Hello everyone,
I’m seeking advice on how to proceed after receiving a Pending Termination Notice for my Apple Developer account.
Previously, I uploaded my app twice but it was rejected both times. After making the required adjustments, I resubmitted it and waited for more than a week with the status still “Waiting for Review.” I followed up with Apple twice during this period, but instead of a response, I received the Pending Termination Notice stating that my account was flagged for fraudulent or dishonest activities, with all associated apps removed from the App Store.
I am confused by this outcome since I did not engage in any such behavior. I’ve carefully reviewed all app functionalities to ensure compliance. Now, I’m unsure how to move forward—should I continue appealing, or is it better to create a new account and resubmit the app?
Any guidance or suggestions on how to resolve this situation would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Below is the message:
Pending Termination Notice
Upon further review of the activity associated with your Apple Developer Program membership, it's been determined that your membership, or a membership associated with your account, has been used for dishonest or fraudulent activity, in violation of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement. Given the severity of the identified issues, all apps associated with your Apple Developer Program account have been removed from the App Store and your account has been flagged for removal.
Because your account has been flagged for removal, any earnings payments are paused and app transfers are disabled. Creating new accounts after receiving this message may result in the termination of the new or associated accounts.
Evidence of Dishonest or Fraudulent Activity
App submissions from your account have engaged in concept or feature switch schemes to evade the review process, such as dynamically populating different app content after review, submitting apps with hidden features, repeatedly submitting misleading apps, and/or submitting apps with concrete references to content that you are not authorized to provide or is otherwise not appropriate for the App Store.
Guidelines or Terms Violated
The dishonest or fraudulent activity described above directly violates section 3.2(f) of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement, which states:
"You will not, directly or indirectly, commit any act intended to interfere with any of the Apple Software or Services, the intent of this Agreement, or Apple’s business practices including, but not limited to, taking actions that may hinder the performance or intended use of the App Store, Custom App Distribution, TestFlight, Xcode Cloud, Ad Hoc distribution, or the Program (e.g., submitting fraudulent reviews of Your own Application or any third-party application, choosing a name for Your Application that is substantially similar to the name of a third-party application in order to create consumer confusion, or squatting on application names to prevent legitimate third-party use). Further, You will not engage, or encourage others to engage, in any unlawful, unfair, misleading, fraudulent, improper, or dishonest acts or business practices relating to Your Covered Products or Corresponding Products (e.g., engaging in bait-and-switch pricing, consumer misrepresentation, deceptive business practices, or unfair competition against other developers)."
Appeal
If you would like to appeal this termination decision to the App Review Board, you must do so within 30 calendar days. When submitting your appeal, be sure to select "I would like to appeal an app rejection or app removal" from the drop-down menu on the Contact the App Review Team page and provide a written statement that includes the following:
- A thorough explanation of the issues we identified
- Specific steps you will take to prevent its recurrence
- New information clarifying these issues, if you disagree with our findings
Otherwise, your Apple Developer Program membership will be terminated. If you have questions, contact us.