah 5y ago
  I wish it was something as simple as this. The real problem is that it's incredibly arbitrary and capricious. A previous company of mine had an app in the store for a couple years. A customer paid us to white label it for their private internal use. The only difference between it and our existing app was the logo and color scheme. It was rejected for nonsensical reasons a couple times and then approved after several weeks. When we did the same for another customer, that app was rejected for different reasons and we were never able to overcome those objections. It was incredibly frustrating and cost our small company a ton of money.
isx726552 5y ago
Copycat crazes come and go and trying to jump on them usually leads to rejection like this, especially if you’re a little late to the party. I remember during the “Flappy Bird” boom they put a filter in place where you literally could not create an entry for an app with “flappy” anywhere in the name. I can only imagine how many clones must have been submitted every day to have made that worth implementing.
InTheArena 5y ago
Under the radar had some good coverage here: https://www.relay.fm/radar/234 https://www.relay.fm/radar/234
viktorcode 5y ago
I find it interesting that another issue developers usually have with App Store is that Apple is not enforcing copyright strictly enough.
furyofantares 5y ago
The complaints may be valid but it's a bit hard for me to evaluate because I am so hugely put off by the author going out of their way to refer to it as a Lingo-style game over and over, which is true!, but it's also clearly a wordle clone with a swedish dictionary. The author appears to believe that wordle being based on Lingo is some sort of gotcha and it's distracting from the issue to me.
gameswithgo 5y ago
Developers and consumers really need to rise up against walled gardens in computing. Sadly we have a whole generation of young people who don't even know what they are missing.
- ben_w 5y ago
  Even inside a mobile browser’s sandbox, JavaScript gives me way more for free today than Metrowerks CodeWarrior Learning Edition gave me for ten weeks of pocket money back in the late 90s. I’m not a fan of Apple’s puritanism, but I really don’t think people are missing out in the way you do.
  - badsectoracula 5y ago
    The problem with this is that while it gives you freedom as a developer, it takes a ton of freedom away from the user who has practically zero control over where and how to use your application or even which version of your application to use (some people may prefer to stick with an older version even if they lose support or whatever because they don't like later changes - this is something people often do with native/desktop apps, but it is impossible to do with web apps) - and that is the minimum of issues, without entering into accessing data, etc.
    - aabbcc1241 5y ago
      A browser that downloads and displays the web pages, without automatic updates may be a good idea. When a file is updated remotely, the browser may notice the user of update, but let the user to decide to display which version.
andjd 5y ago
Related-unrelated. Does anyone know of an english 6-letter Wordle clone?
- chihuahua 5y ago
  https://www.wordleunlimited.com/ https://www.wordleunlimited.com/ lets you choose the number of letters between 4 and 11. It also allows playing many times in a row, instead of once a day.
pmarreck 5y ago
If you make a game that specifically deals with one particular language, do you automatically own the rights to all language versions of that game? I think this is a difficult question to answer and may be part of the problem. For example, Wordle (English) likely has a catered list of 5-letter words; someone else would have to completely redo this work for any other language
- jonatanheyman 5y ago
  OP here. Fun to talk about something technical :). I didn't make a curated list of words (also, my app supports 4-7 letter words). Instead, I use word frequency data to exclude 80% of the least used Swedish words. The frequency data is based on text from novels released since the 50th, popular Swedish web forums, and Swedish newspapers. Surprisingly, even with the 20% most common words, I've still seen odd words a few times. However, I find it quite enjoyable that it's possible to get a really hard word now and then.
woah 5y ago
"But all the other cars were speeding too!!"
vippy 5y ago
Humdeee 5y ago
I'm with Apple here. Despite not really affecting me, I would also classify it as another copycat app. It'll exist to increase the scroll bar and reside somewhere in the bottom half of the search queue and sit there relatively unused. These apps bloat the AppStore. I think the few features that differ slightly are likely overemphasized here, and Apple also seems to think so. What I do agree with is the amount of copycats they let through. If you don't have the history of being rejected and resubmit as a new app, I believe you may have a higher chance to reach your elusive 'Ready for Sale' status. But please, this is simply reinventing the wheel with a very slightly different tread, despite the work put in.
- CogitoCogito 5y ago
