Full FeedRejected! The unwritten law of the App Store
Getting an app approved for the App Store is not as easy as you might think. There are standards to uphold. Some are known, like applications can’t be malicious, contain porn, use VOIP over EDGE/3G etc. But some of the rules of the App Store are unwritten.
TUAW reports on some of these unwritten laws of the App store by way of developers who have had their apps rejected by Apple.
The first rule is no non-alert vibrations. This means that games can’t use vibration for gameplay feedback. Things like getting hit, or driving over rough terrain are big no-nos for vibration. Apple has decided thus far that vibration is reserved for alerting the user of events. Things such as SMS messages, phone calls, voice mail, etc.
The second rule of the App Store pertains to the toolbar. Any toolbar in an app is understood to be placed at the bottom of the screen. This is a conformity rule. If you haven’t already noticed, every app that Apple has released (and certainly all other apps as well) conforms to this rule. This is so the user can know where to expect it in an app, and makes sense. Placing the toolbar at the bottom is more functional, as well, since accessing one of its functions wouldn’t require you to cover the rest of the screen with your hand when tapping the icon, as it would if the toolbar was placed at the top of the screen.
An optional third rule, not detailed by TUAW, is to not make a ridiculously overpriced app that does nothing…like I Am Rich. Enough said.
The second rule makes complete sense to me, but the first rule seems unfortunate. I think most users can tell that in-game rumbles are produced by the game, not alerts. Maybe Apple could compromise by allowing developers to add rumble functionality, but require the setting to default to off. The user would be required to change that setting before any rumble could occur. This way users would be fully aware that vibrations can be produced without alerts. Sounds reasonable doesn’t it?
Via [TUAW]
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The first rule is NOT true, there are SERVAL games that uses vibration allready, just yesterday the game “Dice” was released that uses vibration when the dices hit the edges of the screen.
on August 12, 2008 at 08:17 AM - LINKYou’re completely right. Last night I was playing with that app and noticed that it had vibration when rolling dice. TUAW said they heard from a developer that their app was rejected for this feature. I wonder if Apple has a double standard, or what is the deal here?
on August 12, 2008 at 08:32 AM - LINK