Have you uploaded app to App Store recently? will it be rejected by design spam 4.3

Xman

Just from one or two months ago, no matter what app uploaded to App Store,they all just reject with design spam 4.3,is that caused by the binary of the packages made by Gideros are similar,all scripts are just treated as assets by the review team?
My app have been on the App Store for years and this is a just regular update release.

Xman

Yes, I have confirmed With the review team, they just treat all apps as a "container" with different assets.

Apollo14

Yes, I have confirmed With the review team, they just treat all apps as a "container" with different assets.

So what to do now?
Will their bureaucratic machine make an exception towards Gideros?

hgy29

Submitted two days ago and app was accepted without any issue, but yeah it really depends on the reviewer. Tell them you are using a SDK, if they block gideros apps then they should block unity and others too.

Xman

Yes, It's depends on the reviewer.
But unlikely, all of my recent updates were rejected by the design 4.3,
At first, I just thought the review become strict, and made lots of improvement to my apps, but were still rejected, then I began to ask the detailed reject reason, they replied that all of my apps uploaded were just the same container with slightly contents modification.

I have explained all these about game engine and scripts to them, just waiting for the reply.

I post it here to let other developers know what the hell true reason is when the reviewers simply paste the design 4.3.

Xman

Here is their reply when I asked the detailed reject reason.

I think I have not misunderstood the message.
Does that mean all the scripts in the package were just treated as the same kind of contents such as image files?

Hello,

Thank you for your prompt response and providing detailed information about your app.

We ask that you consolidate your existing apps, as well as any new apps that you submit, as your app provides the same feature set as other apps you've submitted to the App Store, only varying slightly in content or language. (For those instances where it doesn’t seem appropriate to consolidate all of your apps into one, it would also be acceptable to consolidate your apps by theme, category of app, business, etc.)

To resolve this issue, please combine apps with similar themes and feature sets into a single "container" app. You may want to consider using the in-app purchase API to deliver the different content to your users.

Best regards,
App Store Review

hgy29

Looks like they are not actually looking at what those 'slight' modifications are, because if they did they would understand that 4.3 isn't violated at all except if you actually deliver several similar versions of the same app no matter if they are made with gideros or not.

As per Apple:

4.3 Spam   Don’t create multiple Bundle IDs of the same app. If your app has different versions for specific locations, sports teams, universities, etc., consider submitting a single app and provide the variations using in-app purchase. Also avoid piling on to a category that is already saturated; the App Store has enough fart, burp, flashlight, and Kama Sutra apps already. Spamming the store may lead to your removal from the Developer Program.

This has nothing to do with sharing binary code across different apps, it seems to me that apple reviewers use some kind of binary comparison tool which is case of gideros brings false positives.

Xman

Yes, I also think so.
They just rejected all of my apps with the same reason no matter what changes I made to improve the apps.
No duplicate package is submitted at all in my account.

hgy29

You should able to ask them which packages are judged similar and have them actually launch supposed similar apps to compare functionnality.

Xman

I have asked the question long ago, They just did not point out which packages, and let me consolidate my existing apps.

hgy29

If they are more concerned about duplicated code across thousands of apps in their store, they should consider embedding gideros into iOS and allow lua only app submissions

hgy29

Anyway if can't consolidate your apps for legitimate reasons, they must be able to tell you more precisely what they discovered. If the reviewer doesn't want to give you details, you should probably contact apple support to put someone else on the case.

EDIT: Maybe try an appeal: https://developer.apple.com/contact/app-store/?topic=appeal

Xman

Yes, I'm waiting for their explanation for game engine using scripts.
I will try an appeal if they can not give legitimate reasons.

snooks

Apple may be enforcing 4.3 more strongly now, with a slightly different policy. Your apps being in the store for years does not remove this possibility and maybe they are too similar (for Apple, now).

I am just saying. Maybe it isn't a technical issue at all? Without seeing the apps it's impossible to say either way. They do say...

... your app provides the same feature set as other apps you've submitted to the App Store, only varying slightly in content or language.

... so are they wrong and the apps are very different from each other?

totebo

Dudes, I have released five Gideros games on iTunes and Google play and I've never had that issue. I released my most recent game earlier this month without a hitch.

Apple's response seems pretty clear; the app is too similar to a previously uploaded app.

Xman

If I did uploaded similar apps multiple times,I wouldn’t waste time to post this thread here as an idiot.
Is that clear?

Xman

Maybe apps uploaded in different areas have different people to review,you are lucky in your country.

keszegh

@Xman, could you give us a link to your games?

Xman

By the way,I have updated most apps last month without any problems.It’s just lucky.

SinisterSoft

I've uploaded recently, no issue here. Must depend on the reviewer - maybe we get allocated to specific review teams and those same teams look at your apps. So once you are assigned an idiot reviewer you are stuck with them?

totebo

"If I did uploaded similar apps multiple times,I wouldn’t waste time to post this thread here as an idiot.
Is that clear?"

Didn't mean to offend! If the apps aren't similar, then an appeal should work!

Xman

It's really frustrating to discuss with the review team.
They insist that all of my apps are just one container with different contents.
Hello,

Thank you for your prompt response and providing detailed information about your app.

Upon review, we found that you have submitted many app to the App Store. It would be appropriate to remove and/or delete the live apps from the App Store and submit a single container app for review. Once the container app has been submitted, we can review the full functionality of the app and appropriately proceed for the App Store.

We look forward to reviewing your revised application.



I have made an appeal days ago, but no reply at all.

Xman

I made an appeal like this, does it make sense?

All these apps we submitted to App Store are totally different from each other.
Only because we use a Lua script based game engine to develop these apps, the review team treat all of our apps are just one container app with different contents.
There are lots of scripts based engines, include some famouse engines, apps made by these engines all have a similar binary package and the app itself is coded by scripts, and all these script files are just packed as assets.

Xman

However, to be honest, all these apps are just a Gideros Player load different scripts, it just seems like a container.
If apple insist that's one container, I think it's hard to convince apple to change their mind.

Ninjadoodle

Hi @Xman

Keep e-mailing them until you get it sorted out, even if its everyday. My brother had some issues with the app store, he e-mailed non-stop until he finally got a response he was happy with. Only took about 2 weeks.

I know it's annoying, but if you're not doing anything wrong - they will eventually listen.

Xman

What’s the email address to contact them?

keszegh

@Xman, independent of this issue i'd be interested in your games, as for any other gideros developer. would be great if you could share a link to them, thanks.

totebo

I would just say "the games are all different and it makes no sense to merge them into one game".

I really don't think Apple are able to/put the effort into analysing the source code. And, as you say, then MOST games in the app store would get this message too.

Could you please send a link to the game you are trying to update, or previous games you've already released?

snooks

If you are updating them all at the same time, does this mean that you did lots of bugfixing and updates and held them all back until they were ready to release together, or are the majority of changes in the Gideros core?

Ninjadoodle

By email - I meant contact support. I also think a link to your games would be helpful so we know what we’re talking about here.