After the App Store Judged It 4.3 Spam, I Handed Over My Development History

I registered with App Store Connect, built the game into an ipa, and sent Baby Guardian Battle off for review.

Then a letter came back. It did not tell me what was missing, and it did not suggest improvements. It was a 4.3.0 Design: Spam rejection.

It said the app shared a similar binary, metadata, and/or concept with apps submitted by other developers, with only minor differences. It did not name a single app, and it did not say whether the similarity was in the code, the store listing, or the game concept itself.

Guideline 4.3 Has Two Parts, (a) and (b)

I went and read the guidelines themselves. There are only two parts under 4.3. Part (a) is about not creating multiple Bundle IDs for the same app, with the example of shipping a separate map app for every city. Part (b) is about not submitting apps that are indistinguishable from what is already widely available, and it names dating, flashlight, wallpaper and simple timer apps.

I had no way of knowing which one the reviewer meant, so I answered both. I laid out the state of my account: one account, one app, one Bundle ID. Then I wrote out what this game actually is and how it differs from other tapping games, point by point.

For most developers, the part worth preparing for is (b). What the reviewer is really saying is that your app already exists out there, and that is the thing you have to answer.

What the Internet Says to Do

I read just about everything I could find.

The advice that is said to work circles around one idea: prove your features are not the same as everyone else’s. Add something the others do not have, and one developer got through right after adding Apple Watch support. In the appeal, list three or more concrete differences instead of empty words like "easy to use" or "friendly interface". Attach screenshots that point at what is unique, so the reviewer sees it at once rather than hunting for it. The reply goes in the Resolution Center, no new build required, and an answer usually comes within one to three business days. If the rejection is vague, you can simply ask which app yours was compared against.

The advice about what does not work is just as consistent. New colors, a new icon, new screenshots while the features stay the same. Padding the app with a settings page and an about page. Resubmitting the same build with rewritten marketing copy. These come up again and again as the least effective thing you can do.

One thing you must never touch: resubmitting from another account, or changing the Bundle ID to dodge the comparison. That gets you removed from the Developer Program.

Almost all of the Chinese-language discussion is about one thing: how to make your code look different. Refactor it, rename the classes, rearrange the folders, obfuscate it. Those articles serve people shipping the same program under many shells, which is exactly what 4.3(a) was written to catch. I have one app, so that road has nothing to do with me.

The sources are worth separating, though. Add a feature, list your differences, attach screenshots: most of that comes from companies that sell app submission services, written with great confidence yet almost never naming an actual case. Replying in the Resolution Center, not having to upload a new build, and asking which app yours was compared against are all things you can verify on the Apple developer forums, where Apple staff have said as much themselves.

After All That, I Still Did Not Know What to Do

Was there really a game out there just like mine?

I designed the stages. I arranged the flow. I made the ending animation. Tapping games do look alike, I know that much. But this one I built with my own hands.

Should I do what the internet said?

I Decided Not To

I did not touch the game. I wrote one reply, and in it I set out the whole development history, plainly and honestly.

Starting from the earliest version, what changed in each one. The folder names are the development log in themselves: "reveal the villain after the final stage", "detect loss of connection", "score no longer resets on the second run". Later I moved to git, and the first commit reads "import v0.4.6 source", picking up exactly where the folders stopped. I took a screenshot of that whole list of folders and attached it in App Store Connect.

I also explained the world of Baby Guardian Battle, what the game is about, and what gets revealed when you reach the tenth stage.

Then I asked them to look at our own site, zenoworks.studio. Four games, each with its own product page, design notes and update history. With this one, that is five games and five different kinds of play.

One more thing went into the letter. Before it ever reached the App Store, this game had been back and forth with Google Play several times, rejected and revised, until it finally passed review there.

At the end of the letter, I said I could provide further documentation.

One Morning, the Approval Arrived

No formal appeal. Not one line of code changed.

This Is Just Another Way to Go About It

I would not claim this method is sure to work. Apple never told me which app mine was compared against, and never said which part of my explanation landed. All I know is that I did this, and afterwards it went through.

I am writing this for developers stuck in the same place. Not to promise that my way works, but to say that there is another road here, one more person’s experience, and you are welcome to try it.