Apple Offers App Store Review Guideline Statement, Promises "Important Changes"

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Well look what we have here, Apple has issued an official statement in regards to App Store review guidelines. And on top of that it seems that have had a change of heart on some previous changes.

The details are coming from Apple, and perhaps the most interesting (or telling) portion of the statement comes in the last paragraph which reads “the App Store is perhaps the most important milestone in the history of mobile software.” Some will likely argue that statement, but what follows is interesting. The statement goes on to state that “working together with our developers, we will continue to surprise and delight our users with innovative mobile apps.”

Of course, the key in that comes in with the working together portion. It seems that Apple realizes that without developers they will not have a successful App Store. Or more importantly, without happy developers Apple will not have a successful App Store.

And that brings the changes. Some that are not following the development side of things as closely may not remember, but a little while back Apple changed the rules and placed a restriction on which tools that developers could use to develop apps for the App Store. Well, Apple has apparently heard the complaints and are ready to change.

“Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions we put in place earlier this year.”

And those changes include which tools can be used. Specifically, Apple will now allow developers to use any tools they want “as long as the resulting apps do not download any code.”

Well done Apple, but then again this is something that likely should not have done in the first place. But better late than never I suppose. In addition, Apple will also (and finally) be publishing an official set of App Store Review Guidelines for developers, which should help eliminate lots of issues with getting apps approved. After all, if developers actually know the rules up front then they should be less likely to get a denial later.