  If don't break any copyrights or patents, why does it matter if there are many copycat apps in the store?
mrtranscendence 5y ago
Unlike many people here, I'm not ideologically opposed to the idea of a walled-garden phone (though my preference would be to have the ability to sideload). But it kills me just how poorly Apple is behaving here. It's like they don't care at all about pissing off the developers that help make their platform attractive, and they'll belligerently go on not caring even as government agencies around the world gear up to take them to court, consequences be damned.
- Humdeee 5y ago
  Reigning in copycat developers is not a bad thing for the consumer base. Have an original idea and one with more effort than what could be summarized in a youtube tutorial and I don't see why they would reject. I don't want to discredit OP's 'hackathon' night of coding, but making a blog post because you paid the annual $100 and Apple rejects your mud that you threw at the wall hoping it would stick is why I like being an Apple user. If Apple cites copycat as a rejection, there's already likely 50 other apps just like it and the pattern of app is finally being rejected. There's still opportunity, but you need to be an 'early copycat' to make it so.
  - dcow 5y ago
    I think the developer made a very clear case as to why they do not have a simple copycat experience. Please read the essay.
    - dkonofalski 5y ago
      The developer's post assumes that those other clones won't be removed. It also assumes that every review process is exactly the same. We only know one side of the story here and it's full of assumptions and conjecture.
      - Apocryphon 5y ago
        That highlights another problem with the process- the complete lack of transparency. Apple could be more forthcoming about the review process, yet they aren’t.
endisneigh 5y ago
Make web apps. It’s that simple. People complain about the play store and the Apple App Store yet continue to submit apps there that don’t even require native functionality. Wordle went from web app to sold in what, two months? Native apps aren’t required. Make web apps and we need to unite and figure out a common distribution method. When a critical mass is reached - Google in particular - is incentivized to help galvanize even further. Heck, Google tried to make PWAs a thing. It’s Apple that benefits more from app stores at the moment.
- dcow 5y ago
  The ops app actually does use native features. You can’t set timer reminders in a web app.
  - endisneigh 5y ago
    Right, yet the core functionality doesn’t really need native functionality.
    - dcow 5y ago
      Neither do half the apps on the app store.
      - endisneigh 5y ago
        Yes, my point exactly.
- hbn 5y ago
  A game where I pop in for 2 minutes once per day and type a few letters is not my standard usecase for computing. In fact it's quite unique compared to anything else I do on my phone. There's a lot of tradeoffs given up when writing a webapp over a native app. It's not just "it's accessed through the browser"
- phreack 5y ago
  Like the article writer mentioned, this is a very important lesson, but if you're in the 10% of cases where you do require native functionality (like a chat app for example) you're screwed with Apple.
frankfury 5y ago
How about their battle against Epic Games? Is it still ongoing?
dep_b 5y ago
There are two funnels: one for apps that get approved the first time, one for rejected apps trying to get approved after doing some changes. If you're in the second funnel, it's much much harder to get approved then if you would submit the app anew. So you could simply take the app as is, submit it under a different developer account and see if it sails through this time.
whizzter 5y ago
I think the main lesson here is to not to jump onto trains copying the latest trend. As for double-standards of later clones being allowed, it's probably just that this app got caught in the initial copycat-sweep with some rejection-notice visible for reviewers that will be re-used for later updates and unless fundamentally different it isn't going to pass. Later apps probably pass since they don't care adding new notes. It might suck, but it's how the world works.
- dcow 5y ago
  No! That’s not the lesson. Swedish people cant play Wordle. Period. This contribution to the space brings an existing english-only experience to Swedish people. It’s by definition NOT A COPY. It’s a derivative work at best which the original Wordle also is. To write this off as a fad and say only English speakers get to experience Wordle is frankly racist.
  - munch117 5y ago
    https://www.ordlig.se/ https://www.ordlig.se/
  - whizzter 5y ago
    I'm literally Swedish, most of us apart from old people knows English well enough to enjoy it. Also the original Wordle is a web-app, there was nothing preventing OP to do the same instead of complaining about Apple policing their own walled garden so calling it a racist move is quiiiite a stretch!
vmception 5y ago
> But in the end, I get that this specific case mainly just concerns me. Pragmatic, but this defeatist attitude for app stores should be reserved for 2012, ten years ago. Many people know of this problem by now, and its time to end their reign.
