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App Rejections

What to do when App store rejects your app

Ryker Hampton avatar
Written by Ryker Hampton
Updated this week

App rejections with Apple and Google are a very common issues every app will experience within the app stores from time to time. Some are simple matters we address on your behalf but others require you the account holder to fix an issue. This article serves as a quick guide on common blockers and your role in clearing them.

Apple Rejections

All blockers for Apple will require you to login into your developer account at developer.apple.com. If you are unsure of your Apple ID you can check your Dashboard record by going to settings > developer accounts > Apple

Blocker

Blocker Issue

Your Developer account needs to be renewed

Apple requires developer account holders to log in every year and renew their account. If you do not renew your account then Apple will pull your app from the store. Log into your account and look for a banner at the top of the page to renew it.

New Terms and Agreements

Apple releases new terms and conditions 2-3 times per year. If you do not accept those terms we cannot maintain/update your app.

Log into your account and look for a banner at the top of page to review and accept the new terms.

Admin Permissions and API access

To maintain and update your app we need admin access on your developer account and the ability to run API.

Click on Users and Access to change our role to Admin with all permissions. Click integrations and request access to the API.

Guideline 5.2.1 - Legal - Intellectual Property

Or

Guideline 4.2.6 - Design - Commercialized Templates

Typically this means your developer name does not match your developer name closely enough. For example if your developer name is "First Baptist Church" but you created an app titled"360 Youth", there is a high possibility for app rejection.

Provide us with the documentation displaying the connection between your App Name and your Legal Organization Name. We recommend that all of our clients include DBA documentation from within the Tax Info page in your Dashboard. This way, our team can access and present the necessary documentation to Apple if they ever reject your app for this reason in the future. If you do not have documentation for this you will need to change your app name to more closely align with your developer name.

Guideline 4.3 - Design - Spam

If your organization is managing multiple apps, Apple might reject your app for submitting too many apps with the same app icon, names, or app content.

To resolve this type of rejection, you will want to reach out to us so we can look into why your app was considered "Spam" by Apple and make the necessary changes to your app to remedy the situation.

Guideline 3.2.2 - Business - Other Business Model Issues - Unacceptable

This is a broader rejection that covers multiple possible rejections. The most common violation is that of offering links that direct to giving pages within the app.

Aside from Subsplash Giving, all links that lead directly to, or are a few clicks away from navigating to, a page that collects funds must be set to open externally as opposed to an opening within our in-app browser.

To fix this, you must switch all link items that fall under these conditions, to open up externally (App Dashboard > Link Item > "Website" under App Link Type).

Google Rejections

All blockers for Google require you to log into your developer account at play.google.com/console. If you are unsure of what email you used to set up a developer account you can check your dashboard record by going to settings > developer accounts > Google

Blocker

Blocker Issue

Your Developer account needs to be verified

Google developer accounts have verification requirements that must be completed or they will remove your app from the store.

Log into your developer account and look for a red banner at the top of the page. Click on the banner for step-by-step instructions.

Admin Permissions

We need admin access on your developer account to maintain and update your app.

Go to the users and access page in your developer account.

Click manage for googleplaydev@subsplash.com

Go to account permissions and make sure the admin box is checked without an expiry date set. If it isn't please make us an admin and save the change.

Violation of Misleading Claims policy

This is a broad rejection that could be a be an issue with your app description, title, icon, and screenshots.

Google typically includes a screenshot of the violation. Submit a support ticket with the screenshot Google sent as well as the rejection email you received.

TV App Rejections

All TV app rejections will be handled in your Subsplash Dashboard.

Blocker

Blocker Issue

TV app name and logo do not match.

Google requires that TV apps submitted on their platform have branding that matches your app name. If your App name is "First Baptist Church" your branding must match that name.

Check your app name under settings > App store Info. Check your TV app branding. Your branding must display complete (full, entire) text of your app name.

TV app Description

Google requires that the description for TV apps describes app usage with no other non-pertinent information.

Your TV description must describe app usage without anything else unrelated to the app's functionality. You can adjust your TV app description under App Store info in the Dashboard.

Your Logo is cutoff or not easily visible

Google requires your full logo to be visible and not cutoff by having an incorrectly sized logo.

The current TV branding that's uploaded is either cutoff or too small to be easily seen. Upload a new logo under the branding section and save it.

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