Gadgetrepublic.com - News: Mobile

Iphone app developer Steven Troughton-Smith says that while there is a specified set of guidelines Apple uses "an extended version" of that in their approval process: "We don't know for sure what will guarantee a rejection outside the original list.

As for the initial rejection of Tweetie Version 1.3, Troughton-Smith says: "It really does seem to be human error on the part of those on the approval team; one overworked employee likely saw the word 'f*ck' without realizing that what he was looking at was an online, constantly changing list (the trends on Twitter)."

Despite this Troughton-Smith feels that all the news surrounding one application rejection masks the fact that very few apps are actually rejected permenantly.

"I myself had Lights Off rejected the first time I submitted because you could tap on and highlight a row in the 'stats' table view, but the row would do nothing.

"The approval process is as much a full quality assurance rundown of your app as anything else, and I'm not surprised there'd be some mistakes in judgment with all they go through.

"Apple clearly states what you need to change or fix, and send you an email with a screenshot of the problem, if applicable. Usually what follows is a *facepalm* moment as it's something stupid you forgot about or didn't notice yourself," he adds.

Developer Troughton-Smith says that mistakes aside there is the fact that Apple will reject the app because its entire concept is against its internal rules.

"More often than not instead of rejecting those they simply sit on them for months with no feedback.

"Such has happened to Jonathan Zdziarski, with whom I chat regularly. He had two apps they sat on, and no feedback after numerous phone calls to them.

"The first was a 'free space eraser' tool, which, although technically not against the rules, provided a feature that Apple weren't happy with.

"The most recent was his "AMBER Alert" application, and it took him writing an open, public letter and making a huge fuss before it got approved."

Amber Alert is an application now available on the US App Store for free. It gives real-time information on missing children and developer Zdziarkski worked with the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children to make his app the official AMBER Alert tool for the iPhone.

The iPhone SDK (software developers kit) agreement is available to download from the iPhone Dev Centre for registered developers and contains guidelines on user privacy, content and materials allowed and so on.

For now it looks like there are no secrets to having your app approved by Apple. Simply follow the guidelines and if the rejection appears to fall outside these make a fuss!

By Marie Boran