{"id":27701,"date":"2019-12-27T15:23:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T20:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=27701"},"modified":"2019-12-27T15:23:58","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T20:23:58","slug":"bluemail-rejected-from-the-mac-app-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/27\/bluemail-rejected-from-the-mac-app-store\/","title":{"rendered":"BlueMail Rejected From the Mac App Store"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julian Chokkattu<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

A few days later, still reeling from the shock of seeing the technology they patented announced on the world stage, the Volach brothers’ email app, BlueMail<\/a>, was removed from the Mac App Store. Coincidence? They don’t think so.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Last year, the app was found to be sending users’ passwords<\/a> to the developers, but the company issued an update that reportedly rectified the issue<\/a> and claims it doesn’t store emails or passwords on its servers.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

In this resubmission, the team asked Apple to “elaborate on which apps you find similar, so we can look into it and take action if required.” Yet BlueMail was rejected again, with Apple citing the app duplicated content available on the App Store. After asking again for more clarity, a few days later Apple finally said BlueMail is duplicating TypeApp.<\/p>

“BlueMail and TypeApp were never duplicate applications—but they certainly could not be “duplicates” on June 4, 2019, that were “currently available on the App Store” when TypeApp for Mac had already been voluntarily removed weeks earlier,” according to the lawsuit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

No matter how you look at this, it’s odd that both apps are approved for the iOS App Store but not the Mac App Store. How did they get a patent for an e-mail relay? And why haven’t they made a Developer ID version of the app?<\/p>\n\n

Ben Volach<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This isn’t our first time facing unfair practices as a developer for Apple devices. Our iPhone app was unfairly ranked until The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and others exposed how the App Store manipulated search results. Overnight, its ranking went from #143 to #13.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n