App Store Build Rejection: An Absolute Chaos

This article is based on my experience of iOS app submissions in Synclovis Systems from the last 5-6 years

Sometimes I believe Apple has some personal vengeance with me !!!

Yes because whenever I upload a build, Apple keep on rejects the build for some reason. At the early stages of development, the reasons that apple put forward for the rejection seems so tiny to me. My thought was like, “Seriously, people do care about this?”
“Is it really necessary?”.

Yes, it is. Apple doesn’t have any personal vengeance with you. Now I believe, because of the rejections happened at our early stage of development, helped us to create world class quality apps at Synclovis. Now we know what to do and what not to do.

Yes, it is. Apple doesn’t have any personal vengeance with you. Now I believe, because of the rejections happened at our early stage of development, helped us to create world class quality apps at Synclovis. Now we know what to do and what not to do.

Development

1. Consider low resolution devices

While developing the user interface, whether it’s native or hybrid (like react-native) you have to test the user interface on low-resolution devices like iPhone SE, 5, etc. If you see any design issues like label clipping, masked content, etc, fix them before submitting. Also, if your app only supports iPhones, you have to make sure that the app works perfectly in iPad also. On iPad, you can see the app in iPhone view. So make sure that there is no UI issue on iPad. If your app supports landscape mode, check the user interface in low-resolution iPhones.

2. Bugs and Crashes

Make sure that your app is bug-free and crash-free. Integrate crash analytics tool like Crashlytics so that whenever a crash happens, you can see the crash report in their dashboard. Do thorough testing on devices running the latest OS versions.

3. Broken links and Navigation

The links and buttons should respond properly as intended. It should be functional. Mostly this issue will come up in links like terms & conditions, privacy policy, etc. At the beginning of development, we will design the interface and postpones the actual screens for final stage and forgets at the time of release.

4. Images

Whenever we show any image in the app, we have to make sure that the image is not broken or the image doesn’t have any copyright issues. For example, if you show a “Mickey Mouse” image in your app, apple will reject the app saying copyright issue is related to “Disney”. So make sure that your images don’t have any other claims.

5. Permissions

If your app needs additional permissions like accessing photos, camera, location etc, make sure that you have added it in the info.plist file. Also, when you record the permission information in plist file, the purpose message that you are gonna show to the user must be very clear. Why your app needs that permission? What’s the purpose?
It should be very clear. The end user must understand the purpose..

Submission

1. App Information or descriptions (metadata)

You have to be very careful while filling the description and other details of your app, because that information is going to be public. So there should not be any content which misleads user.

2. Screenshots

The uploaded screenshots must resemble your uploaded build. If your app shows the screen different from your screenshot, apple will definitely reject your app. Screenshot should be your actual app screen, no other decorations. See this image from official guidelines.

These are the basic things we have to take care before submitting to the store. Anyway, if your app is rejected also, no worries, there is apple resolution centre to discuss with the apple team. Even you can schedule a call with apple reviewer to clarify the issues.Hope this article helps some of the beginners out there !!! Happy Coding !!!