What you need to know
- Apple has rejected a developer's horoscope app because there are already too many in the store.
- The company told a developer "we simply have enough of these types of apps" and that they are considered spam.
- The disgruntled developer says they lost a year of work and have since pivoted to making it on Android.
Apple has rejected a horoscope app from a developer because it says the App Store simply has too many of them.
Developer Night Cat Productions took to Twitter recently stating:
I have some bad news. Apparently, there are too many horoscope apps on the App Store, so WTFuture has been rejected (twice). I'm really sorry. If you have any idea how to make it "not a horoscope app" let me know. I'm the mean time, I'll continue porting it to Android…
https://twitter.com/nightcatprod/status/1440861613163094026?s=20
Sure enough, the post includes a rejection notice stating the app "primarily features" astrology, horoscopes, palm reading, fortune telling or zodiac reports and as such "duplicates the content and functionality of many other similar apps currently available in the App Store."
Apple goes on to say that while these apps might be "useful, informative or entertaining we simply have enough of these types of apps on the App Store and they are considered a form of spam."
The cited portion of Apple's developer guidelines, section 4.3, states:
Also avoid piling on to a category that is already saturated; the App Store has enough fart, burp, flashlight, fortune telling, dating, drinking games, and Kama Sutra apps, etc. already. We will reject these apps unless they provide a unique, high-quality experience.
The developer has since pivoted to making WTFuture for Android instead.
