Ten major pitfalls of launching on the AppStore

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I believe everyone must be very "hateful" of the AppStore's series of product listing rules. Every time a product is listed, it takes a long time and it is very annoying. So I specially launched this salon to bring you some experience.

Yan Guorong: The following are the problems I have encountered as far as I can remember. If you have any questions about them, please let me know and I will explain them in detail.

The content contains sensitive topics or information that is unfriendly to Apple (such as Apple Bitch)

I used Umeng's statistics SDK and obtained IDFA, but uploaded and filled in no ads.

I adopted Umeng's IDFA SDK and used Umeng's default Taobao page ads, but was told that it did not match the product content (recently)

App displays inconsistently in iTunes and after installation (recently)

There is a detection update in the app (recently)

I was sent a small advertisement in the middle of the night during the review

My account system only requires entering an email address

No help for registered users' default gender and avatar (skipping is not supported)

The App does not have its own account system and only uses third-party login

When uploading to Apple, a non-required privacy terms URL was not filled in

There is no restore function for paid purchases

UGC products do not have a reporting function

Pitfall 1: Testing Updates

Su Li: Point 5. I noticed that some apps still have updates detected within the app. How do they do that?

Yan Guorong: Detection and update was originally a standard feature, but it was not included in the review since March. Many of the versions that support detection and update are from previous versions. New products that are now on the shelves strictly control this feature. Of course, some updated versions have slipped through the net.

Drawer: Testing updates will be rejected even for TestFlight.

Su Li: I know an app called Limited Time Free Collection, but it was restricted by Apple due to detection and update issues. Finally, they had no choice but to launch a new app with a changed name.

Yan Guorong: You can cancel the update, anyway, most iOS users set the update to automatic by default. When you submit the version to Apple, the App Store will prompt you to update, and there is also this message I wrote.

Pitfall 2: Icon effects similar to the system

Kun: We used the Life Calendar logo for more than a year, until Apple launched the Notification Center. They said our logo looked like theirs and it was rejected. We changed many versions, and the colors and graphics were all rejected. Finally, we just changed the logo. In addition, we couldn’t use app recommendations. We usually control it through the server and it will be released after it is approved. We couldn’t have the word Android…

Pitfall 3: Using QQ to log in will lead to a page that will guide you to download QQ, but it will be returned by Apple for review

Healing Cat: Let me add a situation we encountered. We used QQ third-party login. If the user did not have QQ installed, using QQ login would lead to a page that would guide the user to download QQ, which was returned by Apple for review.

Yan Guorong: Qiubai has this problem. If the normal version of QQ is not installed, it does not provide web QQ login, but it has been online smoothly.

Aaron: Can't I get my email address and birthday when I sign up?

Yan Guorong: When registering, the account format should not be limited to email address, it can be other formats. If it is strictly limited, it will be rejected.

Drawer: What happens if I only provide my mobile phone number to register?

Yan Guorong: There is no problem with registering with a mobile phone number. Clause 17.2 seems to state that birthdays and email addresses cannot be obtained, but it does not mention mobile phones, so it is not within the jurisdiction.

Pitfall No. 4: Rejection due to advertising reasons

Chai Crystal: I submitted a product last week that contained an ad code, but no ads were displayed and it was rejected.

Yan Guorong: Yes, because you may have called its IDFA-related stuff. Even if there is no ad display, Apple will find that you have called it and will say that you have ads.

Next, let's talk about Umeng's problem: In order to avoid Apple's review, Umeng defaulted to a full-screen Taobao ad in the background. However, it was approved before March, but after March, Apple also rejected it because many products did not match Taobao ads. For example, if I was Qiubai and a Taobao ad popped up, Apple would also reject it. So there are generally two ways to do it:

① Use Umeng’s SDK without IDFA, but the SDK without IDFA will cause errors in statistics.

② Make a banner ad yourself, modify the parameters in the background after review, and hide it.

Pitfall 5: The name or icon of a third-party operating system appears

The icons or names of third-party operating systems cannot appear in the app. For example, the icon keyword of Android is rejected. Have you ever encountered this?

Yan Guorong: It is best not to use an Android phone case for your app screenshots, and do not use the iPhone status bar for Android. In each market, the other system's things are not allowed to appear. We were lazy and used iOS promotional pictures for Android before, but we were rejected by the Android market because the status bar is iOS.

Kun: As long as Android was mentioned in the product description, it was rejected.

Zhang Tao Soloer: When uploading app screenshots, if you upload them to Baidu Market, you will see the App Store icon in the screenshot status bar, which will be rejected. I made a paid version for iOS, which is different from the original version strategy, but the App Store rejected it because it has the same functions as the old version. In fact, all competing products do the same and have already been launched. These are the two situations I encountered.

How to use enterprise accounts for internal testing and prepare more personal developer accounts

Roger: Business accounts have their functions, but of course it is better to have more personal accounts.

Xiao: Corporate accounts can directly download the ipa file and put it on the server for download.

Bald: That can be understood as you can buy this and then put it on the server for download and internal testing.

Drawer: I really don’t recommend using such an enterprise certificate for internal testing, as it is easy to be removed by Apple. How should I put it? Apple officially does not recommend using this method to release test versions. Anyway, as long as someone complains that your enterprise certificate is used for testing, there is a risk of revocation.

Roger: When another application of our company was launched, it was also rejected because the content had no copyright proof. Later, we changed the name of the application and submitted it in different time periods using 4 different accounts. As a result, one of them passed.

Yan Guorong: This is an internal test. It is not available on the app store itself, but only on some jailbreak stores or on its own official website for download.

Ken: Is there any problem with internal testing with enterprise certificates?

