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I created a crypto price alert app. Apple rejected it for nonsense

16 points by alirsgp ↗ HN
So I'm someone who created an iOS app that tells you whenever either bitcoin or ethereum moves x% up or down.

I made this app because I would check prices too often and knew others would want this app too.

There are no in app purchases, or ads. I think this is why Apple really rejected it. They don't like the fact that I'm not trying to charge, just providing a free app for the masses in my spare time.

The app requires users to use the 'Sign in with Apple' sign in method, so that I can associate price move alerts with accounts.

They are rejecting my app because it also shows real-time prices of crypto assets. They say I need to move these price checks to be before the sign-in prompt.

I can do this, but the whole episode just irked me the wrong way. What's their freaking problem? Coinbase makes you sign in before showing you crypto prices, so why am I being singled out? Or do you just reject new apps for no reason because you have to show you're doing something?

I try to see the best in Apple, I really do. I've shipped 15 iOS apps for them, but they irritate the hell out of me.

26 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 73.5 ms ] thread
underseacables
I would be very interested in your app. My Coinbase account doesn’t seem to give me this functionality, and I would really love to kind of get alerts when things start to move up or down.

As I understand the App Store, even though your app is completely free and you’re doing it out of the goodness of your heart, you still have to pay that fee, correct?

alirsgp
Yes. I pay $100 a year. I do have 14 other apps, that generate me about $2.5k a month in profit, which covers the $100 yearly fee for me.

I'm super happy to hear you're interested in this app! I hope to get the word out on it. I couldn't think of a way to charge people while being fair, so I decided not to charge at all.

If it gets approved (hopefully eventually) it will be called 'BitAlert'. Feel free to email me at alirsgp@gmail.com if you want me to email you upon app release

runawaybottle
I don’t want to steal the OPs thunder, but if you want this app now, Cash app sends you text alerts when Bitcoin moves 5% in either direction.
alirsgp
my app just got approved! here it is: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1577343755 (might not be ready to download for few hours as approval happened few mins ago)

Also the edge we have over Cash App is we can set custom movements at ANY percentage.

Tomte
> They don't like the fact that I'm not trying to charge, just providing a free app for the masses in my spare time.

That's obviously wrong, as tens of thousands of free apps in the App Store prove.

I guess you have a legitimate grievance, but this over-the-top accusations and guessing at motives doesn't make you look good.

wodenokoto
Doesn’t coin ads do a lot more than just showing prices?

I can see why a app reviewer might think you are trying to collect logins, as you are not charging and you can send notifications without login (and you can probably associate rules for notifications with whatever ID you send notifications to)

evolveyourmind
That’s my exact same app with almost the same appstore experience.

It’s called Crypto Rocket and they initially rejected it just because of the icon (it had a frog on the Rocket, just for the meme). Then they rejected it because they associated it to simulated gambling. And now a month after the release they are going to remove it until I provide proper privacy and support information…

The app is also open source here https://evolveyourmind.github.io/CryptoRocket/

omegalulw
Pretty cool. Question, your lock reset resets the lock state without regard to of the lock is held on not, isn't it better to acquire before reset?
evolveyourmind
Thanks. Yeah that would be better and bring a little more consistency, but since js is single-threaded it doesn't cause big issues.
alirsgp
sweet, ill try it out

edit: nice app! I had to click around a lot to find the notification page, but overall seems like it does what it says. best of luck

khaoztopsy
Don't worry you are not alone, I got an app update rejected because the reviewer did not like one of my iPad screenshots. The iPad screenshot they were upset about was multiple months old and I had been pushing weekly updates without issues.

The human element of the reviews is in my opinion the weakest part of Apple's reviews, most of the time they don't catch rule breakers and just reject based on silly 'issues' for some sort of power trip. The Google Play Store review is the other extreme, its super easy to push something broken to production

secretsatan
There's plenty of free apps in the App store, that is not the reason.

An app you download and immediately asks for a login before showing you anything? You don't think that's a bit suspicious? You could just be some shady app harvesting data, why not just ask the user if they would like to sign up for alerts?

londons_explore
So wait... The reviewer wants you to make your app more useful to the public by allowing them to get more functionality before signing in?

Seems logical to me. Why not just do what they ask?

Hackbraten
> They say I need to move these price checks to be before the sign-in prompt.

> I can do this, but the whole episode just irked me the wrong way. What's their freaking problem?

Manually smoke-testing the app is part of the review process. If the reviewer can’t get past your loginwall, they won’t be able to review much.

imron
The review process allows you to provide reviewers with a login account, so that’s unlikely to be the issue.
BrissyCoder
Wow you come off as incredibly arrogant and myopic.

Why should anyone need to sign in at all for this functionality?

[dead] fuj
Why would I need to set up an account to see the price movements? You'd rather go down the conspiracy lane than try to see it from the user's / reviewer's perspective.
[dead] Ultimer
Your app sounds convenient but doesn't play market already have several apps that can show you the prices of cryptocurrencies in real-time?
[dead] MilkyFloor
Apple, for the last several years, became one of the most gold-digging companies, that's true, but I doubt that it can be the real reason why it doesn't allow you to have your app on the market. I think some apps have the same idea, so you shouldn't be so fierce about it. Crypto is really popular, so people using https://bitcoinup.app/ or any other platform understand your desire to convenience.
[dead] MilkyFloor
Thank you for sharing mate! It's terrible what they did to you, this really interests me because I do forex trading for a living, if you're interested in the topic and want to get started in trading check https://www.dailyforexjournal.com/ , there you can find great forex broker reviews, and about your app, just let me know what can I do to help you?