November Update to the App Store Review Guidelines

Here’s the updated full guideline for section 4.1:

4.1 Copycats

(a) Come up with your own ideas. We know you have them, so make
yours come to life. Don’t simply copy the latest popular app
on the App Store, or make some minor changes to another app’s
name or UI and pass it off as your own. In addition to risking
an intellectual property infringement claim, it makes the App
Store harder to navigate and just isn’t fair to your fellow
developers.

(b) Submitting apps which impersonate other apps or services is
considered a violation of the Developer Code of Conduct and
may result in removal from the Apple Developer Program.

(c) You cannot use another developer’s icon, brand, or product
name in your app’s icon or name, without approval from the
developer.

It’s guideline (c) that’s new, but I like guideline (a) here. Not just the intent of it, but the language. It’s clear, direct, and human. It reminds me of the tone of the very early guidelines, when it seemed like Steve Jobs’s voice was detectable in some of them. In a post back in 2010, I wrote:

This new document is written in remarkably casual language. For
example, a few bullet items from the beginning:

• We have over 250,000 apps in the App Store. We don’t need any
  more Fart apps.

• If your app doesn’t do something useful or provide some form of
  lasting entertainment, it may not be accepted.

• If your App looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or
  you’re trying to get your first practice App into the store to
  impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection. We
  have lots of serious developers who don’t want their quality
  Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour.

• We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe
  is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court
  Justice once said, “I’ll know it when I see it”. And we think
  that you will also know it when you cross it.

• If your app is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can
  appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps.

Some of that language remains today. Here’s the current guideline for section 4.3:

4.3 Spam […]

(b) 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. Spamming the store may lead
to your removal from the Apple Developer Program.

I could be wrong, but my sense is that Apple has, without much fanfare, cracked down on scams and rip-offs in the App Store. That doesn’t mean there’s none. But it’s like crime in a city: a low amount of crime is the practical ideal, not zero crime. Maybe Apple has empowered something like the “bunco squad” I’ve wanted for years? If I’m just unaware of blatant rip-offs running wild in the App Store, send examples my way.

★ Wednesday, 26 November 2025