Vladyslav

making apps from 2017

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

But isn't Apple still in control? Even alternative stores require Apple's notarization and an active developer account. If Apple terminates your account, you lose those distribution options too. As i know.

Sadly, the only truly independent alternative is a web app, not a native iOS app.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

@goreste As far as I know, once Apple terminates your developer account, you can't just create another one and transfer your apps. Apple can also terminate new accounts associated with you. And I don't think you can transfer apps while your account is under a pending termination notice.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

11.3 million downloads. 9 years of my life building apps. And now I may lose the ability to support the people who trusted me.

Most of these downloads came from just two of my apps. I built them independently, spending years improving them, listening to feedback, fixing bugs, and adding features people asked for.

What hurts me the most about the possible termination of my Apple Developer account isn't just losing my business. It's letting down my users.

Some of them have supported me for years. Some purchased lifetime in-app purchases, trusting that I would continue maintaining and improving these apps. And now I may not be able to deliver what they paid for.

I feel like I've betrayed their trust, even though this is something I never wanted to happen.

I genuinely love what I do. I use one of my own apps almost every day, and I still enjoy working on it as much as I did years ago. I had so many ideas and improvements planned, many of them coming directly from user requests.

I'm truly sorry to everyone who may never receive the updates, improvements, and support I wanted to give them.

These aren't just numbers on a chart to me. They're real people who trusted something I created.

And that's what makes this situation so painful.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

A sad end to more than 9 years of developing apps for the App Store.

Apple responded to my appeal and decided to terminate my Apple Developer account under Section 3.2(f).

I was hoping Apple's response would at least explain what exactly I did wrong, but it didn't. I've seen termination notices shared by other developers that included additional details about the violations. Mine only contains general examples of misleading or fraudulent behavior.

I think my biggest mistake was how I handled the appeal.

When I received the pending termination notice, I was shocked and submitted my appeal within 30–50 minutes. At that point, I didn't fully understand what could have triggered it, especially since I hadn't updated the affected app in more than a year.

Over the following days, I went through my old submissions and tried to reconstruct what happened. I submitted two additional explanations as I understood more about the possible issues. Looking back, I wish I had taken more time before sending my first appeal.

The app had received several rejections during its initial 1.0.0 review in 2025. I made changes that I genuinely believed addressed Apple's concerns. The app was eventually approved, followed by four updates that were all approved without a single rejection.

Then, more than a year after the last update, Apple apparently determined that those issues had not been properly resolved.

I never intentionally tried to mislead App Review or bypass its rules. I believed I had fixed the problems. But I also understand that it was my responsibility to fully understand what the reviewer was asking me to change at the time. Looking back, I may have interpreted some of that feedback too narrowly, and I take responsibility for that.

What makes this especially painful is seeing other developers, some with accounts barely a year old, who openly admit to deliberately bypassing App Store rules, such as adding Stripe payments to avoid Apple's commission, being given an opportunity to correct their violations and keep their accounts and applications. I think most people here know exactly which app I'm talking about.

Meanwhile, after more than 9 years on the App Store, my entire developer account is being terminated over issues I genuinely believed I had corrected more than a year ago.

I'm not saying my mistakes should have no consequences. I would have accepted the permanent removal of the affected app. I just wish there had been an opportunity to correct whatever remained wrong without losing my entire account and more than 9 years of work.

It's a heartbreaking way for this chapter of my life to end.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

That's actually a really good idea! Unfortunately, I submitted my first appeal about two weeks ago, and looking back, it wasn't very good. I rushed it because I was stressed, then sent two more appeals with additional information. I realize now that rushing was a mistake.

I didn't ask for a call in any of them, but I should have. I still have the option to submit a reinstatement appeal if the termination goes through, so I'll definitely consider requesting a call there. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

That's completely false. The app involved in the termination notice had at most 30 downloads per day, so I certainly wasn't making a fortune from it.

If you don't know the full situation, please don't make such serious and misleading accusations. I've already explained what happened in my original post.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

I didn't know you could request a call that way. But my situation is a bit different. I don't have a rejected app version with an active review thread. The pending termination notice appeared in the Resolution Center in App Store Connect, but there's no option to reply to it. The only option Apple gives me is to submit an appeal.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

I do have a way to reply to Apple, but I haven’t found any option to request a call. I also opened a support ticket about my appeal, but they never replied to it. I’d be more than happy to have a phone or video call with Apple if they gave me that opportunity.

