Guideline 4.2 - Design - Minimum Functionality

I am a Chinese developer and I am disappointed with Apple's review. I developed a collection tool (system sharing menu) and was rejected many times. I see that the reviewer only logs in and does not make any test data. I provided videos and emails, but no results. What should I do?

Replies

As an independent developer, I spent a lot of energy to implement it. The program uses golang + mongodb + swift5.

External dependencies could be a problem. Mac App Store apps must not require the user to install anything else as a pre-requisite. Have a look at App Review Guideline 2.4.5 (ii) and (iii):


  • (ii) They must be packaged and submitted using technologies provided in Xcode; no third-party installers allowed. They must also be self-contained, single application installation bundles and cannot install code or resources in shared locations.
  • (viii) Apps should run on the currently shipping OS and may not use deprecated or optionally installed technologies (e.g. Java, Rosetta)


Hence if your app requires MongoDB (for example), it needs to contains a copy of that software within its own application bundle, manage its process lifecycle (i.e. start it only after the app starts and stop it before the app quits), and make sure it works within a sandboxed environment.


Next you'll also need to make sure that the reviewers understands your app. Provide intro materials, videos, etc, as part of the app bundle so that the reviewer can get a feel of what your app does within five minutes or less. For more details, have a look at how to pass Guideline 4.2.