Basecamp App Rejected for Including Help Link
Apple is rejecting an update to the @basecamp app in part because our app include a link to web-based help pages that have information about a paid version of Basecamp. Nothing changed in this app update from how that’s been since forever. Now a scramble to hide help links
The capricious review process that Apple subjects app devs to is such a stain on the company’s relationship with its ecosystem. It feels so utterly unnecessary, with such little upside, and such serious downsides. Apple may be the most benevolent in Big Tech, but it’s still in it
It also highlights what a glorious anomaly the web is as an application platform. Free from capricious overlords. Viva the open web. Viva email. Viva all open platforms.
This rule has never made sense to me. It’s even less understandable than the rules that you can’t mention which other platforms your app works with or which hardware or OS versions are compatible. And Basecamp’s intent is clearly not to bypass paying through Apple.
See also: Rejected for Mentioning a Pre-release macOS Version, Overcast Rejected for Listing Competing Podcast Apps, Purchasing From the Kindle App, iBookstore Rejects Book for Linking to Amazon.
3 Comments RSS · Twitter
Silly adjudication of the rule. As usual. The app store will never be divorced from these self inflicted problems, it's been ten years now. This is desired behavior, not a mistake.
[…] operates. I wish App Review acted more like a quality barrier and less like it was actively seeking incredibly stupid reasons to reject […]
