The application is somewhat rejected by Apple - they need more information about payment

Question

The application we are working on in my company is now "almost rejected" because Apple needs more information about acquiring user accounts and paying for the services that our application provides. Here are the words from Apple (adapted as I cannot include the application name):

• How does a user get login credentials for APPNAME?
• Is the service free?
• If the accounts are free, is it possible to upgrade to a paid account?

As for the questions, now here is a description of what our application does:

We have an online service based on a website that allows users to upload photos and descriptions from a PC, Mac, or any smartphone platform. This service requires a user account that you buy from us. After that, the user can access the website, upload images to it, etc. But they can also log in with their smartphones (Android, iOS and WP7), which allows you to upload photos from the camera to the site.

What I'm trying to say is that this application is not the main product, website and what users pay for. The application is just an accessory that we have provided free of charge for existing users.

But how do we write this in Apple so that they do not misunderstand, and reject the application because it must have an IAP or something like that?

Hope someone has some interesting tips!

Answer 1

I think you have to limit the user to pay for something through the application. Take a look at the following Apple recommendations:

• Shopping and currencies

  11.1

  Applications that unlock or enable additional features or functions with mechanisms other than the App Store will be rejected 11.2

  Applications using a system other than the App Purchase Purchase (IAP) API to purchase content, functionality, or services in the application will be rejected 11.3

  Applications using IAP to purchase physical goods or goods and services used outside the application will be rejected 11.4

  Applications that use IAP to purchase loans or other currencies must consume these loans as part of application 11.5

  Applications using IAP to purchase loans or other currencies that expire will be rejected

You may have to uninstall a feature that allows users to register through mobile devices (or at least a feature that asks them to pay), and use the app as “just an accessory.”

Answer 2

It seems that the problems with your application are that you are proving some username and password in your application. Now consider the following case.

• Someone is downloading your application, but you do not have an account on your site. -> Can he make a new account from the iPhone application? if there is no answer, he must go to your site to create a new account. and maybe there you ask for payment. Thus, this does not comply with the rules of the apples, because you can sell the application from the AppStore and collect payments from another place. Therefore, provide the opportunity to create a new user account in your application.

• Does your website allow you to upload any number of photons for free? -> If the answer to the above is not, then you should also provide for the payment in your application.

The main problem with Apple is that your application has some kind of possible way to access content (for example, a storage place in your case) that was sold outside of the Apple store.

So, find some workaround for this ...

Luck