timetotea 5y ago
I also have a very similar experience with App Store.. The app review process is BROKEN (sharing my experience in the video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOtbjOw7Dwo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOtbjOw7Dwo
zenta 5y ago
I built one of those Wordle clones that made it into the app store. Built it mostly to see how long it would take me to do it with flutter (it didn't take long). The app doesn't collect any data or connect to the interwebs. Not really sure how I made it through the review process, but once it got through I was subsequently blocked from updating it, with the same policy cited as the OP. So now it's up there with a double letter bug, the stock flutter icon, and 80k downloads :) Side note: I did get a takedown notice, which I was expecting, but it wasn't from the NYT. It was from a company purporting to hold trademarks for lingo for both look and feel and game mechanics. I tried to contact them but nobody has responded, and it actually looks like the trademark was abandoned. Plus, you can't trademark a game mechanic afaik.
dcow 5y ago
This is frankly racist and it really pisses me off. The fact is, despite everything else and even in face of wanting to keep a storefront free of low value clones and fads, which is understandable, Swedish people cannot play Wordle and this derivative work brings that experience to people who don’t have it. It’s NOT a copycat for them. Apple needs a policy revision and consistent guidelines for applying the copycat rules so they don’t exclude entire countries and cultures from enjoyable experiences. Period.
- Humdeee 5y ago
  How do you know there aren't already a hundred copycat apps that already support Swedish? Even if OP is first and only (very unlikely), this isn't what racist means btw...
  - dcow 5y ago
    I think you know exactly what I mean. You’re categorically excluding an entire population. Call that whatever you want, it’s not right.
  - Apocryphon 5y ago
    Great question! Unfortunately on the App Store app for iPhone (as opposed to iPad) there doesn’t seem to be any support for search filters, making it even more opaque and near-impossible to filter searches by language.
dcow 5y ago
Apple: “sorry Sweeden, you can’t play this game because someone already made one recently for english speakers and published it on a website. It’s kinda popular and having derivatives pop up would lower the appeal of our platform for our english speaking customers.” If you don't see the problem with this you are the damn problem.
stackedinserter 5y ago
I left iOS/MacOS development a few years ago for the same reasons. It was never ending soul sucking battle with AppStore reviewers' bs, bureaucracy, everbroken tools (in order to develop for new iOS you have to update xcode, which requires updating macos, go buy a new macbook that supports it), total absence of CI/CD, troubles with testing, the list goes on, and on, and on. I hated it, eventually moved to backend development and never looked back.
bitwize 5y ago
If you make a "clone" of a popular game, you may be infringing on the original developer's copyright under U.S. law (which jurisdiction Apple is bound to). See Atari v. Philips. It doesn't matter that you used different code, different assets, or changed small things about your game. The relevant criteria are "access" and "substantial similarity" (as an audiovisual work).
Damogran6 5y ago
OP is not wrong, but no Apple Appstore means no iPhones, and Android's done an awesome job of earning the 'no OS updates after 2 years' reputation and as a security focused IT guy, that just doesn't fly with me. But I agree, Reddit suffers from a similar banhammer to participation (Reason for removal: "Cuz")
double_nan 5y ago
I guess one of the solutions would be to allow custom store fronts with different editors policies. AppStore is not only reviewers and CDN to serve all the packages but also a lot of infra to validate and sanitize the applications as well. Multiple store fronts solution is not ideal but at least would resolve the problem which is described in the article.
JoeOfTexas 5y ago
This happened to me when Hole.io became all the rage. I thought the game was a bit dry and slow, so I made my own variation and made it online multiplayer. Hole.io was not multiplayer, people were tricked by the bots to think it was though. Anyways, I submitted it to Google Play Store and it was doing great for awhile, then 2 weeks later it got suspended for being too similar to Hole.io. I made a bunch of changes and resubmitted, and it lasted for a month before being suspended again with above 4 stars. I just checked and there are still many Hole.io clones with millions of downloads that were published a couple weeks AFTER I was suspended. Like what the hell, those clones were really poor quality.
- aabbcc1241 5y ago
  You may release the game as an webapp, with less restriction on distribution. You don't need access to native APIs for the game anyway.
mpjme 5y ago
Ugh, this is the entire point of having a curated app store, and they are not doing it. Sad.

