Apple Rejects “Breaking” App, Because A Screenshot Has News Item With The Word “Android”

Recently, Apple has rejected an update to “Breaking”, an app that lets users curate the type of news items they would like to appear in the “Today” feed from within iOS Notification Center. This is not surprising considering Apple’s draconian policy for approving apps for its Apple Store. However, what is interesting is the reason given by Apple for rejection.

Apple review team rejected the Breaking app, because in one of the screenshot provided by the Breaking app team contains a news item with the word Android. Yep, it is a true story.

The app’s developer Michael Flarup has posted this issue on Twitter.

Wow Breaking 1.3 rejected by Apple because one of the screenshots has a news item with the word ‘Android’ in it 😮 pic.twitter.com/8gnc9S5UPa

— Michael Flarup (@flarup) May 20, 2015

In a subsequent tweet, he also noted that a new app update without the offending screenshot has since been submitted.

For the record, I should say that we’ve obviously fixed the offending screenshot and resubmitted Breaking 1.3. It’s a good update.

— Michael Flarup (@flarup) May 20, 2015

The decision is of course in line with the App Store’s review guideline 3.1, which says Apps or metadata that mentions the name of any other mobile platform will be rejected.

Apple Store Review Guidelines – No Competitors Please

Considering that one has to blow up the screenshot to even make out the word “Android” in the first place, it is ridiculous to assume that the word “Android” in the screenshot was more than an honest accident. However, we are talking about Apple, so everything makes sense.