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Me and My friend had an app idea. I have been working on the app for a while, now it is finished and we want to release it on App Store. I have never published/released an app before.
Few weeks ago another app has been released by an enterprise company and their app is too similar to our app. The way their app works is almost identical to our app. Also incredible similarities on interface.
My question is if I try to release my app, what is the possibility of rejection of the app by App store with the reason of Possible duplicate of another app. Or rejection with any reason because two apps are almost identical.
Has anyone experience that kind of situation before?
Enterprise company's App has been stated Patent Pending on company website.
First and foremost, ask a lawyer if you want to be sure.
Secondly, you can submit your app and find out what Apple says. There are thousands of duplicate apps on the App store. If the app looks eerily similar to your app, just make sure whoever designed your app didn't "borrow" from their app, or work on the project, etc.
Also, patent pending means very little in the real world, as is. It just means the company applied for a patent (stating that and not having applied is illegal). When, and only when a patent is approved, can legal action be taken. And it also can't be enforced retroactively.
Lastly, be prepared. If it's a big enterprise that put the app out and they think you're copying, etc, just get your ducks in a row. Find the date you registered you app name, created documentation, all that fun stuff. And good luck.
This probably isn't the legal advice you are looking for, but you should just submit your app even if it bares a striking resemblance to another app. If people didn't release products that are similar to another where would be no Facebook and no Android. Become successful with your product, then fight any legal battles that will follow because others are jealous of your success.
If Apple rejects it, then address the reason why it was rejected and try again.
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I want to create an iPhone/iPad application for a restaurant menu. The application works only for this restaurant. I want to install the application without uploading it in the app store.
I don't want to install the application into the devices as developer device.
What options do I have for this kind of distribution scenario?
Look at docu for Enterprise Apps. But then the restaurant needs an Apple Enterprise license, and everybody installing the app must be an employee of the restaurant.
Developper and ad-hoc apps work only for a limited time (3 months if i remember correctly).
Apple offers two ways you can do this. (The third is jailbreaking.)
The older way, an Enterprise membership. This is more designed for large organizations with an IT department:
$300 annually
you deploy directly to the device
terms of the contract say: may only deploy onto devices owned by the business (and yes, they can tell if you abuse this)
apps last 1 year, must be re-signed and re-deployed
kinda labor-intensive and fiddly, especially if the developer and device manager are different people, or use different signing keys; really needs an MDM system to work well
since Apple doesn't review your code, you can use private API if you want. woo hoo.
There's a newer way, which I highly recommend: the B2B App Store.
works with your $100 developer membership
deployment uses Apple for hosting, doesn't expire
needs no special software; works well with Apple Configurator
app is private to whoever you specify
the business gets access by signing up for the free "volume purchase program".
In fact, the whole process is almost exactly like a normal app store app, except that the app is not public. Apple reviews it, puts it in the "secret" store. Developer specifies some Apple IDs; only those Apple IDs can see the app in the store (through the volume purchase interface.) They can install it, AND/OR generate redemption codes for it (which work for anyone.) It's very slick. There's a good 2012 WWDC video about it for dev program members.
https://developer.apple.com/programs/volume/b2b/
Both programs require the business to have a DUNS number. This is generally not a problem.
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I have an app that buttons and images and icons set for only representational purposes. My friend is making better ones and so my app is not finished yet but apple said that I have 30 days to submit a binary or my app will be deleted from the iTunes connect. So i uploaded my binary and here is the rejection message.
10.6: Apple and our customers place a high value on simple, refined, creative, well thought through interfaces. They take more work but are worth it. Apple sets a high bar. If your user interface is complex or less than very good it may be rejected
10.6
We found the following issues with the user interface of your app:
It would be appropriate to add additional functionality to the application in order to enhance the user’s experience. For ideas on how to improve
the user’s experience, you may wish to review the User Experience
Guidelines section of the iOS Human Interface Guidelines.
It would also be appropriate to differentiate, either in the Application Description or in the app, which purchases are consumable and which ones are non-consumable.
For technical assistance, you may wish to consult with Apple Developer Technical Support. Depending on your questions, be sure to include any crash logs, screenshots, or steps to reproduce the issues you’ve encountered.
These examples identify types of issues discovered in your app but may not represent all such issues. It would be appropriate to thoroughly evaluate your app to address these types of issues.
When I add icons, images and button images after my friend finishes them, my app would be approved right ? Is this the message that I should get from 10.6 ? And what does this message mean with
It would also be appropriate to differentiate, either in the Application Description or in the app, which purchases are consumable and which ones are non-consumable.
I have one non-consumable IAP and that is pro version IAP. All the others are consumable. I think it is clear that pro version is non-consumable because it has a restore button.
Last thing I want to ask is, since I uploaded a binary my app won't get deleted from iTunes connect right? My app is rejected but I uploaded a binary in time, anyone knows about this ?
Apple will not review incomplete or in test apps as the app store is not the place for testing. Really you should not create an app on iTunes connect until you are ready to submit to the app store.