223 points by jonatanheyman 5y ago

This app contains a large dictionary of swedish words. Could it be possible that it is rejected simply because none of the reviewers know swedish well enough to guarantee that there is no “taboo “ word in the list?

pinephoneguy 5y ago

The App store is one of the most disappointing things to happen to personal computers. Instead of empowering indie devs it shut them out and empowered corporations.

ravenstine 5y ago
What's crazy to me is that Apple could still win over a ton of developers by actually listening to the sentiment and responding to it. As someone who's been dabbling in native development after over a decade of JavaScript/Ruby/Python/PHP, the iOS development toolchain does seem quite nice even though I don't own an iPhone. If Apple quit with the highway robbery and took the unfairness of their system seriously, I might actually want to buy an iPhone and work on building iOS apps. But with Apple taking a massive cut of revenue and having this inconsistent and headachey review process, why would I do that? Life is too short. For many, that's still their thing, but there are easier ways to write code and get it out there. iPhones aren't the end all and be all of app development.

JanNash 5y ago

This is infuriating. I've also had my fair bit of trouble with App Store Review but your this really takes the freaking biscuit. C'mon y'all, let's get this post some visibility.

tragictrash 5y ago

This is why I'll never buy an apple device. I know Google does it too, but apple is worse.

shakezula 5y ago
What makes apple worse? In my experience, google is far and away the more sinister brand.
- gjsman-1000 5y ago
  Not to mention, their Google Play Store curation, they don't even bother with removing clones of any kind unless they get a threat sent to the Legal department.
- tragictrash 5y ago
  No alternate app stores or way to sideload. God you fanboys are insufferable. Every time I post about not being able to sideload, I get people coming out of the woodwork to argue with me about what defines side loading or some other pedantic take so they can defend their iDentiy. Am I wrong?
pinephoneguy 5y ago
They're both unacceptably bad and I'd go without a phone if I had to choose between the two.
viktorcode 5y ago
Personally I prefer Apple because there are human reviewers I can appeal to. The option which does not exist if you are rejected by Google's algorithm.
hinkley 5y ago
A decade later, it still remains the case that most of the users who are willing to spend money are on the Apple platform. On the question of whether Apple should be more like Google, the answer has again and again, from Apple, from pundits, from financial analysis been 'oh hell no'. You are free not to use Apple. The fact that people keep talking about how they aren't using apple isn't the freedom flag waving you think it is. If you all have to keep bringing it up then it's living rent-free in your head. I don't know if it's jealousy, or wanting to have your cake and eat it to, or what else is going on. I don't use Facebook, but you don't hear me talking about it all the time (talking about having to deal with Facebook users is another matter). In retail 'customers' who don't buy anything aren't customers. They are 'loitering' and many companies have a policy for encouraging people who are not actually shopping to leave. Traffic that does not result in revenue is overhead at best, opportunity cost at worst. A certain amount of overhead has always been tolerated as goodwill or advertising, but in any arena of life there is always someone who tries to take advantage of goodwill efforts. Customers who don't use apps at all are fine. They aren't costing us anything. Customers that buy lots of apps are great. Customers who just want free stuff all the time are bad news. Especially because they become more expensive when the free stuff ends up causing them problems, which they feel entitled to complain about. Tech support calls are more expensive than most of us realize.

eps 5y ago

Well, this does look like a straight Wordle copy. It is also disingenious to say that's a copy of Lingo, when it's bloody obvious it's a Wordle clone. The fact that other clones were approved by Apple points at another issue.

jonatanheyman 5y ago
What's your opinion on the Minesweeper clones? Shouldn't they be allowed on the App Store? What about Scrabble? Or Tetris? Also - like the post says - the app is in Swedish with a Swedish dictionary. Wordle is unplayable for anyone who doesn't speak English. Point taken about the wording though, I've updated the blog post to say: "I figured I could make a Swedish Wordle-style game myself"
- gjsman-1000 5y ago
  Microsoft does not have an official Minesweeper application for iOS, never has, and probably never will, so clones are more acceptable in that case. Scrabble and Tetris are actually trademarked names and have official applications as far as I know. They can sue any competitor for trademark infringement. There are competitors like "Block Puzzle," but they may predate the official Tetris for presence, but I'm not certain on that. > "What’s even less surprising is how (little) Apple apply their Guidelines when it comes to their own apps" (from post) Actually, I think any resemblance is forced (particularly with the Translate app) and that the design decisions are more logically-based than copying. How else would you make a Translate app by Apple look?
  - salamandersauce 5y ago
    Several of those are clearly ripping off assets from Windows minesweeper. Which is worse than mimicking gameplay. There's also no Wordle iOS app either, just a website. Apple also happily accepted 2048 which is pretty much a straight up clone of the earlier Threes.
  - scarface74 5y ago
    I bought a Tetris game from EA back when I had an original iPod Touch when the App Store was first introduced. It was a one time purchase. It was never updated for larger screens and disappeared with the 32 bit to 64 bit transition. Of course EA released another version around the iPhone 5 with ads an in-app purchases (?)

blakesterz 5y ago

I don't exactly agree with many of the points made in that post, BUT, I think this was the paragraph that made the best point: "But even if you disagree with me, and you think that Apple should be allowed to be the only gatekeeper to 60% of people’s mobile devices. Surely you still agree that Apple should apply their rules consistently? In this case that would mean either allowing Wörd on the store, or purging all apps that resemble other apps from App Store. Starting with their own Apple Music and Translate apps."

