Apple rejected my app
by Dawid CedrychMy New Year's resolution was to start my day with thinking mode instead of reactive mode (checking inbox, slack etc).
A way to build that routine has been checking Naval Ravikant quotes and content every couple of days. I thought I'd love to have an app that shows me three random quotes in the morning and nudges me towards more mindful actions, so I don't have to browse the internet for inspiration.
I browsed the App Store and didn't find anything like this, so I decided to build one myself for iOS.
The app is dead simple; it displays three random pieces of Naval's knowledge every day, and one can turn on notification to receive morning reminders.
If that helped me built better morning habits, I thought maybe I should publish it on the App Store. I gave it a bit of a design touch and submitted for revision.
Still, I had a gut feeling that it might be too rudimental in terms of features to get through the Apple review process, and I was right.
If anyone of you guys has an iPhone and would love to give it a shot , I can distribute the App via TestFlight (you can DM me on twitter or email [email protected]).
If it turns out, you find it useful; I'd be delighted to build in more features and push it to App Store again.
Anyone up for testing? 👋
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There are apps like yours actually. Search “daily devotions” app. But let’s get to a solution. What I usually do is look for app similar to mine (i know you said that your app was novel but it’s like “daily devotions”) then i replied to apple with all the apps that are similar and say “what’s up with that app?” They can get in but i can’t?” If app still rejects then add some animations features and share to social media buttons and resubmit with “added additional features per your request .” That should work because it’s rarely ever the same app reviewer. Good Luck!
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Thanks @makeshiftIndie!
Actually, I don't want to push too hard if I'm the only one who benefits from this app (Your solution will probably work, though 😊).
I posted this milestone to see if anyone's interested in testing the app and get some ideas on new features that would make it more appealing to users 😊
That being said, I appreciate your advice and if I decide I want to submit it anyway, I'll definitely give it a shot!
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Have you considered just publishing as a PWA? You aren't really doing anything where native would matter.
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Yes you DO have to push the App Store a little. Trust me I have 4 in the App Store and on Google Play and it’s fairly rare that I get it in and/or updated the first time! They assume people will give up, but after a while if you give them enough background and future ideas and strategies etc., they tend to come around. Remember it’s all fairly subjective when it comes to that particular rejection reason. Good luck!
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We had this happen to our app once and we just submitted it again and they approved it. Sometimes the review process is super random.
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Agree with everyone above. Just to let you know: I love the minimalistic clean design you did! Good luck with the project! My very first app has also been rejected a couple of times.
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Funny, I had the same idea and I made a similar app for android called "One Quote a Day". But your design looks way better, good job!
Seems like the App Store is way more strict, because my app is still up on the Play Store.
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Hey Dawid,
The first app I made in order to get published to the app store, took me almost another month from the first rejection in order to get it accepted by the apple store review team.
I'd say it's worth it to push yourself a little bit harder to just get that first app accepted. Things definitely take a lot more time than you anticipate.
My rule of thumb, is 1/3 of the initial goal gets done, and it takes 3x as long as the original timeline. Not sure what that makes it out to be in terms of total time spent, haha.
Good luck!
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Hi @Malaydude, thanks for your response!
It's not really my first app store submission, I've done it in the past :) I'm thinking of additional features I may implement to make the app useful for the audience :)
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Have you heard about https://www.stoicroutine.com/?
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I have, yet it's way more sophisticated product! I just wanted to start small and focus on Naval's widsom, which I devour anyway I can - listening to podcasts, watching videos and reading stories :)
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I would argue that the app supports native notifications (in case the reviewer overlooked it) and maybe you can come up with another native feature which suits the app (e.g. today widgets?). Maybe this is enough to get you through the review, I had similar situations myself.
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I did mention to the Apple Review team that it supports native local notifications scheduling, but their reply was very vague (Thanks, for your response, please review apple design guidelines blah blah blah) :)
Also, i don't want to implement superficial features only to get accepted to the App Store, as this app has been built primarily for my use. If there's anything I can add to make it more useful for you, indiehackers, I'd be happy to do it :)
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Don't take it personally - every one of the dozen or so apps I have written for iOS over the years has been rejected at some point. Some more than once! :)
App sounds interesting, and I wish I had some time to help you test, but we are in the middle of a major 'crunch' with my startup ATM, so I would hate to promise you that I would take a look and then not get around to it. Best of luck finding testers on here though...
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Hi @Devan Thanks for your response!
I don't take it personally at all, I've been developing apps since 2014 and had already dozens of rejections :)I just never submitted an app that didn't pass this particular guideline. Therefore, I'd be happy to build more features to make it to the App Store, but first wanted to know if anyone would actually need them :)
Thanks!
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