Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Bad Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Stupid and unjustified App Store rejection letter of the day
Tapbots posted an entry on their blog today stating that the most recent version of ConvertBot (1.4) had been rejected by Apple. What was Apple's reason for the rejection? As you can see in the graphic at the top of the page, the ConvertBot icon for time conversions looks very similar to the Phone app icon for recent calls. This is the same icon that has passed Apple's scrutiny in previous versions, so it is ridiculous for the company's eagle-eyed app inspectors to suddenly decide that the icon is unfit for iPhone consumption.
Mark Jardine of Tapbots noted "So what's the plan? I need to redo the icon, I suppose. But Convertbot icons were meant to use as little lines/shapes as possible to identify the category. I feel that our current icon represents time as simply as possible. So how can we make Time different? What if it's set at 9 o'clock instead of 3? Is that acceptable? The big problem here is the only way I can get that answer is by making the change, resubmitting the app, and waiting another week or 2 for Apple's verdict."
What gives, Apple? You release a couple of amazing apps to the world this week (Facebook, Spotify, TUAW, and Yelp), but you hold up the next release of an established app over an icon. I'm giving the App Store approval people the "idiots" tag on this post.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Steve D said 7:08PM on 8-28-2009
ok, they need to understand that there are smart people in the world...
or even better just fire the people who are so inanely picky and power crazed or something to come up with such unjustified reasons to not let apps through. yet so many others make it in and are pure junk. this one is gold, extremely well made.
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trabo said 7:09PM on 8-28-2009
Change it to 4:20
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dagamer43 said 7:26PM on 8-28-2009
Take your hippy ways somewhere else!
kinto said 7:38PM on 8-28-2009
@trabo HAHAHAHA i just burst out laughing
(in my fairly quiet office oops...)
iphotostuff said 7:20PM on 8-28-2009
10:20 is the official photoshoot time for all clocks and watches. I know there's no logo to frame with the watch hands here, but it's a nice option.
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Andrew said 7:22PM on 8-28-2009
Set the clock to 10:10, what all analog watches are set to before you purchase them. and yes... there is a reason behind that time.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch
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James Donevan said 7:25PM on 8-28-2009
While there are certainly instances involving the App Store that deserve criticism, this isn't as outrageous as some quarters are trying to make out. Clearly Apple is gradually refining its approval process and modifying its standards. What may have been considered acceptable last month isn't necessarily going to be acceptable next month. Nothing unusual there -- that's life. Rules change all the time in any business process.
Icons were overdue for attention. Many apps have either copied or been directly inspired by Apple's own work. Obviously this was going to be addressed at some point. In this case, it doesn't take a particularly keen eye to see the similarity. A more astute developer would have seen this coming and been working on more original designs.
Sure it makes for good copy to trot out the righteous indignation as has been done here and elsewhere, but cheap shots like this only serve to undermine commentary on the serious issues that do exist.
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Jim Danner said 7:49PM on 8-28-2009
But how can they claim ownership of a circle with a short and a longer line extending from the center, a.k.a. the most simple abstraction of a clock? Do you really think that Apple invented this way to represent clocks?
What if they resubmit it with the dials at 10:15, and Apple claims that's an infringement of the Clock icon on SpringBoard?
Generic icons are just that, generic. This rejection is no less insane than the previous ones.
punkassjim said 8:11PM on 8-28-2009
James,
If this were any old app with a toolbar at the bottom with a clock icon in one of the tabs, I'd be right there with you. But, as it stands, it would have been smarter to wait for a more appropriate specimen with which to "make an example."
ConvertBot, when compared to Phone.app, is such an utterly alien-looking thing. There's no earthly way that someone would look at this fancy interface, and say "OH! I see a little clock! Now I know where I am…I must be in the 'recents' part of ConvertBot, even though every other contextual cue is telling me a thoroughly consistent and wholly different message."
Again, I agree with you in principle, but this was exactly the wrong app to reject for this reason. There are far "better" examples of this "problem" actually being a problem in other apps.
(I really only posted this to add another James to the mix)
@mwinther said 9:06PM on 8-28-2009
@Steven Sande: Oh my god. Another approval non-story. Please, find something worthwhile to write about instead.
@James: Thank you for being the one guy here recognizing that letting something slip by earlier is not grounds for automatic approval the next time. Especially with all the whining, they're naturally evolving and adjusting their approval process. I have a few more apps that I hope won't make it the next time around without fixing stuff that should have been done right in the first place.
@Tapbots: Just redesign the icon as an hourglass, and be done with it. I suspect adjusting the time to something else might work too, but I would say you have to make more of a change than just mirroring the thing.
@Jim: They don't have to claim ownership of the symbol. They're just saying that on the iPhone, that symbol means something specific, and it should be used for that and that alone.
Kento Ito said 7:25PM on 8-28-2009
I hope you know, that anything that LOOKS, like an icon from any portion of iPhone OS is going to be rejected, and in worse case scenario, lawsuit.
Tapbots avoided lawsuit. Next time, though, they may be sent with lawsuit....
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kmcgrady90 said 7:35PM on 8-28-2009
Don't be silly. Apple can't sue you because your icon looks similar to theirs; that's absurd! Apple has the right to reject the app on these grounds, but that doesn't make it right. I don't think this will confuse any user of the iPhone.
On another note, as a developer I have noticed that Apple seems to be making the approval process more strict to weed out junk (I won't go into details but they definitely are).
Alex said 7:40PM on 8-28-2009
You are deranged... That generic clock icon is in no way a copyright infringement.
Kento Ito said 8:45PM on 8-28-2009
actually, it does. It looks like a recent icon....
This is from a legal standpoint...
From my personal standpoint, I think it's Bull[censored by Apple] DAMN IT!
Brandon said 11:51PM on 8-28-2009
Then the facebook app should be rejected because of the little circles on the bottom letting you know which screen you're on are the same as the homescreen.
I need Apple to force the developer to change that because I often find myself dazed and confused when facing those circles.
Adnium said 4:33AM on 8-29-2009
I'm going out on a limb here, but I think a simple, circle icon representing a clock at the 3-o'clock position might, just might, precede the iPhone.
But again, I could be wrong, Steve may have also invented time itself.
Todd Sieling said 12:19PM on 8-29-2009
It's far more economical to ask the developer to change the icon since Apple has control over the entry into the app store. What's the basis for saying that the next time will be a lawsuit, rather than a good time frothing over how awful Apple is?
Is this even a story? I mean, it looks like they swiped an icon from another app. It's a little line drawing, and if they're creative they'll have no trouble coming up with another line drawing. This developer-blogger opera over the app store has jumped the shark and turned around for a second run.
Timm said 8:44PM on 8-28-2009
The people behind these silly rejections must be mentally handicapped. I hope they are being paid minimum wage for their contributions to the App Store.
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scriptic said 7:58PM on 8-28-2009
Honestly - I could care less how much a pain in the rear it is for developers to get 'approved' for the app store. That's the one of the costs of business and if it's really so much of a hassle that they have to post a blog entry every time they get rejected, maybe it's time to pack it in. When guy with a good product wants Target to sell his item and they turn him down, he doesn't get a reason or a community of people railing about Target's unfair practices. When I write something and send it to a publisher and they reject it - I don't get a reason or expect them to change their ways. I don't do that because I know that's just the way to cookie crumbles. Walk it off.
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Darren said 9:00PM on 8-28-2009
The thing is, it's not a pain to get approved.
The app was "rejected" because it had a bug, a bug that is utterly trivial to fix. There's nothing unusual or "unjustified" about it, the developer's just trying to generate publicity.