gjsman-1000 5y ago
Contrary to the author's opinion, I actually don't believe his premise that the Translate app and the Apple Music app were visually copies of competitors. The design decisions appear to me to be more about what makes sense on a phone with a limited screen size than a deliberate copying. The Translate app comparison feels particularly forced.
viktorcode 5y ago
That point is a good example of casual logical fallacy. Make a statement which is true or universally acceptable ("Surely you still agree that Apple should apply their rules consistently?") and then add incorrect conclusions: > In this case that would mean either allowing Wörd on the store, or purging all apps that resemble other apps from App Store. Starting with their own Apple Music and Translate apps Here's the equivalence of copycat status of Wörd and of Music / Translate is implied, which is very questionable indeed. Also, "you think that Apple should be allowed to be the only gatekeeper to 60% of people’s mobile devices" hides other logical fallacies. First, it is implied by the wording that Apple somehow became the gatekeeper of 60% of devices, whereas customers chose to buy the devices where Apple is gatekeeper, and at least some of them did it because of the fact. Second, the number 60% does not correspond to market reality. Apple is the gatekeeper of all their devices, in all countries, and worldwide share is obviously lower.
- FalconSensei 5y ago
  Just to add to that, seem like iPhone's market share is around 23% [0] And as you mentioned, people decided to buy Apple's phones, either despite the App Store, or maybe because of it. Although I don't like not being able to sideload apps (although I had only 1 on Android), and how they are way too prudish (it's annoying you can't configure reddit/imgur on the app to show NSFW content), I surely don't miss how the Play Store is overriden with crappy and VERY dubious stuff. Also don't miss having the Galaxy Store without being able to get rid of it. So yeah, each person makes their choices regarding their devices, and at least for now, I'm going to stick with iPhone, since it has more pros and less cons according to my tastes. [0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/216459/global-market-share-of-apple-iphone/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/216459/global-market-sha...

drewolbrich 5y ago

Is it possible it was rejected because it's called Wörd which is too close to Wordle? Try naming it something else and resubmitting.

andjd 5y ago
Like "Wurdle" which did get through?
- drewolbrich 5y ago
  I'm proposing why Wörd might have been rejected, not suggesting that the App Store review process is perfectly consistent. The App Store reviewers are people, and some of them follow the rules more strictly than others. Perhaps Wurdle passed review because it got lucky and was paired with a permissive reviewer, or a reviewer who happened to be unaware of Wordle.

marvel_boy 5y ago

Seems to me like a blatant copy of Wordle. I only agree that the other clones shouldnt have been approved.

ectospheno 5y ago

I love the App Store. If you want my money then you will be on the App Store. I have purchased zero items for use on my phone from places outside the App Store. I am very happy with this. I love my walled garden. I purchase apple products for this as I consider it a feature. I understand why some people don’t like this and don’t participate. I spend very little time discussing it as people should be able to make their own decisions. What I don’t get is the angry soap box lectures from the people who disagree. The intense planning on their part to mess up a thing I love just because they couldn’t make their money… Oh. Nevermind.

wackget 5y ago
You don't see anything wrong with the obviously highly subjective and demonstratably hypocritical approach that Apple is taking here?
- pbronez 5y ago
  I like the AppStore and want it to be good. Clearer, more consistent app reviews and better developer experience would increase the quality, quantity and variety of apps available to me in the AppStore.
  - curt15 5y ago
    So the answer is no?
HeyHugo 5y ago
Yeah high quality guaranteed... https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1480626605370142724 https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1480626605370142724
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
have_faith 5y ago
No one wants to take your walled garden away from you. Freedom for me maintains freedom of choice for you also. You seem to want to limit my freedom because the only available option happens to be your preference.

wackget 5y ago

Wow, that gallery of Wordle clones is really infuriating, especially when seen in the context of OP's submission. The absolute gall of Apple to reject OP's submission repeatedly despite him providing differentiating features... but then to allow all those trash-tier blatant clones into the app store. That's what infuriates me the most.

gjsman-1000 5y ago
If I were Apple, the clones should not be on the App Store and Apple appears to be removing them. However, I don't really know if the OP's original submission should be approved either. Yes, it uses a different language, but the name is very similar, it's being released around the same time as a trend, it looks like a clone.
- InTheArena 5y ago
  Yes. Apple still sucks at curation (as does google, as does Steam), and needs to be more consistent here.
  - Semaphor 5y ago
    Steam curates? I always thought they let anything in considering what you can see on the later pages of some search.
    - nazgulsenpai 5y ago
      Steam basically doesn't moderate content unless its illegal as a matter of policy. https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/27766192/view/ https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/27766192/view/
  - wintermutestwin 5y ago
    Exactly this. I am all too happy for a walled garden on my phone, but spend some of your $$$ actually curating it to prove that your walled garden is worthy. What we need is an ecosystem of competing curated app stores.

seafoam 5y ago

Not a bad time to start building an App Store for iOS apps. Related : https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/28/us-states-back-fortnite-maker-epic-v-apple/ https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/28/us-states-back-fortnite... https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/11/ios-sideloading-questions-answered/ https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/11/ios-sideloading-questio...

fsflover 5y ago
Even a better time to escape the walled garden and develop for mobile Linux: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30364337 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30364337
- viktorcode 5y ago
  You are implying that the walled garden keeps developers in, whereas in reality those walls are for keeping developers out. One does not escape walled garden; one infiltrates it.
  - fsflover 5y ago
    I think it's both.
- jamil7 5y ago
  What would this look like practically? Say I want to port an iOS app to mobile linux? I know it's early days but what does the toolchain and distribution look like?
  - fsflover 5y ago
    Perhaps this page has an answer for you: https://linmobapps.frama.io/ https://linmobapps.frama.io/.
    - jamil7 5y ago
      Thanks

etchalon 5y ago

"Sometimes, the humans who do a thing make mistakes, but it's only fair when those mistakes benefit me too." is a weird take.

