I made an application that allows users to select a platform on the home page and watch something on that platform. If I give an example of these platforms, google, youtube, netflix, amazonprime etc. There are around 10-15 platforms and the logos of these platforms are on the main page and users can choose from here. So in short I have a webview application. I wanted to publish it on the app store but my app was rejected. Reason:
5.2.2 Third-Party Sites/Services: If your app uses, accesses, monetizes access to, or displays content from a third-party service, ensure that you are specifically permitted to do so under the service’s terms of use. Authorization must be provided upon request.
5.2.3 Audio/Video Downloading: Apps should not facilitate illegal file sharing or include the ability to save, convert, or download media from third-party sources (e.g. Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, etc.) without explicit authorization from those sources. Streaming of audio/video content may also violate Terms of Use, so be sure to check before your app accesses those services. Documentation must be provided upon request.
I wrote the app's metadata very neatly. My app has been published on Google Play. Am I being rejected because of the platform logos on the homepage of the application? If I remove these logos will the problem be fixed? Or do I really need to get permission from each platform? These platforms are big companies, can I reach them with an e-mail? Will they take me seriously, or what message should I send them to get this permission? I read that Webview is legal, I thought that I don't need to take copyright, after all, there is no situation where I can gain unfair advantage or do something illegal, when the user chooses netflix, I already redirect to netflix, he has to enter his membership and watch. I am not monetizing any site or platform, just browser logic..But I think the App Store is very strict about this and requires me to get permission from all platforms. What should I do, I would be very happy if you share your ideas with me.
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I have an playing video app in Apple. but Apple replies are not authorized. The reply is:
5.2.3 - Facilitate illegal file sharing or include the ability to save, convert, or download media from third party sources without explicit authorization from those sources.
The app has passed Apple audits before adding YouTube.
According to the App Store Review Guidelines, streaming of videos may also violate their terms of use, so it isn't allowed. So unfortunately it sounds like you will either need to get YouTube's permission, or just remove YouTube streaming from your app.
Apple:
- 2.3 LEGAL: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY - AUDIO/VIDEO DOWNLOADING
I'm building a video downloader app which basically use UIWebView and user can surf the internet and download videos from almost everywhere. App review team is asking me to provide a documentary evidence of rights to allow media downloading from third-party sources.
How can I get such document?
According to US law, for copyright protection no advance copyright notice is required. Hence, to obtain Documentary evidence, you would need to obtain written evidence from the owner of the material.
This is neither feasible nor possible as there are hundreds of thousands of video content owners. Also, not many of them will be eager to give you permission to use their content for free.
The very premise of your application seems to encourage piracy and is very unlikely to get approved to Apple.
So your best chance to somehow get your efforts to utility would be reducing the scope of your App to certain websites, permission of whose content you can manage to acquire. Giants like YouTube will not entertain your request, but I am sure that if you try you could get the permission out of a bunch of video hosting websites. Then you can present the Documentary evidence of permission from these websites to the reviewer. You would also need to restrict your App to work only on these websites.
Another option would be using this concept in Android!! As you are grabbing your videos from a webview, most of your code should remain the same, and there would be no review hurdles in Play store.
Ok, I have a client who is a utility provider (like power, water, etc). They want their customers to be able to pay their bill from an iOS app. Since this isn't a product will it be okay to use an alternative payment gateway using WebView?
This specific usage sounds fine. Apple doesn't allow you to sell app content through anything but the store, but taking payment for an entirely external service should be fine, there are dozens of similar apps for general payment processing (LevelUp, 4square, etc.), and this is the same sort of thing, just for a more specific debt.
That said, if all your app is is a WebView wrapper for your site, Apple will reject it because of that. An app that wraps a webview must additionally use a nontrivial amount of native functionality.
In general, if your application is just a UIWebView embedded in a UIView, it will almost certainly be rejected. What is the benefit of an application embedding a mobile version of the website, compared to just loading the mobile site in the default Safari web browser?
If you are going to do this, Apple requires that the application be more than just a web browser loading a default URL. This can be one component of the app, but it cannot be the only component.
will apple allow me to publish an app that doesn't include any offline functionality ?
I developed an application using jQuery-mobile and i'm showing it in UIWebView , i offer the user the following functionalities
1.downloading video / audio / images
2. media streaming
and other content .
Apps that are not very useful, are simply web sites bundled as apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected
If your app isn’t useful it may be rejected. That’s between you and Apple, though.
I just read Apple's iOS application developer guidelines and have a question concerning whether my app is a content aggregator.
The iPhone app is tab-based and displays a table view in each tab. On clicking a table item, a web view is opened containing a local PDF file.
All of the PDFs are "qualifying times" sheets for national-level swimming competitions. They are available free online (if you can track them down...), so the app will probably be free to download.
The main purpose of this app is to make it easier for swimmer-athletes to check their own times against all the national competitions. Is there a risk that Apple could deny this app, since I did technically "aggregate" content? Or is it too innocent/trivial (I'm not stealing, after all) to be turned away?
John,
No one can say for sure, but I'd say the chances of your app being rejected are very, very low. Key points are to either (a) link to the PDFs, or (b) indicate somehow that you are permitted to use them. Copyright would probably be the biggest issue.
I think when Apple is saying "aggregator", it really means an app that just reads various RSS feeds and pretends to be an app without any other functionality. Yours appears to be a reference tool, as I'd have to go get all those links together myself if I didn't have your app.
Adding this to anyone looking for answer for this
i built content aggregator backend (read from multiple RSS sources) with support for push notification.
Then i develop a flutter app which will show this data as a list/details screens and user can turn on push notification to receive latest feeds alerts.
also I use the youtube data api v3 to extract popular video lists and data from other channels. i displayed only the title/description thumbnail & upload date.when user tap on the list item to steam the video i launch the youtube app. (no streaming inside the app)
publish this app on play store , aug/2020 got reject by apple saying "Guideline 4.2.2 - Design - Minimum Functionality & 5.2.3 Intellectual Property
4.2.2 Other than catalogs, apps shouldn’t primarily be marketing materials, advertisements, web clippings, content aggregators, or a
collection of links.
5.2.3 Audio/Video Downloading: Apps should not facilitate illegal file sharing or include the ability to save, convert, or download media
from third-party sources (e.g. Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud,
Vimeo, etc.) without explicit authorization from those sources.
Streaming of audio/video content may also violate Terms of Use, so be
sure to check before your app accesses those services. Documentation
must be provided upon request.