{"id":29880,"date":"2020-08-25T16:28:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T20:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=29880"},"modified":"2025-04-08T10:04:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T14:04:39","slug":"developer-accounts-nearly-terminated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/25\/developer-accounts-nearly-terminated\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer Accounts Nearly Terminated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zac Wood<\/a> (via Paul Haddad<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Submitted a minor update for \n@AtticsApp\n after nearly two years on the App Store and \n@Apple\n has decided out of nowhere that I have been engaging in “a pattern of manipulative or misleading behavior” and has permanently terminated my account. No evidence or specific reasons given.<\/p>

It started after a build got rejected without a reason last week. A couple of days after, I received a message very similar to the screenshot that my account is being terminated. I appealed, trying to get info on what exactly the problem is, and then got the last message<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite not telling him what he’s accused of, Apple writes:<\/p>\n

This appeal decision is final, and any subsequent appeals you file will be closed without review.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Nathan Lawrence<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I cannot tell you how often I’ve seen this or a similar message, whether in personally helping someone or in a news story - and how often those then get reversed, like they say won’t happen, because there was a mistake.<\/p>\n

This costs Apple nothing, but it’s terrifying for us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Zac Wood<\/a>, after some help from running to the press, which “never helps”:<\/p>\n

Attics has been approved and my account will no longer be terminated -- apparently my app had been copied across the App Store many times and it wasn’t caught that mine was the original.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Gui Rambo<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This is scary. It’s not the first time Apple bans a developer because copies of that developer’s app (the original) were found on the store. If Apple is not good enough to determine who’s the owner of the original app, they’re not good enough to make these types of decisions.<\/p>\n

If you are an iOS developer and you see copies of your app in the App Store, it is now your job to monitor the store for such copies and alert Apple, otherwise your entire developer account is at risk.<\/p>\n

Ironically, I know of at least one case where the developer rightfully pointed out copyright violations of their app in the App Store, but in the end Apple banned their account because they couldn’t figure out who was the developer of the original app. 🙃<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Tom Angistalis<\/a> (via Chuq Von Rospach<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\n

This happened with \n@FilmNoirApp\n back in May. The app was only available in TestFlight and out of nowhere we receive almost exactly the same email after we asked why our account was going to be terminated. Of course they didn’t tell us at first what was the reason.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Tom Angistalis<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

We wanted to have a good user experience and open all links in the app, does that mean that we are responsible for all third party content? What baffles me is that the review team didn’t say anything about it until a tweet got some attention<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

We changed all links to open in native iOS Safari app and that deemed acceptable. Now the real question why they can’t tell you exactly that but they also ignore your appeal?<\/p>\n

We simply asked what was the issue and they responded back by saying that our account was going to be terminated and the app review team wouldn’t consider any more appeals.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Of course, the rules are applied unevenly<\/a>, and other apps are allowed to display links directly in the app.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n