iPhone Game Development - Chris Craft [146]
There are several reasons an app may be rejected:
Application bugs. Your application should be, for the most part, free of any application bugs. Otherwise you run the risk of either the App Store rejecting your application or, even worse, your application users rejecting your application.
Data. Apps that transfer large amounts of data over cellular connections have been another common candidate for rejection. This includes everything from tethering applications to video applications.
Duplication. There is an expression that says if two people are exactly the same then one of them is unnecessary. Apple has this philosophy to applications that duplicate functionality of applications already existing in the iPhone OS. Even if you make a better app, it may be rejected if one just like it already exists. After we created iFlame, we went back and created Camp Fire, which was summarily rejected because it reminded someone too much of iFlame.
Graphics. Be careful when reusing existing graphic elements from the iPhone OS. In many cases, a developer who copies icons, images, or logos from the iPhone OS and uses them in their application will have their application rejected.
Icons. Your 57-x-57-pixel application icon must be the same as your 512-x-512-pixel App Store icon. The only difference allowed is that one is larger than the other. At one point we had some text on the large icon that wasn't on the smaller icon. This caused the entire application to be rejected until we redid the icons to match.
Offensive material. Any offensive material in your application, whether in text or image form, will cause your application to be rejected. You can even run this risk if your application pulls down third-party data streams like Twitter, Facebook, RSS, and so on. Apple says: “Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive, or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”
Using private frameworks. You are not allowed to use any of the private frameworks in your applications.
Vibration. Vibration can only be used in limited amounts. Apps that use excessive amounts of vibration tend to be rejected due to concerns about device battery life.
App Store custom backgrounds
You may have noticed that many of the more popular applications on the App Store have a custom background (Figure 10.18) instead of the default blue gradient background. You might be wondering how you can create a custom App Store background for your applications. Unfortunately, you cannot. Apple decides which applications get to have custom backgrounds. If your application becomes popular enough, you might hear from Apple about creating an App Store custom background.
FIGURE 10.18
Custom background as shown in Apple's Texas Hold ‘em
Top free and paid applications
It is common for new developers to wonder how to make their application become one of the top applications on the App Store. The ultimate goal is to be in the top 25 paid applications, as shown in Figure 10.19, or in the top 25 free applications. An easier goal is to be in the top 25 applications for an App Store application category, such as Games or Entertainment. Or better still, you could create a top 25 application in a less popular category, such as Weather or Finance.
FIGURE 10.19
Some of the top 25 paid applications
The specific details for how application rank is calculated are a secret. But most developers agree that it's based on a sliding scale, using number of sales per day for a small time period (for example, three days). For some of the more popular categories such as Games or Entertainment, your application will need to have hundreds, maybe even thousands, of sales each day to be in the top 25. For other less competitive categories, your application may only need a hundred or so sales a day.
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