There are plenty of legitimate things to criticize the app store review process for but this isn't one of them.
Apple is protecting their users and the overall browse experience by enforcing consistency in listings.
Your app's screenshots don't really show in the first three screens when they really should, these are the ones that will show up in search, at least until we can add full banners w/ iOS 27.
There are all sorts of creative ways you could layer in the paper aspect behind a device mockup across two screens which would both show your app and its paper output.
Perhaps have the paper on a desk and the phone at an angle on top of it, showing the screens.
Remember you don't have to explain what's where on the paper, just communicate its value and that your app is the way the user gets to it.
These are so much more clear. The first image shows the core concept that this generates printable schedules to go on A4 paper, and the very next images shows the print dialog in the app itself. Instantly, I know what this does. Apple pushed you towards a much better app pitch page! I'm interested! This is a really neat idea.
Tangential, but I work at a company making POS systems (Lightspeed) so we end up with a lot of weird knowledge about receipt printers. Past ~year or so, I've set up a little web service at home that prints out my calendar on a receipt printer near my coffee maker early in the morning so while I'm getting up and still groggy, I have a little schedule for the day ready to skim over. By far, my favourite weekend project ever. A couple weeks ago I got it printing out a sudoku puzzle (just baaaarely fits on 80mm thermal paper) on weekend mornings! If you could somehow get this rendering the templates it prints out in ESC/P byteslop (it's a confusing standard) in addition to raster images, that could be neat! In terms of cost-to-print, muuuuch cheaper for a daily-use thing.
"The majority of the screenshots should highlight the app’s main features and functionality. Note that splash and login screens are generally not considered to show the app in use."
I agree with the feedback. Fix your screenshots (and whatever else is clearly not in line with app store guidelines).
Looking at what is on the website and in the App Store, I still don’t have a good understanding of what this app even does. It prints something based on your calendar and some self-help prompts?
App Store rules aside, since this app has no free trial, it should be easier for a potential customer to understand what this app is attempting to be.
Two of six screenshots show the app. So the rejection fits the rules and is easy to understand. I often agree that Apple's rejections are unclear or problematic, but this isn@t one of those cases.
And I'm kind of confused by these screenshots as well, since there are lines between them, as if they're one screenshot. And the labels over the screenshots are nonsensical and graphically glitched.
For what it's worth, I haven't seen any significant increase in the app review times, contrary to what the article suggests. My app updates are normally reviewed within 24 hours, rarely 48; just as Apple promises. Not sure if they hired more reviewers, introduced more automation, or did anything else, but they are keeping up well enough.
Our app goes through regular updates via app submission and has taken less than two days past couple months. They must be going off reputation score after initial acceptance.
I know it's their job, but gotta feel for these app reviewers who must spend day after day reviewing ai generated apps. The only way to prevent this is to gatekeep that developer license with a higher base fee. Of course the review process was painful before, but it's only gotten more clogged and opaque.
Pour one out for anyone whose job has pivoted to reviewing ai output, science journals, literary journals, teachers, OSS maintainers.
> > Issue: The screenshots do not show the actual app in use in the majority of the screenshots. Screenshots should highlight the app’s core concept to help users understand the app’s functionality and value.
This is the first thing everyone learns when they look up the requirements for App Store screenshots.
You got it wrong, but they provided a clear and actionable path to fix it.
I’m with Apple on this one. The requirements are clear and you missed them the first time. It’s an easy fix. I don’t see why this warrants a clickbait blog post, other than to try to generate some viral outrage marketing for this app.
What does "won't let me show my app" mean? Does the author mean that it's just getting rejected, or is he unhappy about the screenshot situation specifically?
There are plenty of legitimate things to criticize the app store review process for but this isn't one of them.
Apple is protecting their users and the overall browse experience by enforcing consistency in listings.
Your app's screenshots don't really show in the first three screens when they really should, these are the ones that will show up in search, at least until we can add full banners w/ iOS 27.
