I'm an iphone indie developer. I spend two months creating an app that just got rejected from Apple. The app is Free Promo Codes. In short, you view participating apps on your iphone and then you can get a free promo code to that app. It was a free download. They rejected the app with the reason: I am not allowed to distribute promo codes for apps I do not own. Developers provide the codes to me and I just include them in the app. The goal is to get smaller devs some exposure in the app store and to have users learn about their apps instead of random people swiping codes. I was shocked to be rejected because recently an app named App Popular added this exact feature to their app and made many headlines in the iphone world. They did not get rejected and are reaping the benefits. Their method is actually more invasive as you have to provide your email address to get your code. My app takes the code from my database and automatically launches itunes and redeems it for you. No personal information collected and no wait time. The Apple rep I talked to was very nice but my argument was moot. He was not aware of App Popular. I thought there was another app dispensing codes as well but I cannot remember the name. I don't want App Popular shut down, but it would be nice to get the same treatment they did. I wonder if I can submit again and hope to get a person who translates the Apple Constitution differently.
Hi. I had a similar experience when I submitted Review Scraper. I cited several apps on the store that were already doing the same thing - that doesn't matter. Resubmitted it (twice) hoping it would be picked up by someone else, all rejected for the same reason. Ask Apple for the section of the agreement which details you cannot distribute promo codes for apps you do not own. Be polite to them
That's sucks, but I can see why it got rejected. Not sure if I agree, but perhaps apple has a good reasoning why they do not allow it.
You took the words out of my mouth! Maybe you should a "win a promo code app", since lottery apps are allowed!
App Popular has a bunch of features beyond simple promo code distribution. While App Popular should be rejected on the same basis, it was probably overlooked since it is not the key feature and sole purpose of the app. Your app seems to be a distro center for Promo codes and that is all. Of course it is going to be a target. I'm not sure this is a battle worth fighting. Even if App Popular is removed from the store temporarily, it will simply remove that one feature and then resubmit. In your case, this isn't a battle that you can win with Apple.
maybe if you added a feature where the person has to review the app they get a promo code for by searching for their itunes user in the reviews....also they could only get a promo code 1 time a week so that you cant abuse the system
I had features just like that, but it does not matter. I even had if you buy one of the titles within the app you could get a code to another. I'm not fighting Apple on this besides voicing my displeasure. I can't force them to do anything. I figured it would be interesting to add this to the unfair rejections list - on the basis another app is doing the same exact thing (poorly in my mind since they ask for your email address). It doesn't matter if they have other features, this feature is actually making them much more popular. Their other feature is regurgitating the rss feeds apple provides for free. So, it's almost a copy of the app store. They are cool with everything App Popular is doing though.
It thought about that but it's still not worth it. The app was free anyway. Cydia is a small audience. This was supposed to reach a much larger audience to make it worthwhile to developers.
well you can make it a web app and put ads up somewhere 'GET GAMES FOR FREE!!!' linking to your webapp
Youd be surprised by the amount of download on cydia. It has a big big big user base like you wouldn't imagine.
really sucks to see this happen to a fellow Cocos developer... well, Apple rules make little sense... Id recommend you to wait a few days and resubmit again, hoping it would go through some other reviewer...
you have not read the developer agreement? apple could terminate your agreement for this - they want you to exclusively distribute the applications via itunesconnect. you might want to give your contract another read over.. if this is your only app; it wont matter.. but i am sure apple is scouring cydia for this exact reason.
