Binary rejected on IOS Guideline 2.3.1 - Performance

Solar2D iOS
#1

Hello,

I have submitted my game to apple store like 6 times and keeps getting rejected due the following reason:

"We discovered that your app contains hidden features. Attempting to hide features, functionality or content in your app is considered egregious behavior and can lead to removal from the Apple Developer Program. If you feel that we have misunderstood how your app functions and that your app is compliant with the App Store Review Guidelines, please reply to this message in Resolution Center to explain how this feature works. The next submission of this app may require a longer review time, and this app will not be eligible for an expedited review until this issue is resolved."

I’m using appodeal to display videos ans since my app is marked if for kids 4+ I thought there was some issue there, so I changed appodeal settings to make it COPPA complaint so ads are appropriated for kids, that didn’t worked.

I also remove all the unnecessary files from my app and documented all my code just in case, didn’t worked.

My game is really simple I don’t store and score online, I don’t have any store in the app the only calls to the internet are for the adds and links for the “terms and conditions”.

Does anyone know what a hidden feature will be? they don’t say what is the criteria that marks a feature as hidden so I have no idea what they are referring to.

#2

You should be able to ask the reviewers what they think the hidden feature is. We can only speculate and guess because we know nothing about your app other than it’s a kids game and using Appodeal.

Rob

#3

Thanks for replying Rob Miracle you are right I can contact the reviewers and ask for clarification, here is the link to contact them in case is helpful for anyone else: https://developer.apple.com/contact/#!/topic/select

#4

After attempting to reach out to the developers I got a message saying they will contact me, after a week of waiting I decided to give it another try my app was in rejected state but this time it was just saying it was because 2.3 “Metadata” so I updated my game description  also uploaded a demo video, submitted the app again and after 7 days my app got approved.

Hope this helps to anyone with a similar issue if you get rejected because 2.3.1 and you are sure you don’t have hidden features you just need to explain your game mechanics.

#5

While this doesn’t explain this specific issue, it hints at what might be going on at Google:

https://9to5google.com/2019/08/19/play-store-app-approval-longer-time/

Simply put they are more throughly looking at app submissions to make sure everything is good, no policies are being violated and that people downloading your app get a good experience.

So expect more privacy policy checks (not that you have one, but what you actually say/link to), making sure you link to your privacy policy from within the app, etc.

Rob

#6

You should be able to ask the reviewers what they think the hidden feature is. We can only speculate and guess because we know nothing about your app other than it’s a kids game and using Appodeal.

Rob

#7

Thanks for replying Rob Miracle you are right I can contact the reviewers and ask for clarification, here is the link to contact them in case is helpful for anyone else: https://developer.apple.com/contact/#!/topic/select

#8

After attempting to reach out to the developers I got a message saying they will contact me, after a week of waiting I decided to give it another try my app was in rejected state but this time it was just saying it was because 2.3 “Metadata” so I updated my game description  also uploaded a demo video, submitted the app again and after 7 days my app got approved.

Hope this helps to anyone with a similar issue if you get rejected because 2.3.1 and you are sure you don’t have hidden features you just need to explain your game mechanics.

#9

While this doesn’t explain this specific issue, it hints at what might be going on at Google:

https://9to5google.com/2019/08/19/play-store-app-approval-longer-time/

Simply put they are more throughly looking at app submissions to make sure everything is good, no policies are being violated and that people downloading your app get a good experience.

So expect more privacy policy checks (not that you have one, but what you actually say/link to), making sure you link to your privacy policy from within the app, etc.

Rob