InTheArena 5y ago

copycat going to copycat, and then complain that's unfair that others copycatted before he was rejected. I’ve only gotten the answer that I’m free to “report” these apps if I believe they don’t follow the Guidelines. I don’t think these apps breach the Guidelines, but I guess Apple intentionally chooses to misinterpret me. Apple's not misrepresenting him. He just chooses to disagree. You can argue that it should not be allowed, but his argument is totally based on the fact that he disagrees on the guidelines, and therefore it should not apply for him. The point that apple needs to be consistent is fair, but also, scammers are scammers. They do a lot to get crappy copycat and plain old illegal apps into the store.

napolux 5y ago

Every time I read something like this I see it as a clue there's a "secret" cult of AppStore reviewers getting paid by scammer to skip validation and just approve everything they're paid for. Prove me wrong, Tim Cook. If I make a clone app I'm banned. If a bunch of people do the very same app they get approved.

viktorcode 5y ago
That's not how logic works. The burden of proof that there's a secret cult is on you.
- hinkley 5y ago
  Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
  - napolux 5y ago
    I can probably find one if I offer enough on some forums or reddit.
fatnoah 5y ago
I wish it was something as simple as this. The real problem is that it's incredibly arbitrary and capricious. A previous company of mine had an app in the store for a couple years. A customer paid us to white label it for their private internal use. The only difference between it and our existing app was the logo and color scheme. It was rejected for nonsensical reasons a couple times and then approved after several weeks. When we did the same for another customer, that app was rejected for different reasons and we were never able to overcome those objections. It was incredibly frustrating and cost our small company a ton of money.

isx726552 5y ago

Copycat crazes come and go and trying to jump on them usually leads to rejection like this, especially if you’re a little late to the party. I remember during the “Flappy Bird” boom they put a filter in place where you literally could not create an entry for an app with “flappy” anywhere in the name. I can only imagine how many clones must have been submitted every day to have made that worth implementing.

InTheArena 5y ago

Under the radar had some good coverage here: https://www.relay.fm/radar/234 https://www.relay.fm/radar/234

viktorcode 5y ago

I find it interesting that another issue developers usually have with App Store is that Apple is not enforcing copyright strictly enough.

furyofantares 5y ago

The complaints may be valid but it's a bit hard for me to evaluate because I am so hugely put off by the author going out of their way to refer to it as a Lingo-style game over and over, which is true!, but it's also clearly a wordle clone with a swedish dictionary. The author appears to believe that wordle being based on Lingo is some sort of gotcha and it's distracting from the issue to me.

gameswithgo 5y ago

Developers and consumers really need to rise up against walled gardens in computing. Sadly we have a whole generation of young people who don't even know what they are missing.

ben_w 5y ago
Even inside a mobile browser’s sandbox, JavaScript gives me way more for free today than Metrowerks CodeWarrior Learning Edition gave me for ten weeks of pocket money back in the late 90s. I’m not a fan of Apple’s puritanism, but I really don’t think people are missing out in the way you do.
- badsectoracula 5y ago
  The problem with this is that while it gives you freedom as a developer, it takes a ton of freedom away from the user who has practically zero control over where and how to use your application or even which version of your application to use (some people may prefer to stick with an older version even if they lose support or whatever because they don't like later changes - this is something people often do with native/desktop apps, but it is impossible to do with web apps) - and that is the minimum of issues, without entering into accessing data, etc.
  - aabbcc1241 5y ago
    A browser that downloads and displays the web pages, without automatic updates may be a good idea. When a file is updated remotely, the browser may notice the user of update, but let the user to decide to display which version.

andjd 5y ago

Related-unrelated. Does anyone know of an english 6-letter Wordle clone?

chihuahua 5y ago
https://www.wordleunlimited.com/ https://www.wordleunlimited.com/ lets you choose the number of letters between 4 and 11. It also allows playing many times in a row, instead of once a day.

pmarreck 5y ago

If you make a game that specifically deals with one particular language, do you automatically own the rights to all language versions of that game? I think this is a difficult question to answer and may be part of the problem. For example, Wordle (English) likely has a catered list of 5-letter words; someone else would have to completely redo this work for any other language

jonatanheyman 5y ago
OP here. Fun to talk about something technical :). I didn't make a curated list of words (also, my app supports 4-7 letter words). Instead, I use word frequency data to exclude 80% of the least used Swedish words. The frequency data is based on text from novels released since the 50th, popular Swedish web forums, and Swedish newspapers. Surprisingly, even with the 20% most common words, I've still seen odd words a few times. However, I find it quite enjoyable that it's possible to get a really hard word now and then.

