Skip to Content

Submit your nominations for the Luxist Awards' Best in Decor
AOL Tech

rejection posts

Filed under: Apple, iPhone

Apple yanks Commodore 64 emulator for BASIC interpreter easter egg


Manomio has certainly been patient in waiting for their fully licensed, retro-awesome Commodore 64 app to be allowed beyond the velvet rope guarding the entrance App Store.

One of the hold ups that led to their initial rejection back in June was the presence of a BASIC interpreter. Rather than strip the code entirely, Manomio tucked it behind a Konami code of sorts. Once users began reporting their luck in re-enabling the interpreter, Apple unceremoniously booted the emulator out the back door.

According to Manomio, the code has now been totally removed and the application re-re-submitted to Apple for re-re-approval.

It seems like an odd point of contention. As PC Mag's Jamie Lendino puts it, "anyone who would try and crash the iPhone via programming the C-64 emulator in BASIC deserves a gold star more than anything else, but that's my opinion."

Filed under: Apple, iPhone, Education

Apple censors iPhone version of Ninjawords dictionary

The saga of Apple's inexplicable App Store approval policies just got even weirder. This time, a dictionary iPhone app was rejected for containing profanity, and only accepted once a 17+ rating was attached, and the allegedly obscene words were removed from the app. Even more frustrating is that Ninjawords, the censored dictionary, distinguishes itself by using different sources for its definitions than any other app on the store right now. It could have been a great app.

It's true that it's Apple's store, and Apple is allowed to make the rules, but it's hard to see how such a crucial part of the iPhone business can continue to expand with rules so sporadically applied. Developers won't want to develop, for fear of having their apps rejected, or being asked to remove content or functionality before they're allowed into the store. These same arguments come up every time a legitimate-seeming app gets rejected, but Apple really doesn't seem to have learned its lesson: rejecting legitimate apps is bad for everyone involved. Censoring a dictionary to protect readers certainly isn't going to sell any phones.

[via Daring Fireball]

Filed under: Business, News, Apple, Google, VoIP

FCC demands details from Apple about Google Voice rejection

The FCC sent inquiry letters to Apple, AT&T and Google as part of an investigation into the rejection of Google Voice from Apple's App Store. The rejection was one of the now-typical "duplicates the functionality of one of Apple's apps" affairs, and the FCC is pressing for details on how Apple's seemingly inconsistent approval process actually works. Was Apple moving at the behest of AT&T to get rid of an app that might cut into the phone company's profits? Our sister site, TUAW, has the details on the questions each player was asked.

For Apple: What are the actual rules for app approval? Why was Google Voice rejected? Have any VoIP apps been accepted to the store? (TUAW points out that this question seems misplaced, because Voice is not a VoIP application.) Was AT&T consulted on the decision to reject Google Voice?

For Google: Have other Google apps been accepted to Apple's store? What's the approval process for Google's own Android app store? Are there other ways Google Voice might work on the iPhone without the app?

For AT&T: Did AT&T have anything to do with the rejection of Google Voice? Are any VoIP applications running on AT&T's network? What role does AT&T have in approving 3G-enable applications?

The companies have until August 21 to respond to these questions, and the answers should be quite revealing. It's funny that it might take an FCC inquiry to get to the bottom of Apple's mysterious, fickle-seemingly app store policies. iPhone developers will be watching closely.

Filed under: Developer, Apple, iPhone

iPhone devs share info to avoid App Store rejection

Apple is notorious for its seemingly arbitrary review policies for iPhone applications, and stories of apps being rejected for unexpected reasons abound. Developers have trouble navigating the ambiguous minefield of App Store policies -- what's allowed or not allowed in a "lite" version, for example -- and there's nowhere to turn to for advice on successfully complying with the rules and getting your app ready for sale.

That's why developers are starting to help each other. There's now a Tumblr-hosted blog that posts app rejection letters from Apple, so the dev community can get a better sense of how these rules are being enforced.

The published feedback on the Application Submission Feedback blog is supposed to act as a necessary replacement for the rules that Apple has either left unclear or failed to state altogether. So far, it deals with tricky problems like 17+ ratings, lite apps and images of iPhones. As the site collects more data from people who have been rejected, it could become essential reading, and a kind of missing manual for the stuff Apple won't say outright.

Filed under: Business, Text, Apple, iPhone

Eucalyptus eBook reader recovers from silly app store rejection

Eucalyptus, a gorgeous eBook reader for the iPhone, was initially rejected from Apple's application store for the most absurd of reasons. See, Eucalyptus' extensive library of great literature comes from Project Gutenberg, an open source book project, and one of the books in Gutenberg's library is The Kama Sutra. Apple apparently objected to this during the review process, despite the fact that other approved readers like Stanza and Amazon's Kindle can also access the book. So can Apple's Safari browser, because Project Gutenberg's books are all available through its website.

Fortunately, this mistake didn't stop Eucalyptus from eventually making it into the app store, where it's now available for $9.99. Buying the app gets you an extremely slick UI, great page-turning animations, and an organization scheme for books that works a lot like iTunes does for music. I actually totally buy into the Eucalyptus marketing pitch, which is that, for the price of one book, you can have 20,000 books in a great-looking reader.

Filed under: Audio, Fun, Apple, iPhone, Humor

Crudebox becomes Prudebox to make it into the App Store


After I posted about the Baby Shaker iPhone app controversy, we got an email from the developers of a fart-soundboard app called Crudebox, telling their story of rejection from the App Store. Fart apps were the early targets of public outcry when Apple first started vetting software for its app store. They're obscene! Why do some get in, while others are rejected?

When Apple rejected Crudebox twice because it was too offensive, the developers decided to take a different approach. They reskinned the app as "Prudebox," leaving all the original sound effects -- farts, yawns, burps, vomiting -- in place, but replacing slime with flowers and bunnies. They also made some changes to the names of their sound effects: "Wet Fart" became "Big Toot."

Surprise! Prudebox, an app with the exact functionality of Crudebox, was accepted to Apple's app store. This might not be the most egregious example of arbitrary rejection we've ever seen from Apple, and it's not really a life-changing application, but one could make a slippery slope argument. Is a Big Toot really that much more acceptable than a Wet Fart?

If you're interested in having Prudebox for yourself, Alkali Media has a promo code that will get one randomly selected commenter a free copy. Sound off!

Filed under: News, iPhone, web 2.0

Tweetie 1.3 rejected from App Store because of swearing on Twitter


Many iPhone developers have horror stories about their apps being rejected from the iTunes App Store for frustrating, sometimes arbitrary reasons. After today, Atebits, makers of the bestselling iPhone Twitter client, Tweetie, might take the prize for the most absurd rejection yet. Tweetie 1.3 was barred from the App Store for offensive language. Seems fair enough, until you realize that the swear in question wasn't part of the app, it was just a hashtag that happened to be trending on Twitter and got picked up by Tweetie's trends feature.

Most of the competing iPhone Twitter apps also have trends, and would have been just as "offensive" if they had run into the bad luck of being tested while something Apple didn't like was popular. The Atebits Twitter account has been equal parts frustrated and practical in commenting on the rejection. I think the idea of sending screenshots of trends in other Twitter apps to Apple, hashtag cussing included, is brilliant.

Update: Tweetie 1.3 has now been accepted into the app store, and the developers don't seem to have any hard feelings toward Apple. I hope this case highlights the need to continue improving the app store submission process.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio

Joystiq

TUAW

Daily Finance

Autoblog

Urlesque

Engadget

WoW

Switched.com

FanHouse