Apple & me

Rejected as “spam”

Weeks of evenings spent on a game, a carefully crafted App Store page, a video, screenshots. And a one-line reply: “4.3 — Spam”. Here is what happened, without exaggerating and without hiding anything.

Guideline 4.3, in a nutshell

App Store guideline 4.3 targets apps that are “too similar”: clones, copies of the same template published in bulk, apps that flood the store. It’s a good rule. The App Store needs it.

The problem is when it hits games that don’t look like anything else, and nobody says what they’re supposed to look like.

Rembobine: two rejections and nine questions

Rembobine was rejected on October 8 and 12, 2026, under guideline 4.3 and guideline 4.2.6 (the one about apps built from templates). Apple asked me nine questions about how the game is made. I answered them in detail on October 13. No reply.

On October 22, I appealed to the App Review Board, Apple’s appeals committee. I’m still waiting.

Wipe!: rejected, appeal denied, resubmitted

Wipe!, a 3D action RPG made with Unity, was rejected on October 22 under guideline 4.3. I appealed the same day. On October 27, the appeal was denied, again without naming a single similar app.

That same day, I resubmitted a version 1.1: a rewritten store page, video previews, a 70-second video for the reviewers, explanations in English. It’s waiting in line.

Two games with nothing in common, rejected for the same reason: they supposedly look alike.

What I think is going on

A solo developer releasing several games in a few months looks, from Apple’s side, like an app factory. I have the feeling it’s the whole account that is under suspicion, not one game in particular. I understand that. But you only have to open the games to see that an RTS in 1900 Paris and a ballpoint-pen tower defense weren’t cast from the same mould.

What I’m doing in the meantime

I keep appealing, politely and with evidence. And I won’t let a committee decide whether you get to play: almost all the games run in the browser, and the iPhone versions install through TestFlight, Apple’s own testing tool.

Play anyway, tonight

This page will be updated with every reply from Apple. Last updated: October 28, 2026.