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App Store rejection...

Open grgcombs opened this issue 13 years ago • 28 comments

I guess it was bound to happen. I've been successfully using MTStatusBarOverlay to indicate the status of network data updates for well over a year now, and through a mountain of successful app updates without issue. Until today. TexLege was rejected because I was violating HIG by creating a "custom status bar". It's okay to hide the system status bar, but we can't make it seem like we're creating our own because it "causes confusion". My reply outlined how the system's network activity indicator causes more confusion than anything else they provide on the device ...

grgcombs avatar Feb 03 '12 06:02 grgcombs

I care this issue very much

xuyunan avatar Feb 06 '12 07:02 xuyunan

+1 Base CRM app was rejected a few days ago due to the HIG violation :(

bejo avatar Apr 02 '12 11:04 bejo

was it a temporal status bar or did you keep it there forever? I just want to show it for some seconds and then I'd like to hide it and show the original status bar again.

arielcamus avatar Apr 02 '12 13:04 arielcamus

It was only a temporal status bar :(

bejo avatar Apr 02 '12 13:04 bejo

Curious if anyone knows why certain apps are rejected for this feature, while others aren't. Viddy gets away with it; maybe it's because they're backed by celebrity $..

igz avatar May 04 '12 23:05 igz

I don't know for sure, but I suspect it depends on the reviewer, after all they are human beings too ;) kinda like a lottery, there are still apps getting approved using MTStatusBarOverlay while others get rejected.

myell0w avatar May 04 '12 23:05 myell0w

has anyone pleaded with Apple to make a definitive decision on this? Is there a way to ensure I can rely on such a feature? Is it just a matter of how the status bar overlay looks? I mean, I can keep the functionality and just get the designer to make it look less like an Apple component?

horseshoe7 avatar Jul 18 '12 16:07 horseshoe7

I know some approved apps using MTStatusBarOverlay. I assume it's safe to use it.

arielcamus avatar Jul 18 '12 16:07 arielcamus

I talked about MTStatusBarOverlay with Apple reviewers at WWDC labs in June. They told me not to use it. Moreover, if there's an app in App Store that's using it then it's been just lucky and can be pulled out from App Store at any time.

bejo avatar Jul 18 '12 17:07 bejo

the new Twitter app uses a similar overlay that Apple can't possibly have overlooked, it's really like a lottery game - unfortunately.

myell0w avatar Jul 18 '12 20:07 myell0w

Lottery is the keyword here :]

bejo avatar Jul 18 '12 21:07 bejo

Apps that require location is most definitely going to be rejected since the location-arrow is concealed.

Loceo avatar Jul 22 '12 21:07 Loceo

If you take a closer look at the Twitter app, you'll see the notification is not displayed on top of the Status Bar.

It hides the Status bar from below, meaning the Status Bar is hidden by the app and the notification comes from the app. Not sure if it changes anything, but worth mentioning it.

mdestagnol avatar Aug 15 '12 12:08 mdestagnol

Im planning to use this but if apple rejects apps using this are there any alternatives to it?

francissevilla avatar Aug 25 '12 07:08 francissevilla

good luck to you.

LarryLee avatar Aug 27 '12 09:08 LarryLee

We had no issues with our app regarding MTStatusBarOverlay, but as others mentioned, the reviewers are just humans and some apps might get rejected.

btw I am happy I read about those issues AFTER our app got approved ;)

vinzenzweber avatar Sep 13 '12 14:09 vinzenzweber

I was wondering, for people who got there apps rejected, were you just showing a simple message or more detailed thing like the drop down table? Also did you cover the status bar for long time?

"Don’t create a custom status bar. Users depend on the consistency of the system-provided status bar. Although you might hide the status bar in your app, it’s not appropriate to create custom UI that takes its place."

I'm guessing this is the part of HIG that is being used to reject apps, but what if its not being used to emulate the status bar but just show a message for a little while?