There are all sorts of creative ways you could layer in the paper aspect behind a device mockup across two screens which would both show your app and its paper output.
Perhaps have the paper on a desk and the phone at an angle on top of it, showing the screens.
Remember you don't have to explain what's where on the paper, just communicate its value and that your app is the way the user gets to it.
I'm assuming the images on the current listing are the replacement: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wiseday-mentor-yourself/id6752...
These are so much more clear. The first image shows the core concept that this generates printable schedules to go on A4 paper, and the very next images shows the print dialog in the app itself. Instantly, I know what this does. Apple pushed you towards a much better app pitch page! I'm interested! This is a really neat idea.
Tangential, but I work at a company making POS systems (Lightspeed) so we end up with a lot of weird knowledge about receipt printers. Past ~year or so, I've set up a little web service at home that prints out my calendar on a receipt printer near my coffee maker early in the morning so while I'm getting up and still groggy, I have a little schedule for the day ready to skim over. By far, my favourite weekend project ever. A couple weeks ago I got it printing out a sudoku puzzle (just baaaarely fits on 80mm thermal paper) on weekend mornings! If you could somehow get this rendering the templates it prints out in ESC/P byteslop (it's a confusing standard) in addition to raster images, that could be neat! In terms of cost-to-print, muuuuch cheaper for a daily-use thing.
"The majority of the screenshots should highlight the app’s main features and functionality. Note that splash and login screens are generally not considered to show the app in use."
I agree with the feedback. Fix your screenshots (and whatever else is clearly not in line with app store guidelines).
I don't think these are screenshots (as an amateur). It's an infographic that includes what could be a screenshot.
Looking at what is on the website and in the App Store, I still don’t have a good understanding of what this app even does. It prints something based on your calendar and some self-help prompts?
App Store rules aside, since this app has no free trial, it should be easier for a potential customer to understand what this app is attempting to be.
Two of six screenshots show the app. So the rejection fits the rules and is easy to understand. I often agree that Apple's rejections are unclear or problematic, but this isn@t one of those cases.
And I'm kind of confused by these screenshots as well, since there are lines between them, as if they're one screenshot. And the labels over the screenshots are nonsensical and graphically glitched.
For what it's worth, I haven't seen any significant increase in the app review times, contrary to what the article suggests. My app updates are normally reviewed within 24 hours, rarely 48; just as Apple promises. Not sure if they hired more reviewers, introduced more automation, or did anything else, but they are keeping up well enough.
Our app goes through regular updates via app submission and has taken less than two days past couple months. They must be going off reputation score after initial acceptance.
New apps submissions review time did increase.
I don't think "X The Everything App takes a long time for review" is a useful point of comparison, Elon Inc. isn't sending their best.
I know it's their job, but gotta feel for these app reviewers who must spend day after day reviewing ai generated apps. The only way to prevent this is to gatekeep that developer license with a higher base fee. Of course the review process was painful before, but it's only gotten more clogged and opaque.
Pour one out for anyone whose job has pivoted to reviewing ai output, science journals, literary journals, teachers, OSS maintainers.
> > Issue: The screenshots do not show the actual app in use in the majority of the screenshots. Screenshots should highlight the app’s core concept to help users understand the app’s functionality and value.
This is the first thing everyone learns when they look up the requirements for App Store screenshots.
You got it wrong, but they provided a clear and actionable path to fix it.
I’m with Apple on this one. The requirements are clear and you missed them the first time. It’s an easy fix. I don’t see why this warrants a clickbait blog post, other than to try to generate some viral outrage marketing for this app.
Open your app in the iOS emulator and push the screenshot button. Upload that. What you have now is marketing material.
What does "won't let me show my app" mean? Does the author mean that it's just getting rejected, or is he unhappy about the screenshot situation specifically?
Tried with a notes app and failed too. For family usage you might consider TestFlight.
> It is now taking longer to get our app approved than it is to build the actual features.
You see, this is really kind of key to the whole thing. Who is doing the actual work now?