iOS and Mac developer
I was under the impression that any application which accesses the internet must have a 17+ rating in the app store, yet Twitterrific (which even has a built-in web browser) and some other Twitter clients have a 4+ rating.
This makes no sense at all to me.
This morning I got a very nice call from an app store reviewer at Apple telling me that I needed to remove the wording from the application descriptions which said that Apple requires a 17+ rating, and also how I should adjust the rating so it will be 17+.
After that call I readjusted the rating so it now specifies “frequent/intense crude humor” & “frequent/intense mature themes”, which gives it a 17+ rating as required. Since a 17+ rating can’t be avoided, I re-submitted my original 1.5.2 version without the “g-rated” filter. Hopefully this version won’t be delayed much longer.
I have removed I Can Has Cheezburger from sale until Apple approves the updates, if they ever do. I’m tired of everyone bitching about it. I know that version has problems, most of which have been fixed more than a month ago in the update Apple still hasn’t approved.
I finally discovered the trick to change the ratings for ICHC, so hopefully Apple can review it now. As long as there’s a valid binary, iTunes Connect won’t let you change the ratings. If you reject the binary, you can go to edit information and change the ratings BEFORE you upload a new binary. Once you upload that new binary, the ratings are locked out again.
I set the ratings to infrequent/mild for all items, which still only results in a 12+ rating, not the 17+ rating Apple requested. We’ll see if Apple approves it now.
This is getting to be an ongoing ritual. I submit an update and about a week later Apple rejects it.
Here’s my latest rejection letter:
Follow-up: 78814583
Dear Mr. Cohen,
Thank you for submitting I Can Has Cheezburger 1.5.2 & I Can Has Cheezburger (Ad Free) to the App Store. We’ve reviewed I Can Has Cheezburger 1.5.2 &I Can Has Cheezburger (Ad Free) and determined that we cannot post these versions of your iPhone applications to the App Store at this time because they are not appropriately rated. Our review indicates that the applications’ contents are not consistent with the current rating. I Can Has Cheezburger 1.5.2 & I Can Has Cheezburger (Ad Free) contain user-generated content, which can include frequent mature or suggestive themes. Applications must be rated accordingly for the highest level of content that the user is able to access.
Please visit iTunes Connect to resubmit your binaries and rate your application appropriately.
Regards,
iPhone Developer Program
However, it isn’t possible to change the rating because everything is grayed out on the rating screen! A few developers have told me that the rating can only be changed for 3.0 apps, so I’m building it for 3.0 only so Apple will finally let me change the rating so they can approve it.
I’ve resubmitted ICHC 1.5.2, with /tag/g-rated specified for FAILblog & Engrish Funny, the two sites that support it.
Apple requested that I rate it appropriately, but there’s no way to change the rating in iTunes connect – everything in the ratings screen is completely grayed out. If this is rejected again, I won’t resubmit it. I’ll withdraw it from sale instead.
Barnes & Noble’s eReader contains no content and doesn’t access internet content directly. All content comes from books downloaded from your B&N account. It has to display all of these warnings, yet it gets a 12+ rating. In this case, the parental control restrictions should be set in the B&N account rather than restricting the application.
PS – KRAPPS picked up the story of ICHC’s latest rejection.
I’ve found definite proof that app store ratings are seriously broken. As KRAPPS pointed out, some pretty raunchy applications are getting a 12+ rating while ICHC and any other app that accesses user generated content is forced to get a 17+ rating. ICHC has much less sexual content than this app.
I just got another rejection notice from Apple:
Dear Mr. Cohen,
Thank you for submitting I Can Has Cheezburger 1.5.2 & I Can Has Cheezburger (Ad Free) to the App Store. We’ve reviewed I Can Has Cheezburger 1.5.2 &I Can Has Cheezburger (Ad Free) and determined that we cannot post these versions of your iPhone applications to the App Store at this time because they are not appropriately rated. Our review indicates that the applications’ contents are not consistent with the current rating. I Can Has Cheezburger 1.5.2 & I Can Has Cheezburger (Ad Free) contain user-generated content, which can include frequent mature or suggestive themes. Applications must be rated accordingly for the highest level of content that the user is able to access.
Please visit iTunes Connect to resubmit your binaries and rate your application appropriately.
I don’t want ICHC to be rated 17+. I’d rather just pull it completely rather than continue to fight with Apple.
