18 replies to this topic

[emmettoc]

Hi,

I replaced Evernote iOS SDK to the new one to support OAuth login via WebView and submitted the binaries to Apple.
But they were rejected because the Evernote web page has a link to premium member as following:


> 11.13
>
> We found that your app provides access to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.
>
> Your app contains a link to EverNote web site which provides access to external mechanisms for subscriptions.

I know that the rejection itself is crazy, but how should I do?

Thanks.

[AndyDent]

Apple are being very inconsistent applying this - they just approved ZowInsights which was announced in this forum yesterday.

I just confirmed that the page that it uses for login allows you to navigate through to a page with the Create Account and Go Premium links on it.

This information is not directly on the login page but is only a couple of clicks away - your reviewer was obviously more thorough than theirs!

Whilst I'm very glad I don't need to pass App Store membership to submit for the competition, I'm very apprehensive about this myself.

I think the only way Evernote are going to be able to fix this are to provide a server-side authentication page for the iOS SDK which has absolutely no links through to the Go Premium.

At some point, some brave reviewer at Apple is going to reject Evernote's own clients on an update and this will bring it to a head!

[Julien Boedec]

@emmettoc that issue was fixed this week - Thursday to be precise. We removed every link in the OAuth flow that could potentially take the user to a premium description page. You should resubmit your app to Apple and keep us posted here.

[emmettoc]

Dear Julien,

OK. I'll resubmit my apps after the alteration and post the result of review.

Thank you for your speedy and hard work.

[AndyDent]

@emmettoc that issue was fixed this week - Thursday to be precise. We removed every link in the OAuth flow that could potentially take the user to a premium description

That has only just changed in the last 24 hours from my perception, and as Julien said over in the other thread on this topic, they did indeed do a refresh yesterday. I'm not going insane (other than from sleep deprivation, wonder how many others working on devcup entries are moonlighting it).

I just thought I'd pick up on it here so people know there was an even more recent fix.

I'm also seeing something truly bizarre happening on my Simulator running the Sample App.

If I click on the "Terms of Service" link at the bottom of the Authorisation page, inside the UIWebview presented by the SDK, it takes me into my account in the web interface.

Literally, within the little "form-sized" UIWebView I see the entire web interface actively logged into my account!

(I have a screenshot if really needed).

I suspect that's because I'm logging into the sandbox with that sample but it is a bit disconcerting, especially as it is shown without me clicking on the Accept button.

It's only probably going to be noticeable by developers but should still be fixed.

[SethH]

Andy - yes, this is a limitation of the sandbox. We don't have a static corporate website for the sandbox, so the links all reference back to the webapp home. This will work correctly on production.

[emmettoc]

Hi,

A few minutes ago, my resubmitted Apps also have been rejected as following.
I also attached the screenshot which the crazy reviewer attached. The mentioned URL is not clickable...



Jul 12, 2012 xx:xx AM. From Apple.
11.13

We found that your app provides access to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.

App contains EverNote term and policy page which contains EverNote URL.

Please see the attached screenshot for more information.

To be in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines, it would be appropriate to remove the access to these mechanisms - including fully qualified links to your site that could indirectly provide access to these mechanisms, such as links to web pages for support, FAQ, product or program details, etc.

It may be appropriate to revise your app to use the In App Purchase API to provide content purchasing functionality.

In App Purchase provides several benefits, including:

* The flexibility to support a variety of business models.
* Impacting your app ranking by consolidating your sales to one app rather than distributing them across multiple apps.
* IAP has the ability to offer additional content to your user. In this way, your app enabled with In App Purchase becomes an effective marketing vehicle to drive additional sales of new content.
* The ability to search the App Store by the In App Purchase name.

For information on In App Purchase, please refer the following documentation:

Getting Started with In App Purchase on iPhone OS

In App Purchase Programming Guide

For step-by-step instructions on In App Purchase creation within iTunes Connect, refer to the In App Purchases section of the iTunes Connect Developer Guide.

On occasion, there may be apps on the App Store that don't appear to be in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines. We work hard to ensure that the apps on the App Store are in compliance and we try to identify any apps currently on the App Store that may not be. It takes time to identify these occurrences but another app being out of compliance is not a reason for your app to be.

Attached Files

•  screenshot_0.png   155.23K   22 downloads

[Julien Boedec]

We are looking into it, thanks for letting us know.

[SethH]

emmettoc, is it your understanding that Apple is objecting to the inclusion of the text (not link) "www.evernote.com" in our Terms of Service?

[emmettoc]

@SethH

Yes, the reviewer also commented as follows:

Please remove URLs of EverNote from your app.

[SethH]

@emmettoc can you please provide us with the name of your app and any other information that we might be able to use as we discuss this with Apple?

[emmettoc]

Of course. Would you please let me know your mail address? Or if you can check my registered mail address, please send a message to me. I'll reply as soon as possible.

[Matz08]

Hello.
My name is Matz08.

I uploaded the binary which is implemented the new iOS SDK of Evernote onto the appstore, and I had waited the review reports from apple.
Today, I received the report.
The report told me that apple rejected my apps.

The report said that:

>We found that your app provides access to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app, which is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.

>App contains a link to EverNote privacy policy page which contains URLs of EverNote website.

In fact, the Privacy policy link can lead the users to the external web page.

I really want to solve this problem and finish to upload the binary onto appsotre.
If you have some suggestion, Could you give me some information.

Thanks.

Attached Files

•  rejected_by_apple.bmp   199.98K   4 downloads

[Julien Boedec]

@Matz08 we had some partners in the same situation as you and they got their app rejected for the same reason. They simply made an appeal to Apple, and got the app published. Please try doing that and let us know how it goes.

[SethH]

@Matz08, if you tap on the privacy policy link on the OAuth authorization page in your app, do you find any links to the full Evernote website? We've carefully sanitized those pages so that you can link between our Terms of Service and Privacy page, but there should be no other links to Evernote. Apple has complained in the past that the text (not hyperlink, just text) "www.evernote.com" appears in the page. When developers have appealed, Apple has approved those apps.

[Steven Wang]

We just had this exact problem, Apple reviewer demands that we use native login method, instead of web view. We will try submit one more time and appeal
@SethH, any other option that we could use?

[Julien Boedec]

To get your app approved, simply do the following:
1) Update the Evernote iOS SDK to the latest available version
2) Appeal the decision to Apple by explaining the situation and making clear that we are hosting the webpage and you cannot do anything about it.

Please be assured that we are working with Apple to fix this issue and will keep you informed on the forums.

[Matz08]

Dear Julien,SethH

Thank you for your reply.

>They simply made an appeal to Apple, and got the app published. Please try doing that and let us know how it goes.
by Julien on Posted 28 August 2012 - 05:20 PM

I tried to appeal on the App review board, but the reviewer did not approve my apps.
He recommended me to revise the bainry.

> if you tap on the privacy policy link on the OAuth authorization page in your app, do you find any links to the full Evernote website? by SethH Posted 29 August 2012 - 05:53 PM

I attached the screen images as my apps was rejected.

Attached Files

•  Link to the external page.PNG   276.58K   10 downloads

[Matz08]

The launching data for my apps was closing, so I remove the Evernote authorization mechanisms and resubmitted the revised binary on 28 August 2012.

If the version is approved, I will try the recommended action below
>To get your app approved, simply do the following:
>1) Update the Evernote iOS SDK to the latest available version
>2) Appeal the decision to Apple by explaining the situation and making clear that we are hosting the webpage and you cannot do anything about it.
>by Julien on Posted Posted 06 September 2012 - 05:38 PM

Thank you for your efforts.

Best regards,