Apple’s prohibitive new policies in regards to in-app purchases and in-app subscriptions have been spilling all the digital ink so far, but Cupertino also took the opportunity yesterday to clarify their position on “cheating” App Store developers: zero tolerance.
In Apple’s newly revised App Review guidelines, Apple has warned all devs who try to unfairly influence iTunes ratings, steal data from users or plagiarize other works that if they keep it up, they’ll be summarily kicked from the App Store.
“If you attempt to cheat the system (for example, by trying to trick the review process, steal data from users, copy another developer’s work, or manipulate the ratings) your apps will be removed from the store and you will be expelled from the developer program,” Apple’s App Review Guidelines now reads.
In addition, Apple has listed some new reasons why apps might be rejected, including whether or not they are apps or media (a book should go to the iBookstore, a movie to iTunes, etc.), apps that are location or carrier-specific, apps that recommend users reboot their iOS device for memory reasons, or apps that use location data inappropriately.
These all seem like common sense changes that are far less contentious than Apple’s new in-app purchase policies.
[via Apple Insider, image via Geeky Gadgets]
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