I know there are no correct or incorrect answers, just wanted to know people thoughts. :-)

Baza207 avatar Sep 15 '12 20:09 Baza207

+1 Base CRM app was rejected a few days ago due to the HIG violation :(

bmoweb avatar May 22 '13 16:05 bmoweb

@bmoweb I think this is always going to be an issue unless Apple says it's OK to do. My app Slapshot was rejected about a month ago when I tried to do this too. I haven't submitted another release using MTStatusBarOverlay since then but I imagine it's like everyone in this thread has been saying: it really comes down to the reviewer. And I imagine your app's clout too — Twitter and Mailbox can get away with this because they're very popular apps that the app store reviewers themselves likely use personally, so they see the value of overtaking the status bar.

thetylerhayes avatar May 22 '13 17:05 thetylerhayes

@thetylerhayes I think you are absolutely right about this, I liked the result using MTStatusBarOverlay, but I'll remove my app is for corporate use anyway. :-/

bmoweb avatar May 22 '13 17:05 bmoweb

My app has been using MTStatusBarOverlay for months. Yesterday an update (poorly it's a critical bug fix) got rejected because of using MTStatusBarOverlay.

hohl avatar May 24 '13 06:05 hohl

my App got rejected as well. For a quick fix i moved the statusbaroverlay to the bottom of the screen - that seems to be ok with apple. But this is really not a lasting solution. Can you recommend any AppStore-Proof alternatives?

It's really too bad. This is a superb project!

1b0t avatar May 24 '13 12:05 1b0t

Same story here...

obrhoff avatar Jun 04 '13 04:06 obrhoff

Any updates on this?

evertoncunha avatar Oct 30 '13 14:10 evertoncunha

Defiantly we would like to know if Apple is rejecting the use of this control.. Anybody?

On Oct 30, 2013, at 10:09 AM, evertoncunha wrote:

Any updates on this?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

abrahamventura avatar Nov 05 '13 07:11 abrahamventura

Yes, they rejected my app because of using this component.

Am Dienstag, 5. November 2013 schrieb prolificmethods :

Defiantly we would like to know if Apple is rejecting the use of this control.. Anybody?

On Oct 30, 2013, at 10:09 AM, evertoncunha wrote:

Any updates on this?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/myell0w/MTStatusBarOverlay/issues/43#issuecomment-27753106 .

hohl avatar Nov 05 '13 10:11 hohl

Got my app rejected because of MTStatusBar as well. I think the problem is with iOS 7 and the fact, that MTStatusBar doesn't support matching background color to the current color of the status bar.

Mailbox app is still using the similar functionality and have their app in the App Store, last time updated just few days ago.

So the issue is not the concept itself, but how it looks visually.

antstorm avatar Jan 28 '14 12:01 antstorm

no. the issue is the concept itself. It conflicts with the HIGs. It has nothing to do with iOS7 as well. You are not allowed to cover/overlay the StatusBar.

HIGs: "Don’t create a custom status bar. Users depend on the consistency of the system-provided status bar. Although you might hide the status bar in your app, it’s not appropriate to create custom UI that takes its place."

The Problem is that the enforcement on this policy is very lax. Many popular apps (like Mailbox or LastFM) are using this. And I know for a fact that some Apps added this exact library with one of their recent updates.

My (former iOS6) App got rejected because i used it. I even filed an appeal. No chance. I moved the frame to the bottom of the screen for now.

On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 1:55 PM, ANTStorm [email protected] wrote:

Got my app rejected because of MTStatusBar as well. I think the problem is with iOS 7 and the fact, that MTStatusBar doesn't support matching background color to the current color of the status bar.

Mailbox app is still using the similar functionality and have their app in the App Store, last time updated just few days ago.

So the issue is not the concept itself, but how it looks visually.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/myell0w/MTStatusBarOverlay/issues/43#issuecomment-33475551 .

1b0t avatar Jan 28 '14 13:01 1b0t