Developer Account In Limbo Due to Popularity
This is unacceptable: A seemingly automated system flags @sindresorhus Apple Dev Account, threatening to close his account if he won’t resolve “unspecified metric”
I can’t believe it’s legal for (in this case a monopoly) to suspend accounts without providing a justification.
Sindre Sorhus (via Felix Krause):
Basically, my two recent apps got popular and triggered some heuristic.
She asked if I had done any paid promotion. I said no, just Twitter and Reddit. She said I should monitor App Store analytics for any suspicious activity (isn’t that their job and what’s is considered suspicious activity?).
I tried to get a clearer answer, but just got “monitor analytics” answers.
I asked whether my Apple account is safe. She said: for now, but continue monitoring.
The recent popularity was likely because his apps were featured on the App Store, but apparently the heuristics don’t take that into account. The e-mail says to “Please address this issue promptly” without giving any indication of what he’s supposed to do.
I got this back in April. My working theory is that it’s an automatic warning sent after an app with a very high rating gets a few refund requests in a given period of time.
I got the same email. I replied to this email asking for more info. Two days later got a response from them saying they want a call. It has been a week and still haven’t heard anything. I also opened a case via Developer Support and haven’t heard anything from there.
Previously:
- The Top PDF Reader in the Mac App Store
- Apple Accounts “Permanently” Blocked
- App Store Feature Promotes Rip-Off Apps
- Apple Account Locked Due to Failed Trade-in
- Another Developer Account Nearly Terminated
- Developer Accounts Nearly Terminated
- Apple Remote-Kills Long-time Developer’s Apps
- Guilherme Rambo Locked Out of Apple Developer Account
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Stories like these reaffirm my commitment to avoid being a professional iOS developer.
If Apple thinks the developer is doing something nefarious, perhaps tell them what exactly the problem might be so they can cease such actions or can provide counter proof to clear them of the accusation. Of course, the likely result being the usual automated flag bullshit throwing up false positives. Is it true Apple themselves literally featured the app and Apple's system isn't smart enough to take that into consideration? Crazy sauce.