woah 5y ago

"But all the other cars were speeding too!!"

vippy 5y ago

Humdeee 5y ago

I'm with Apple here. Despite not really affecting me, I would also classify it as another copycat app. It'll exist to increase the scroll bar and reside somewhere in the bottom half of the search queue and sit there relatively unused. These apps bloat the AppStore. I think the few features that differ slightly are likely overemphasized here, and Apple also seems to think so. What I do agree with is the amount of copycats they let through. If you don't have the history of being rejected and resubmit as a new app, I believe you may have a higher chance to reach your elusive 'Ready for Sale' status. But please, this is simply reinventing the wheel with a very slightly different tread, despite the work put in.

CogitoCogito 5y ago
If don't break any copyrights or patents, why does it matter if there are many copycat apps in the store?

mrtranscendence 5y ago

Unlike many people here, I'm not ideologically opposed to the idea of a walled-garden phone (though my preference would be to have the ability to sideload). But it kills me just how poorly Apple is behaving here. It's like they don't care at all about pissing off the developers that help make their platform attractive, and they'll belligerently go on not caring even as government agencies around the world gear up to take them to court, consequences be damned.

Humdeee 5y ago
Reigning in copycat developers is not a bad thing for the consumer base. Have an original idea and one with more effort than what could be summarized in a youtube tutorial and I don't see why they would reject. I don't want to discredit OP's 'hackathon' night of coding, but making a blog post because you paid the annual $100 and Apple rejects your mud that you threw at the wall hoping it would stick is why I like being an Apple user. If Apple cites copycat as a rejection, there's already likely 50 other apps just like it and the pattern of app is finally being rejected. There's still opportunity, but you need to be an 'early copycat' to make it so.
- dcow 5y ago
  I think the developer made a very clear case as to why they do not have a simple copycat experience. Please read the essay.
  - dkonofalski 5y ago
    The developer's post assumes that those other clones won't be removed. It also assumes that every review process is exactly the same. We only know one side of the story here and it's full of assumptions and conjecture.
    - Apocryphon 5y ago
      That highlights another problem with the process- the complete lack of transparency. Apple could be more forthcoming about the review process, yet they aren’t.

endisneigh 5y ago

Make web apps. It’s that simple. People complain about the play store and the Apple App Store yet continue to submit apps there that don’t even require native functionality. Wordle went from web app to sold in what, two months? Native apps aren’t required. Make web apps and we need to unite and figure out a common distribution method. When a critical mass is reached - Google in particular - is incentivized to help galvanize even further. Heck, Google tried to make PWAs a thing. It’s Apple that benefits more from app stores at the moment.

dcow 5y ago
The ops app actually does use native features. You can’t set timer reminders in a web app.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  Right, yet the core functionality doesn’t really need native functionality.
  - dcow 5y ago
    Neither do half the apps on the app store.
    - endisneigh 5y ago
      Yes, my point exactly.
hbn 5y ago
A game where I pop in for 2 minutes once per day and type a few letters is not my standard usecase for computing. In fact it's quite unique compared to anything else I do on my phone. There's a lot of tradeoffs given up when writing a webapp over a native app. It's not just "it's accessed through the browser"
phreack 5y ago
Like the article writer mentioned, this is a very important lesson, but if you're in the 10% of cases where you do require native functionality (like a chat app for example) you're screwed with Apple.

frankfury 5y ago

How about their battle against Epic Games? Is it still ongoing?

dep_b 5y ago

There are two funnels: one for apps that get approved the first time, one for rejected apps trying to get approved after doing some changes. If you're in the second funnel, it's much much harder to get approved then if you would submit the app anew. So you could simply take the app as is, submit it under a different developer account and see if it sails through this time.

whizzter 5y ago

I think the main lesson here is to not to jump onto trains copying the latest trend. As for double-standards of later clones being allowed, it's probably just that this app got caught in the initial copycat-sweep with some rejection-notice visible for reviewers that will be re-used for later updates and unless fundamentally different it isn't going to pass. Later apps probably pass since they don't care adding new notes. It might suck, but it's how the world works.

dcow 5y ago
No! That’s not the lesson. Swedish people cant play Wordle. Period. This contribution to the space brings an existing english-only experience to Swedish people. It’s by definition NOT A COPY. It’s a derivative work at best which the original Wordle also is. To write this off as a fad and say only English speakers get to experience Wordle is frankly racist.
- munch117 5y ago
  https://www.ordlig.se/ https://www.ordlig.se/
- whizzter 5y ago
  I'm literally Swedish, most of us apart from old people knows English well enough to enjoy it. Also the original Wordle is a web-app, there was nothing preventing OP to do the same instead of complaining about Apple policing their own walled garden so calling it a racist move is quiiiite a stretch!

