or, why your app isn't good enough —

Apple explains why your iOS app keeps getting rejected

Lack of information and obvious bugs are the two biggest show-stoppers.

Apple explains why your iOS app keeps getting rejected

If you've ever developed an app for the iPhone or iPad, you've had to deal with Apple's App Store Review Guidelines. The lengthy list of rules encompasses many different areas, and Apple has just published a new page to explain what rules are broken the most often—and what developers can do to avoid rejection.

Apple's graph (which reports app rejections for the week leading up to August 28) shows that "incomplete information" is the most frequent reason for rejection—this includes providing demo account credentials for apps that require an account, failure to adequately explain any special settings needed for evaluation, and failure to provide an accompanying demo video for apps that only work under specific circumstances (when attached to a particular piece of hardware, for example). In short, tell Apple what it needs to know to evaluate your app, because the company isn't going to take extra time to do research if your app isn't self-explanatory.

Bugginess is another big reason for app rejections, as is failure to comply with Apple's Developer Program License Agreement. A fuzzier problem that takes down six percent of apps is a "complex or less than very good" user interface, which could mean that the interface is too cramped or not finger-friendly—Apple provides many UI explainers to developers, and failure to take them into account can get your app thrown out even if it's otherwise useful. The chart above and the page itself explains how to comply to these guidelines as well as the others on the list, though they won't help you much if your app was one of the 42 percent rejected for "other reasons."

The new page comes just as iOS 8 is being finalized for public release—we'll probably hear more about it at the event on September 9. The new operating system brings quite a few improvements targeted specifically at third-party developers, including support for Extensions that facilitate inter-app communication and Continuity features that will allow iOS and OS X Yosemite apps to pass data back and forth. Apple normally sends an e-mail to registered developers shortly before new OS versions are released so that the apps have time to work their way through the approval process; if you're working on an iOS 8-related update for your app, now would be a good time to go down that checklist and make sure your code doesn't break any of the most commonly violated guidelines.

Channel Ars Technica