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iosiphoneipadappstore-approval

App rejection clarification - HELP on what the actual issue is?

I submitted my fantasy football app for the first time and got rejected for the following reason,

"12.3: Apps that are simply web clippings, content aggregators, or a collection of links, may be rejected - We found that the experience your app provides is not sufficiently different from browsing a content or link aggregator web site, as required by the App Store Review Guidelines. While your app may facilitate access to web sites or to content from a range of web sites, even when including features such as Push Notifications, the experience it provides is not significantly different from using Safari. Such apps do not include enough native iOS functionality to be appropriate for the App Store. We encourage you to review your app concept and evaluate whether you can incorporate additional features to enhance the user experience."

So, I added some new features, including social media sharing and player tracking functionality in order for the users to search/select multiple players and see those favorite players highlighted throughout the app. I then resubmitted the app and got rejected again for the following reason,

"10.6: Apple and our customers place a high value on simple, refined, creative, well thought through interfaces. They take more work but are worth it. Apple sets a high bar. If your user interface is complex or less than very good it may be rejected. We found the user interface of your app is not of sufficient quality to be appropriate for the App Store. Apps that provide a poor user experience are not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines. Rejected for violating guideline 10.6 The app provides a poor user experience as it consists of feeds aggregated from www.fantasyfootballfreaks.com and contains a poor UI. Please evaluate whether you can make the necessary revisions to improve the user experience of your app. Keep in mind that Apple and Apple customers place a high value - and have high standards - on the user interface and the experience an app provides. Apps should be engaging and exciting, enabling users to do something they couldn't do before; or to do something in a way they couldn't do before or better than they could do it before. And apps should be specific to the iOS platform to take the fullest advantage of iOS in delivering a robust user experience."

I've contacted Apple and haven't received any feedback yet. I'm confused on what I should be working on to update the app and resubmit it again. Ultimately, what is their concern? Is it the pulling of information from our web server? Was the added functionality enough, but now they don't like the UI now (if so, why)? The app is universal for iPhone and iPad and they only included screenshots of the iPad in the 2nd rejection as a reference. I don't get the "poor UI" issue, since the screenshots reference two table views where I display an image, title and description of articles and news items. It's very simple, straightforward and easy to read for the users. They also included my player tracking view where I allow the user to select their favorite players, they can search, scroll or click on the team labels on the right side (very easy and user friendly).

I've looked at many general news and fantasy football apps, and they all implement very similar table views and scroll views to display their data which is being pulled from their web servers too. Is it just because my company name isn't yahoo or espn? I don't use any webviews within my app either. We have thousands of users that would like to get their hands on the app, but I don't know what the really issue is that I need to fix.

Any recommendations or feedback from your experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. The football season has already started and I'm way behind schedule because of the rejections.

http://www.fantasyfootballfreaks.com/app.php

Solution

  • Apps should be engaging and exciting, enabling users to do something they couldn't do before; or to do something in a way they couldn't do before or better than they could do it before. And apps should be specific to the iOS platform to take the fullest advantage of iOS in delivering a robust user experience.

    and

    The app is universal for iPhone and iPad and they only included screenshots of the iPad in the 2nd rejection as a reference.

    you wrote.

    I don't get the "poor UI" issue

    Sad... just look above once again it is there.

    I would make iPhone, iPhone Retina, iPad, iPad Retina version design at least.

    Ofc the "universal" Phonegap, Appcelarator like generated app look like trash. Try to embed some noce images as desing, for splash, app icon, tabs, buttons and so on. Maybe you need adesigner work too, not the plain sdk generated buttons.

    Edit adding screenshot as it would be in new iPad ( retina ) screenshot

    That has a serious reason to reject it! Tipp: Try to release only for iPhone if you have small images and you don't want dynamic thumbnail image size. But you set up as Universal, so from iPhone 3 to new iPad resolutions all!!!

    If you do a news grabber, than resize the images as it looks clear. + need design work in buttons, table, table cell, backgrounds and so on.