ScreenCred in App Review

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster of few days.

I submitted ScreenCred for review on Sunday. On Monday, it was rejected. I was expecting some sort of rejection. What I was not expecting was a rejection saying ScreenCred did not have enough features…

We found that the usefulness of your app is limited by the minimal amount of content or features it includes.

I was pretty disappointed. I’ve been working on ScreenCred for nearly 7 months, and it’s what I want it to be. I responded that I respectfully disagreed, included a couple screenshots of messages/posts of people saying they wanted an app like this, and asked for additional details. They cryptically responded with the same rejection message, but added We look forward to reviewing your resubmitted app.” So I resubmitted, with no changes.

The next day, Tuesday, it was rejected again. This time, they couldn’t find the in-app purchases. That seems like progress? I responded with a screen recording of how to access the in-app purchases.

This morning, Wednesday, I woke up to a notification saying ScreenCred was approved and is now pending developer release!

For about a day, I was questioning everything. Should I just abandon this? Rewrite it as a web app? Give up on iOS development? Even with the approval, I still have those questions. I can’t really explain it, but I love writing iOS apps. There’s just something about it that sparks joy. But, Apple as a gatekeeper to the App Store is a risk. At any moment, they can decide your app no longer meets some guideline. The web is open, which is big advantage. I also really like making things for the web too. The web is not without its risks and challenges either. Even though web and iOS are not mutually exclusive, I have limited time, and I feel like I need to focus on one or the other for my sanity. It’s on my mind a lot, and it’s not an easy question to answer.



Date
July 19, 2023