the-Zebra app logo on Apple Developer site
Unless you are Facebook, dealing with Apple as an iOS (iPhone app) developer is challenging. Facebook managed to do two updates within 24 hours but Apple never even looks at my updates for five days and can take almost 24 hours to reply to basic communications.
After protracted correspondence after my latest version of the-Zebra app was rejected, I asked Apple, seven hours after my last communication, if I should wait up for a response or could go to bed. Within minutes my app was reviewed, approved, sent to the store and put on sale.
Here’s a snapshot of my email inbox last night:
Apple delete all online correspondence leaving just the following message online:
But I have a PDF of the whole correspondence.
What happens is that Apple put the app into review, finally, after five days, I then heard nothing so sent a message asking what was happening. A few hours later I got a reply and very shortly after that, Apple rejected the app.
The message given was completely unhelpful and non-specific. A Google search for the wording finds it is a standard “cut and paste” answer. It does not even tell you which file they have objected to. We had to work that out.
I used the box beneath to provide additional information. This was ignored and I was then told to appeal. I asked what the point was of the additional information box? Eventually I reposted the info I had provided the first time. Seven hours later I asked if I could go to bed and the app was approved.
It is frustrating, to say the least, especially when Facebook can do two updates in 24 hours – the second to fix bugs in the first update. In one of the emails from Apple they said to me: “We strongly recommend that any quality assurance testing is performed prior to submitting the app”.
I have sent this information to Apple’s media office in the UK and asked for a response, but I have not received one.