Roger: For a 1999 corporate account, you need a Dun & Bradstreet code when you register, and Apple's customer service department will call you to understand the purpose of the registration.

Yan Guorong: Yes, the 1999 is fine, the company needs one. But this will not affect the release of other versions.

Xiao: They recommended testflight, but the experience was not good. We used the corporate account for internal testing and the personal account for official release.

Drawer: When "prompt to update" was still available, we did a similar hack, specifying some rules. When the user meets the rules, he will be prompted to update to the new version, which may be released on fire or TestFlight.

Pitfall No. 6: Gender and profile picture are not required for registration and login

Yan Guorong: "No default gender and profile picture for registered users (no support for skipping)", I don't know if you have encountered this problem, I just encountered it, it's a bit tricky. I communicated with Apple many times and finally gave in. When registering, most apps now require users to complete profile picture and gender information. 60% of them cannot be skipped, but when we reviewed it this time, it didn't work. Apple requires that gender and profile picture can be optional. Everyone who has recently put it on the shelves should pay attention to this. Of course, the standards of the reviewers are different, so it's hard to say.

Drawer: What does this mean? It means that users can skip filling in the username and avatar part when registering?

Aaron: Our current product does not have avatars yet, but we will add them in the next version.

Pitfall No. 7: For products that combine software and hardware, you must shoot a video or send the hardware to Apple for testing

Chen Yuqiang: When we were working on smart wearable devices in the early years, Apple refused because it was impossible to test the software because the hardware and software needed to be integrated. Later, Apple asked us to send the hardware to us to complete the software testing.

I don’t know if there is anyone in the group who makes smart wearable devices. If so, please record a video of the combined use of hardware and software and put it on Youku before putting it on the shelves. Fill in the video link in the remarks column when submitting it. Otherwise, it will be more than a tragedy. Apple may require the hardware to be shipped over, and by the time the hardware is shipped, the delivery will be postponed to indefinitely.

Pitfall No. 8: The interface is too ugly, the promotion is too much, and following the trend will obviously lead to rejection

There have been cases where the interface was too ugly and the lack of novelty in the product was also a reason for rejection.

Gao Weihuang: Will I really be rejected if I’m too ugly?

Roger: It’s true.

Reggie: Excessive promotional images will also be rejected

Yan Guorong: Let me tell you another one, do you remember it? Bird was very popular back then, and Apple rejected many similar businesses. I have one more thing to say, everyone, please pay attention! I mentioned that we were rejected for writing about Apple bitches, but in fact, some friends were rejected for writing about 2-bitters. I also tried 2-bitters, but Apple didn’t work. There was also a friend whose product had a picture of a raised middle finger, which was also rejected.

Fu Pingfei: Yes, we wrote "funny", "awesome", and "green tea bitch". We were rejected three times and were speechless.

Pitfall No. 9: How to solve copyright issues for content apps

Roger: Let me explain the background first. I am responsible for video aggregation applications, mainly American and British TV series. The first submission was rejected because the application would crash, so I would like to remind everyone: when submitting to Apple for review, you must do a good job of testing.

Xiao: Crashes are indeed prone to rejection. Is there any better outsourced service for testing crashfree rate?

Su Li: Regarding crash, has anyone used Tencent's bugly? I have only heard of it.

Roger: The reasons for the six rejections afterwards were varied, but in summary,

①64-bit compatibility ②Copyright issue ③Copyright issue ④Copyright issue…

So here I want to share with you my experience in app content. Earlier @闫国荣 mentioned that you can prepare several developer accounts, and I have practical experience here.

Xiao: How do you test for copyright issues? Do you check them one by one?

Roger: Regarding copyright issues, it actually depends on the mood of the reviewer, although it is not very rigorous to say so. Because it is a video aggregation application, video playback is the core function, so Apple will require you to provide authorization from the copyright holder. For this, our approach is more tricky, and we turn off the playback function when submitting for review.

In addition, we can also learn from the previous practice of Pineapple Video, which used embedded web pages when submitting for review. However, we turned off the playback function and submitted it, but it was still rejected due to copyright issues. The screenshots in the feedback information showed that we used the official posters of popular dramas. Therefore, we would like to recommend that when selecting screenshots, try to avoid using pictures with copyright risks. After being rejected this time, we replaced the posters of all dramas.

Xiao: I would like to know, will music applications be rejected due to copyright reasons?

Ken: Music has copyright issues, and our applications and the open source BBC also have copyright issues; hardware either has videos, or the Apple team in Shenzhen helps with review.

Pitfall No. 10: Rejection due to payment, copywriting and other issues

Wang Yue: Is there any payment problem? Must I use Apple's payment channel?

Zhang Tao: Our app only uses Apple's payment channel. We didn't use other payment methods because we were afraid of being rejected. However, we saw that competitors have already put their products on the shelves using other web payment methods.

Yixiongyifuyun: I will also talk about our rejection situation (the brackets are the solutions):

① Because the prize in an activity copy in the app is an iPhone (change the copy to state that it has nothing to do with Apple)

②After resubmitting, the activity chart looks like an iPhone (change icon)

③The embedded lottery application does not have a sales license (the application is hidden when submitted and restored after passing)

④Embedded charity donation application (hidden when submitting, restored after passing or link to jump to browser for use)

Yan Guorong: I also heard that iOS was rejected if it was not written correctly. You have to be careful, i is lowercase and OS is uppercase!

Chen Chenchen: We are a mobile game community. When we mentioned “gift package” in the description, we were rejected.

Roger: Apple considers “gift packs” to be points walls.

Yan Guorong: Therefore, rewards, lotteries, etc. must be declared to have nothing to do with Apple.

How to use enterprise accounts for internal testing and prepare more personal developer accounts