Mac AppStore Stuck in Review due to Meta Data Policy

Question

tcurdt OP

Created Jul ’22

Replies 4

Boosts 0

Participants 3

At what stage do you just abort a review and create a new submission?

I've run into a "not-so-stellar" reviewer on a rather minor update. First it was rejected based on two grounds:

an allegedly non-working feature
meta data mentioning an allegedly pre-release feature

After pointing out the wrongly tested feature (left me speechless) and providing public evidence of the feature not being pre-release, the reviewer reverted to "in-review" to confirm the policy on the meta data.

It's now been a week. Since there is no way to communicate or poke anyone...

What's the best course of action?

Just abort the current review, and submit a new version in hope to get a better reviewer?

How do you deal with these kind of situations?

This is such a frustrating process.

Boost

Answer 1

endecotp OP

Jul ’22

After only a week, I'd say "be patient, just wait".

More generally, my policy has always been to just comply immediately with their requests, however ridiculous; if they don't like a new feature, just remove it from the app. It's pointless trying to interact with them in any way.

I would also say:

After pointing out the wrongly tested feature (left me speechless)

Some real users will be even more clueless. What's worse, a clueless Apple reviewer or a clueless end user who can write an app store review? Answer: the end user. App Review can only delay your update or make you remove features they don't like; an end user who writes a bad review in the App Store can destroy your sales overnight. So: if App Review found it hard to use a feature, take that feedback seriously and consider how you can make that easier to use.

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Answer 2

tcurdt OP

Jul ’22

Some real users will be even more clueless

I agree - to a point.

But if a user (or reviewer) does not know that a barcode has to be seen by the camera in full - there isn't really much to help or do. 🤷‍♂️

At least the reviewer realized that this was a bogus problem.

if they don't like a new feature, just remove it from the app. It's pointless trying to interact with them in any way.

I am supporting an API that was added in macOS 12. Removing it just because a reviewer claims it's "pre-release" (while the Apple website states it is not) feels like the wrong move.

Then I would rather try another submission and hope for a different reviewer.

After only a week, I'd say "be patient, just wait".

Thanks for that feedback!

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Answer 3

endecotp OP

Jul ’22

would rather try another submission and hope for a different reviewer.

We don't know how App Review works. I don't think there is any evidence that a new submission goes to a different human while a re-review of the same submission goes to the same human.

I am supporting an API that was added in macOS 12. Removing it just because a reviewer claims it's "pre-release" (while the Apple website states it is not)

I would have thought that that analysis was automatic. I would guess that either (a) there is a bug in their tool, in which case App Review won't be able to fix it; a DTS incident might be a better approach, or (b) you really are using something "beta", maybe not exactly the thing they mention in the rejection.

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Answer 4

danixx OP

Jul ’22

It is ridiculous, I submit a critical crash fix on Tuesday and nothing happened. There is no channel to communicate with them, I asked for an expedited app review but without no result. Of course, the users just sent the bad reviews in the store while the bug fix was uploaded in a few hours.

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