vmception 5y ago

> But in the end, I get that this specific case mainly just concerns me. Pragmatic, but this defeatist attitude for app stores should be reserved for 2012, ten years ago. Many people know of this problem by now, and its time to end their reign.

timetotea 5y ago

I also have a very similar experience with App Store.. The app review process is BROKEN (sharing my experience in the video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOtbjOw7Dwo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOtbjOw7Dwo

zenta 5y ago

I built one of those Wordle clones that made it into the app store. Built it mostly to see how long it would take me to do it with flutter (it didn't take long). The app doesn't collect any data or connect to the interwebs. Not really sure how I made it through the review process, but once it got through I was subsequently blocked from updating it, with the same policy cited as the OP. So now it's up there with a double letter bug, the stock flutter icon, and 80k downloads :) Side note: I did get a takedown notice, which I was expecting, but it wasn't from the NYT. It was from a company purporting to hold trademarks for lingo for both look and feel and game mechanics. I tried to contact them but nobody has responded, and it actually looks like the trademark was abandoned. Plus, you can't trademark a game mechanic afaik.

dcow 5y ago

This is frankly racist and it really pisses me off. The fact is, despite everything else and even in face of wanting to keep a storefront free of low value clones and fads, which is understandable, Swedish people cannot play Wordle and this derivative work brings that experience to people who don’t have it. It’s NOT a copycat for them. Apple needs a policy revision and consistent guidelines for applying the copycat rules so they don’t exclude entire countries and cultures from enjoyable experiences. Period.

Humdeee 5y ago
How do you know there aren't already a hundred copycat apps that already support Swedish? Even if OP is first and only (very unlikely), this isn't what racist means btw...
- dcow 5y ago
  I think you know exactly what I mean. You’re categorically excluding an entire population. Call that whatever you want, it’s not right.
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  Great question! Unfortunately on the App Store app for iPhone (as opposed to iPad) there doesn’t seem to be any support for search filters, making it even more opaque and near-impossible to filter searches by language.

dcow 5y ago

Apple: “sorry Sweeden, you can’t play this game because someone already made one recently for english speakers and published it on a website. It’s kinda popular and having derivatives pop up would lower the appeal of our platform for our english speaking customers.” If you don't see the problem with this you are the damn problem.

stackedinserter 5y ago

I left iOS/MacOS development a few years ago for the same reasons. It was never ending soul sucking battle with AppStore reviewers' bs, bureaucracy, everbroken tools (in order to develop for new iOS you have to update xcode, which requires updating macos, go buy a new macbook that supports it), total absence of CI/CD, troubles with testing, the list goes on, and on, and on. I hated it, eventually moved to backend development and never looked back.

bitwize 5y ago

If you make a "clone" of a popular game, you may be infringing on the original developer's copyright under U.S. law (which jurisdiction Apple is bound to). See Atari v. Philips. It doesn't matter that you used different code, different assets, or changed small things about your game. The relevant criteria are "access" and "substantial similarity" (as an audiovisual work).

Damogran6 5y ago

OP is not wrong, but no Apple Appstore means no iPhones, and Android's done an awesome job of earning the 'no OS updates after 2 years' reputation and as a security focused IT guy, that just doesn't fly with me. But I agree, Reddit suffers from a similar banhammer to participation (Reason for removal: "Cuz")

double_nan 5y ago

I guess one of the solutions would be to allow custom store fronts with different editors policies. AppStore is not only reviewers and CDN to serve all the packages but also a lot of infra to validate and sanitize the applications as well. Multiple store fronts solution is not ideal but at least would resolve the problem which is described in the article.

JoeOfTexas 5y ago

This happened to me when Hole.io became all the rage. I thought the game was a bit dry and slow, so I made my own variation and made it online multiplayer. Hole.io was not multiplayer, people were tricked by the bots to think it was though. Anyways, I submitted it to Google Play Store and it was doing great for awhile, then 2 weeks later it got suspended for being too similar to Hole.io. I made a bunch of changes and resubmitted, and it lasted for a month before being suspended again with above 4 stars. I just checked and there are still many Hole.io clones with millions of downloads that were published a couple weeks AFTER I was suspended. Like what the hell, those clones were really poor quality.

aabbcc1241 5y ago
You may release the game as an webapp, with less restriction on distribution. You don't need access to native APIs for the game anyway.

mpjme 5y ago

Ugh, this is the entire point of having a curated app store, and they are not doing it. Sad.