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▲ hmokiguess 2 days ago

> My app was REJECTED from submission FOUR TIMES in row. Always same reason (eg. my app is “design spam” and “duplicates existing apps” and it is createed using “app generation template services”) as shown bellow in screenshots. Which is obvious nonsense.

You can feel the entitlement across the room from the developer. They seem to be unable to conceive that outside of their bubble there can be a real case of AI spamming that same look and feel, even if they did it by heart.

Looking at his work, it's clearly modelled after Serum (which even the article describes as "a sort of Serum 2 for iOS") so I am not sure why they think this suddenly deserves a white glove service here.

The App Store is also flooded with Synth apps, so regardless of the UI being the trigger here, I would imagine the category itself has been flagged as spammy and now has a higher bar of entry.

If anything I would use this as an opportunity to reskin and try to stand out, they're giving you a blueprint of what will perform better on the algorithm if you avoid that look if you think about it.

Or just try an Alt Store.

▲Galaco 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I wouldn't describe it as entitlement. I think one of the issues I would have if I was in this situation is that the developer membership is paid for and the service provider (Apple) is actively refusing to let you engage in part of what you did pay for (the ability to publish apps on the App Store). You can bet that Apple won't give you a refund of that membership fee.

▲hmokiguess 2 days ago | parent [-]

They provided reasons and it is within the terms of service of what you paid for, they were also able to appeal, and I suggest you check the app and the reference app to which the claim is being made against.

▲wahnfrieden 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

“Just try an alt store” is a condescendingly flippant comment - there is near zero market for iOS alt stores and most people in most countries have no access either.

My above comment is not an excuse for design spam. The design spam rule is necessary. Your feedback is not.

Synths have never been a high profit business on iOS. And small earners are not a priority for Apple review. There’s a business case for not being bothered with most indie apps.

To suggest there’s categorically no room for innovation or value add with new synth products is just ignorant though.

▲hmokiguess 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

There is also near zero market for more Synth Apps at this point so I'm not sure what you want here.

It's like when the App Store started, someone made a Flashlight App and it was cool. We sure had enough of that by now. Now that AI turned everyone into a maker and the bar is lower in a world of abundance, it's only natural that things shift in terms of expectations for distribution.

This is how new markets take shape too, YouTube became so trash that now platforms such as Nebula came out as a business.

▲UqWBcuFx6NV4r 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I’m genuinely not sure if you’re doing a bit, especially after explicitly calling out the “entitlement” of the development.

Is “we don’t think there’ll be a market for this” a defensible reason to disqualify an app from the App Store? What’s even your point? You are just looking to be argumentative and pretty clearly have no interest in actually discussing this.

▲hmokiguess 2 days ago | parent [-]

I'll take the callout, I did get emotional. Reason being is because I have bought over 20 synth apps and have worked in the music industry. Looking at the app and the way they reacted to not getting approved made me upset.

▲iAMkenough 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If you’re going to suggest an alt store, customers globally should be able to access the alt store you’re suggesting.

So far in the U.S., that’s not an option. You likely already know this, which makes it a flippant argument.

▲j45 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

An Alt iOS store isn't accessible to everyone in every country either as far as I know.

▲tensor 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

For those of us who believe in free markets, yeah we should be entitled to sell more or less any legal software. It shouldn't be Apple's place to police it. Europe had the right idea breaking their app store monopoly.

▲thenthenthen 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I dunno, in the jailbreak days, some repos were also terrible to get your app approved in (bigboss?).

▲hparadiz 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Everyone is entitled to run whatever the hell they want on their own device. End of.

▲dijit 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Technically, he can run his app on his device.

technically, anyone can grab a copy of source, put their phone into developer mode and install the app too.

But- practically, it's hard.

You only get 4 application slots on devices in dev mode for example and I think they also expire.

I tried creating an internal app for my company and was gobsmacked that I didn't have any sane method to distribute it short of taking full ownership of everyones devices via MDM.

You are of course not allowed to publish "internal" apps to Testflight (or the App Store, but that's more obvious).

▲jojobas 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

You're entitled to a way to have others try you software on devices they own that doesn't involve paying Apple $99/year for the privilege.

▲cute_boi 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

and you have limitations on app ids. Apple sucks…

▲warkdarrior 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sure, but this developer wants to publish their app through the App Store. Not the same thing as running on their own device.

▲Geof25 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I am not aware of a way to publish an app without an App Store.

At least on Android you can make them self updating and not care about rest of the ecosystem

▲warkdarrior 2 days ago | parent [-]

You can install development builds on your own iPhone, you just need to enable Developer Mode: https://docs.expo.dev/guides/ios-developer-mode/

▲NewJazz 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Ah but it is!

▲TedDoesntTalk 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Web page

▲NewJazz 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Audio software needs low latency. Can you actually make a synth in browser that's good? And integrates with DAWs?

▲wahnfrieden 2 days ago | parent [-]

No

▲ 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]
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▲reorder9695 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Is entitlement always a problem? Maybe if apple didn't try their best to hold a monopoly on app distribution for a large percentage of the mobile userbase, developers wouldn't feel frustrated in this regard. Who's apple to decide which apps aren't allowed because they "duplicate existing apps", and how fairly is that even applied? Are calculators allowed on the app store? It seems awfully like they duplicate existing functionality.

▲RobotToaster 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> You can feel the entitlement across the room from the developer.

Apple felt they were entitled to insert themselves as an all powerful gate keeper in program distribution, the least they could do is not be shit at it.

▲jahnu 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Ok but now explain why there are tons of absolute trash vibe coded apps that barely do anything in the app store?

▲hmokiguess 2 days ago | parent [-]

First, I am not trusting them at face value. They are building a copycat of Serum and most likely could be doing some level of vibe-coding themselves.

Second, to your point, say we trusted them, it's a chicken or the egg problem. After all the trash entered the space it became flagged and a scale/moderation issue.

The larger problem is the bad actors.

▲tensor 2 days ago | parent [-]

I'm not sure why Apple needs to be policing who gets to compete for a given functionality. Malware? Yeah, for sure, police it. Non-functional software? Maybe, if it's really bad. That's more or less a scam.

But simply because you're solving the same problem others are? No, that's horrible overreach. We have copyright and patent law to deal with outright copies. It's not Apple's place.

▲sanid 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I mean they are entitled to it in a way. You pay Apple 99 Dollars a year to be able to distribute your apps on the store. Why should apple care if it is design spam or a duplicate of an existing app? Most of the apps available in the store would check those boxes too.

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▲n8m8 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Apple has been famously strict about App Store submissions since it started… these comments confused about it make me feel old!

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▲Micrococonut 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

"Or just try an alt store." What alt store? Pure bs. You must be an Apple shareholder. They are prone to posting delusional excrement like this.