So basically, they were asking you to censor with regards to a specific topic?

For the second rejection, they included a screenshot of the app's main "Top Stories" view, which happened to have a COVID-19-related submission [3] as one of the top stories.

So they were asking you to censor/distort the top stories of the HN site?

We need to escalate these shenanigans in the tech media!

EDIT: Who in the independent media covers stuff like this? Snazzy Labs? Louis Rossman would likely rant about this, but his beat is more hardware.

If the developer explain it nicely will probably get the app approved as it is a “reader” app, therefore exempt from some restrictions.

The nice thing about human powered review process is that you can actually reason with them even if they make mistakes. I am huge believer in the benefits of having humans instead of algos to deal with. People on Youtube have their videos removed or demonetized left and right by algorithms that you can’t really do anything about.

> Octal is a modern, full-featured Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com) client ...

> • Read and share Hacker News stories ... > • Upvote stories and comments you like ... > • Submit new posts to Hacker News ... > • Log in to Hacker News ... etc.

> About Hacker News: > Hacker News is a social news website focusing on computer science and entrepreneurship. It is run by Paul Graham's investment fund and startup incubator, Y Combinator. In general, its content can be submitted is defined as "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity".

On the one hand Apple is selling the dream of a privacy and security focused utopia, where all apps are well-curated and malware does not exist. And demanding a 30% cut of revenue from many apps in the process.

Then on the other hand presumably two of their reviewers could not be bothered to read the app description or do a few minutes of independent research to figure out what Octal and Hacker News really is.

It's hard to see what value Apple is providing in this case.

[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/octal-hacker-news/id1308885491

So the corporate policy is that they'll reject, with a low level of comprehension, and if the developers don't bother to explain, too bad.

From the POV of the reviewer, they benefit from greater throughput, so just low-comprehension reject, and deal with the clarification.

Apple thinks of itself as some kind of advanced, disruptive, with-it company. The way it acts, is sometimes more like an atherosclerotic bureaucracy.

Let’s not pretend that explaining what your app does is a huge burden that only few can overcome.

You sign a business deal with Apple to distribute your app, you are expected to do your part. If you think that this is something you rather don’t do, then don’t work with Apple.

I don’t think that having to explain how your app works is a unfair burden in the business.

It’s unreasonable to expect that the reviewers be all knowing geniuses that make no mistakes. Simply work with them, it’s how business work. Publishing apps is not simply about writing code.

You can write a code, share the code but you are not entitled to have other people distribute your code. What you can have is a business deal with others, in this case Apple, to distribute your code and you will have to work with them to make it happen.

You don’t need to know anything about hacker news but the octal description clearly describes the functionality, and any App Store reviewer should definitely understand the concept of reader style apps as they are quite numerous. That’s a pretty low bar.

It makes sense that media in its aggregation will probably have a better view of a what a walled garden should provide. But if I were the gardener I would not bend my operations to any third party that happen to have a loud voice when I have a business to run and some private reasons to do it my way.

If 10 big companies and thousand of devs joined Epic right now, Apple would be willing to bend a lot more than its current stance.

You should mail them. Tell them that it is a reader app like Reddit that contains user generated content. If you're resubmitting it for review, also tell them that in the review notes. If they still don't understand your app, ask concrete questions (eg what changes do I have to make in the app store details to be treated as other reader apps like Reddit). Linking to similar apps (in this case HN clients) has also helped me when being rejected.

Based on the rejection notes, they simply misunderstood what the app does and who it is aimed at. Hacker News is not the Apple support and I think you should ask them what to do before asking us.

They have always been helpful when I contacted them. When my apps were rejected, it usually took a simple mail and within a day the app changed back to "Being reviewed", and then "Accepted".

I had to schedule a call with app review and almost needed to escalate the call. It seems like App Reviewers aren't familiar with these kinds of apps anymore. They're used to silos where the app developer could simply ban or reject the content. You need to explain to a human that you're not providing a silo. This is a reader app for another community's site.

[1] https://www.geenstijl.nl/5154709/apples-behavior-isnt-new

[2] https://controlc.com/ab9b13f3

Your app should be considered a “reader” app for a web service. Just explain that in your message for the reviewer.

Try explaining what HN is and how links are posted etc.

After all, not everyone is familiar with every website and it is possible that the reviewer who is reviewed your app did not understood HN.

Yes it is frustrating but at least you have a human being that you can reason with.

People in youtube who depend on it for living have their videos removed by an algorithm and have no recourse. I don’t say this in defense of Apple but in defense of human involved review process. I suggest taking advantage of it by being nice and articulate and have the reviewer on your side.

> We are writing to let you know the appeal results for your app, Octal - Hacker News.

> The App Review Board evaluated your app and determined that the original rejection feedback was not accurate.

> Your app is not currently in violation of 5.1.1.

> However, the following issue was discovered during our evaluation:

> Guideline 4.2.2 - Design - Minimum Functionality

> We noticed that your app only includes links, images, or content aggregated from the Internet with limited or no native iOS functionality. Although this content may be curated from the web specifically for your users, since it does not sufficiently differ from a mobile web browsing experience, it is not appropriate for the App Store.

> We encourage you to review your app concept and work towards creating an app that offers customers an engaging and lasting experience that also meets the App Store’s high expectations for quality and functionality.

> Apple Developer includes a variety of design and development resources. Download iOS templates from Apple UI Design Resources, learn more about crafting intuitive, well-designed apps with the Design Video collection, and review the iOS Human Interface Guidelines for best practices to follow when designing apps for the App Store.

This is my life as an Apple Developer.

Your app promotes COVID content (among other things) so it gets banned on sight. It's super clear cut, don't do that!

You can try to implement a filter to remove articles with specific keywords (covid, virus, pandemic, etc..). Besides that, don't know if it's good enough to pass requirements for an app (don't think a simple web reader can pass).

Please don't call that censorship. To call this censorship is a disgrace to countries where there is real censorship, people being beheaded for saying anything.

Most reviewers would not have rejected this, i'm sure.

How do you become a part of the healthcare industry? Does it have to be FDA approved?

Does Apple recognize healthcare apps from companies located in other countries (non US) or will those not be considered as "recognized institution, such as a governmental entity, hospital, insurance company, non-governmental organization, or university"?

I feel like you should dispute this, but I have no experience with their review process.

When the pandemic is over, you can update the server to return an empty blocklist.

“Wow I saw the word covid, into the garbage bin.”

I think the only reasom for this move is to ensure pwa is unusable even for the most simple application.