I would suggest that most likely the app will not get deleted as you have submitted a binary but don't count on it especially as the version you submitted is incomplete and Apple may decide that therefore you still haven't submitted a proper app and delete it all the same
Even if you contact Apple they will not tell you if the app will be approved when the buttons are added. It is their policy to only review what you put in front of them and not to speculate on what will get through.
There are no guarantees that your app will get through the app store when the buttons are added, but you stand a much better chance as your app is complete. It will also depend on if you have followed all of Apple's rules and are not trying to do anything illegal.
I will be tempted to put your non consumable item in a separate section to clearly mark it and make it easier to get the app approved.
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I have found another question
where the marked answer, from June 2010 is "Your apps will be removed" however, another person answers that apps will not be removed, and claims as recent as February this year to be sure of this.
I think Apple support pages are very vague on this matter.
Is there anyone out there who knows for sure what happens?
(I hope this behavior is okay (re-asking the same question in a new post) - ideally a bump of that thread would have been my choose, but I don't know how to do that, or if it is possible on Stack Overflow. I don't have enough reputation to comment or edit the other question.)
No.
See http://developer.apple.com/support/ios/program-renewals.html:
If I don't renew my membership will my
application(s) still function for
those customers who have already
installed my application(s) from the
App Store?
Yes. Although you will lose App Store
distribution, your application(s) will
still function for customers who have
installed your application(s) from the
App Store on their device(s).
It makes commercial good sense for Apple to stop featuring your app in their store when you're not paying the yearly fee, since the infrastructure used to host your app would still be an ongoing cost for them.
Also, if Apple didn't purge non-paying customer's apps, over time the app store would become a huge aggregation of unmaintained apps which would dwarf newer higher quality apps. Remember that Apple often releases updates to iOS which requires updates and tweaks to existing apps -- for them to keep stale unmaintained apps around just doesn't make any sense at all.
Today I got this reply from Apple Developer Support:
As for your inquiry regarding to program renewal, please know that we advise you that your application will be removed from the App Store upon your expiration date unless you renew. If you'd like to continue to distribute your application on the App Store beyond your current expiration date, you'll need to renew into the Program before your current Program expires.
i can confirm that your app will be removed from the apple app store if you do not renew you apple developer program account. it just happened me, what a bummer. Hope this helps clarify this question
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Lets say I submit my app for approval now. I set Availability Date to something like Nov. 30, 2011, because I have not yet decided when I really want to release my app. Then fortunately, my app gets approved.
Will I be able to edit the Availability Date after my app is approved?
Assuming question 1 gets a yes, let's say I then edit the Availability Date to Dec. 3, 2010. Will my app be available on the App Store on Dec. 3, 2010? I've heard that setting it to a future date after it was already available will take it out of the store, I want to know if the reverse also works.
Will there be any drawbacks for doing this? (This is actually my main concern)
For the record, I did search for similar questions, but still not satisfied with the replies in the other posts. Thanks in advance!
Yes, you can change availability anytime.
(and 3.) If you start selling your app by "accident" on a date that is today or before and then revoke it and then start selling it again at later date you can have some problems.
The problem will be with all the sites that scans for new apps and then present them on the promo-sites. A lot of people will look at the promos and them when searching for the app it will be gone from App Store (since you temporarily revoked it).
At the later date when you WANT to release the app the promo-sites will see it as an old app and not promote it, and you will get fewer customers.
You can change the availability date of your app in the "Rights and pricing" in the Manage Your Application part of the iTunesConnect site. This can be done at anytime in the publishing process.
You may remove your app from all territories if you want to take it off of the store once is it in the store. Then reenable the territory once you are ready for it to be for sale. I think that is a better solution than mucking with the release date.
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I am ready for distribute for my first iphone app in app store. I am an individual developer.I want to confirm from any experience individual developer who already distribute app in app store.
The question is i donot want to myself real name appear in my app. can i have another display name w instead of my real name appear with my app.
Careful
You can enter anything you want for the company name that appears i the app store but beware you can not change it once entered. This is knows as "Artist/Show" in Apple's reports. In order to have it changed you will have to contact Apple and it may take some time to get it corrected. In my case it took several months and several requests.
Read the docs carefully before entering anything, is clearly stated that the company name that appears in the app store can not be changed.
When you submit your app, even under an individual developer account, it will ask you for a company name. You can provide your own name or a company name you'd like to have appear in the listings. The company name you provide here will be used on your app's details page, but it will NOT be used everywhere across the board. The name you used to create your individual developer account will always show up in some places, such as "Other apps by this developer".
There's no easy way to do what you're asking - get in touch with Apple. Or reapply under a different name (perhaps a company, as suggested by #Devin Ceartas) and pay the fee again, then just publish the app under that account.
You can just change the name on your account to the one you want shown, you need to contact apple for this
I would imagine you'll have to consult with Apple to list your App under a different one than your developer license and provisioning. I made the leap to become an LLC even though I am the only one at the company I own doing iPhone dev so far, before I applied for the license to do the programming.