Same here. I called Apple on the phone... to no avail.

Now I can't access the App Store Connect at all, I get this error: Gateway Timeout Correlation Key: 656RQUHQJIHPMCKIWYEKUTRWFI

I would say nothing has changed, probably it even got worse. We are in the same situation: we have a software that has been around for desktop platforms for years, now we've just released a new version and wanted to make it for the iPad as well. Well, to make a long story short... our app has been rejected 9 times... hey... wait a minute... it's about to be rejected for the 10th time today! We've changed it many times, replaced the license key with a username/password model (even if this isn't stated anywhere in the guidelines), we've removed any links that they questioned as "call to action"... and have also had a phone call with apple support that confirmed that we cannot use a license key but can use a username/password to unlock app features, even if the password is actually the license key. There's nothing we can do, reviewers just don't understand. As a matter of fact, what's stated in 3.1.3 is in contrast with what's in 3.1.3(b). On one hand they say that you can allow unlocking features purchased outside the app, on the other hand they block any method you could use to access this content. 3.1.3 reads "Apps may not use their own mechanisms to unlock content or functionality, such as license keys, augmented reality markers, QR codes, cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency wallets, etc. " the only use of the word "et cetera" means "everything else" so you aren't alloed to use any mechanism to let the user authenticate at your server and restore the content they purchased outside the app.

Well.. I see this forum isn't much helpful, lots of people with the same issues and no answers at all. Also, I guess nobody from Apple attends this forum at all, right?

Same here!