Ask HN: Apple Rejected Our App Because It Was Too "Simple". Options?
Hello,
We built a somewhat "complex" feature which included simple mobile apps as a pretty important component. The feature, in some detail, is at https://trovebox.com/feature/collect
Trovebox is a multi-user photo services for businesses. We made a new feature named Collect that makes it easy for a business to let others send them photos (imagine attendees at a company party or event) without having to sign up, sign in or install any software. Part of that feature are mobile apps for Android and iOS if the user would rather send photos via an app than through a mobile browser.
The entire feature hinges on simplicity.
This is the reason per the app store terms.
2.12: Apps that are not very useful, are simply web sites bundled as
apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected
Thank you for your prompt response and providing detailed information
about your app. However, upon our review, we noticed that your app only
allows users to submit photos. We found that your app does not include
enough functionality to be appropriate for the App Store. For additional
app design information, watch:
iOS Development Videos
Ingredients of Great Apps
iPhone and iPad User Interface Design
We look forward to reviewing your revised application.
16 comments
[ 545 ms ] story [ 598 ms ] threadIf you really insist on iOS, add a big Easter Egg.
We have an Android app and yes we need an iOS one too.
One useful feature it has is that it keeps track of the photos you've already sent. But again, it's a small part of a much larger feature which is actually pretty awesome.
We could add something else but the problem is that it is a simple app and adding something doesn't guarantee that it'll be enough to get approved.
If that doesn't work maybe add basic image editing options (cropping etc.) or think about whether there are useful offline features you could add.
Note that I don't have much experience with rejections but that is what I would do.
For example: You say users can easily send photos, but the premise is wrong, in the sense that it takes the same number of steps for a user to:
1. Click a picture
2. Open the picture
3. Select to send it via email/mms/whatsapp/etc. or share it on facebook/dropbox/etc.
4. Of course the next step would be select a contact, add an @user and add a message if they choose.
5. Hit send/share/etc. to confirm
I am guessing they would need to choose a business or contact in your application too, so it does not really add anything "new" and is no more convenient or simpler than other options.
On the other hand; If you added features to:
1. Take a picture from within the app
2. Allow users to directly load pictures from the phone
3. Tagged pictures with the exact GPS coordinates (with the users permission)
4. Allowed users to sort, tag and share (using a privacy first approach)
You could request businesses to pay a small fees to get access to semi-publicly shared photos on your application that share the geo-location/coordinates with their event location and time. This could also be done in real-time.
You could also automate sharing/backups to other services that you can integrate using tags and other user preferences.
Only then will you have a complex enough product, that actually simplifies the users activity.
edit: formatting
If you run an event with hundreds or thousands of attendees you don't want them all emailing or SMSing photos to you.
Or if you run a travel agency and want to provide a way for people to share photos after their group vacation your suggestion won't work there either.
There's a lot of use cases that we've been discussing with customers.
Can't say I agree with that statement :).> If you run an event with hundreds or thousands of attendees you don't want them all emailing or SMSing photos to you.
A dedicated email address for the event, using twilio for sms/mms[0], watching/following a #hashtag thru something like hootsuite will work and is already used. It also does not require the users do download any Apps at all.
*Though, my previous comment was not intended to criticize or compare you to other services, beyond the scope of reaffirming what apple has already told you, you're application is too simple in terms of being light on features.
As a matter of fact, I am also reaffirming that there is potential to the idea. It's likely the simple fact that we just have a different definition of what would be considered simple.
From my perspective an application like this has two different sets of users, both of whose needs should be met. The business customer and the app user, what you explained is truly simple for the business customer but the success of those users depends on the usage/adoption by the app users. If you're saying that the needs of the later group should/can be avoided or overlooked then we are truly coming from different places. :)
Also in regards with: > Or if you run a travel agency and want to provide a way for people to share photos after their group vacation your suggestion won't work there either.
In my previous comment I mentioned that you could allow the app users to sort, tag and share photos(point 4 under the second list), if a tag/category was shared by the user the challenge for the travel agency would be solved. If I were to implement this I would:
-> first make the travel agency share the folder/link-folder with the people in the tour
->-> If the user shared a 'link' under this folder it would
->->-> the pics/links get shared with other users of the folder and the tour operator
->->->-> As an added feature the app user could select their terms for sharing ex. share with operator only etc.
Some apps have screen shots that aren't screenshots but more like presentations explaining screenshots. You could try that to make clear the great things going on at the other end of your Collect app?
Your real audience will be the Business's users, but in this round, your audience is the Apple reviewer. It needs to look, to them, like it's doing something cool.
Or, since your install vector is a link:
* Use an HTML5 app!
That was the original intent for the platform, and iPhones and iPads support that.
Have a look at http://forecast.io or http://forecast.io/lines for examples of apps that install as HTML5 apps w/o using app store, and do cool things.
In your case, you can upload photos and EXIF data, and you can get to an install faster.
There are so many async js file uploaders to S3 at this point, you're golden.
You should also carefully consider why you don't support email and MMS. You should allow your customers to to say "Text Pictures to 12345 or email them to company@trovebox.com"
Downloading an app is unlikely to be easier than using the native sharing features for most users, so keep that in mind if you really care about simplicity and ease of use.
We'll definitely consider email/sms. But the app isn't required at all. What this feature enables is one link that works across devices without requiring any software installation. The app is optional.
Here's an example, https://trvbx.co/8f890593c5
Initially, the app was just showing canned upifting phrases. This was rejected. Second submission allowed the user to add their own phrases, using some native controls to show/edit this list of phrases. This was accepted.
What I would suggest is perhaps adding something like a way to manage different collect links in the app. Keep track of which photos you have sent to a collect. They seem to also love you to do things that are not easy to do in a web app. Maybe if you added camera access from within the app (useless I know, but still), maybe image cropping etc before upload? Is there metadata attached to their submissions to the collect link? Perhaps allowing them to edit this metadata in a table view.
I think you need to come up with reasons why you can't just make it a web app and want it to be an app (why do you want that anyway?) and be sure to implement those things.
My reasons for wanting my apps to be apps and not web sites is because phone apps are cool and people want an app not a website - it seems weird to me that apple do not think the same way. I understand they don't want any more fart apps, but most phone apps could be reasonably done as web apps now anyway.
Good idea.
> Keep track of which photos you have sent to a collect.
We are already doing this in the app. But maybe doing it for the multiple "collect"s that we're tracking might help.