Apple has surprised developers by telling them that, from later this summer, they can challenge its App Store review process and guidelines.
Apple vets apps that want to appear on its App Store. In a press release on June 22, it said developers "will not only be able to appeal decisions about whether an app violates a given guideline of the App Store Review Guidelines, but will also have a mechanism to challenge the guideline itself."
It also promised it would no longer delay bug fixes for apps violating guidelines, "except for those related to legal issues. Developers will instead be able to address the issue in their next submission." The changes are planned for later this summer.
The announcement comes a week after Apple provoked an outcry from developers after it refused to accept a bug-fixing update from subscription email service Hey, which it said violated an App Store payment policy.
The policy in question said developers must use Apple's own payment system for in-app purchases, from which the tech giant takes a 15-30% commission. Hey works via paid subscription, but it deliberately left the option to sign up off its iOS app, which is designed simply as a portal for paying subscribers to access their email account.
David Heinemeier Hansson, CTO of Hey's developer Basecamp, welcomed the news that Apple will let developers appeal App Store decisions.
—DHH (@dhh) June 23, 2020
—DHH (@dhh) June 23, 2020
App store rules have riled developers for a long time — music streaming giant Spotify filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the EU in March 2019. Last week, the European Commission officially opened two antitrust investigations into Apple, one of which will focus on the 30% payment levy.