I know Apple has been removing apps from this category, and I understand that. For me, the most important thing is saving my developer membership and my other apps. I’m completely willing to accept the permanent removal of the AI video app without any objections.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

I shared the full story in my first post, including the rejection history and Apple’s reason for the pending termination. It was an AI video generation app, and I explained the situation in detail there.

As for a call, I’m from Ukraine, and as far as I know, Apple doesn’t offer that option here.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

@djraz369 Thank you, I really appreciate your support! I’m not giving up, and I still hope I can get my account back.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

@truesteel23 @pbsIdentity Yes, I've already reached out to him, and we're still in touch.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

I understand your skepticism, but I do still have a lot to lose. My account hasn't been terminated yet, and I'm still trying to save it.

The reason I haven't publicly shared all my apps is that I don't want to make it easier for someone to copy them, especially if something happens to my developer account.

I'm also planning to bring some of my apps to Android. A few years ago, another developer actually copied one of my apps, including my App Store screenshots, so this isn't just a hypothetical concern.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

@ThomasBurkhartB I’m from Ukraine, and from what I’ve found, Apple doesn’t offer an option to schedule a call from here. But if there’s another way to call them, I’d definitely try it.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

A sad end to more than 9 years of developing apps for the App Store.

Apple responded to my appeal and decided to terminate my Apple Developer account under Section 3.2(f).

I was hoping Apple's response would at least explain what exactly I did wrong, but it didn't. I've seen termination notices shared by other developers that included additional details about the violations. Mine only contains general examples of misleading or fraudulent behavior.

I think my biggest mistake was how I handled the appeal.

When I received the pending termination notice, I was shocked and submitted my appeal within 30–50 minutes. At that point, I didn't fully understand what could have triggered it, especially since I hadn't updated the affected app in more than a year.

Over the following days, I went through my old submissions and tried to reconstruct what happened. I submitted two additional explanations as I understood more about the possible issues. Looking back, I wish I had taken more time before sending my first appeal.

The app had received several rejections during its initial 1.0.0 review in 2025. I made changes that I genuinely believed addressed Apple's concerns. The app was eventually approved, followed by four updates that were all approved without a single rejection.

Then, more than a year after the last update, Apple apparently determined that those issues had not been properly resolved.

I never intentionally tried to mislead App Review or bypass its rules. I believed I had fixed the problems. But I also understand that it was my responsibility to fully understand what the reviewer was asking me to change at the time. Looking back, I may have interpreted some of that feedback too narrowly, and I take responsibility for that.

What makes this especially painful is seeing other developers, some with accounts barely a year old, who openly admit to deliberately bypassing App Store rules, such as adding Stripe payments to avoid Apple's commission, being given an opportunity to correct their violations and keep their accounts and applications. I think most people here know exactly which app I'm talking about.

Meanwhile, after more than 9 years on the App Store, my entire developer account is being terminated over issues I genuinely believed I had corrected more than a year ago.

I'm not saying my mistakes should have no consequences. I would have accepted the permanent removal of the affected app. I just wish there had been an opportunity to correct whatever remained wrong without losing my entire account and more than 9 years of work.

It's a heartbreaking way for this chapter of my life to end.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

After 9+ years as an iOS developer, Apple flagged my entire developer account for termination under Section 3.2(f).

The reason? Repeated App Review violations.

But my app was approved in 2025, with 4 subsequent updates approved without rejection. No updates for over a year.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

@dondurmalisot No updates, it happened out of nowhere. Check out my other post where I explained the full situation.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

@foguinho_thiago Oh, you got a termination notice too? I'm so sorry. This makes no sense at all. Same as i have

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

After 9+ years as an iOS developer, Apple flagged my entire developer account for termination under Section 3.2(f).

The reason? Repeated App Review violations.

But my app was approved in 2025, with 4 subsequent updates approved without rejection. No updates for over a year.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

This might be the scariest Halloween I’ve ever had.

Not because of ghosts, horror movies, or anything supernatural.

But because, after almost 10 years as an independent iOS developer, I might lose everything I’ve built.

On October 26, 2026, I received a Pending Termination Notice from Apple saying that app submissions from my account had “repeatedly violated the App Review Guidelines in an attempt to evade the review process” and that the violations remained unresolved after multiple resubmissions.

I’m trying to understand how my review history matches that conclusion.

Here is the full story.

I started learning Objective-C at the beginning of 2017.

At the time I had an iPhone 5c and simply wanted to build an app for myself because I couldn’t find anything in the App Store that worked the way I wanted.

For around 3–4 months I learned every day from documentation, videos and whatever resources I could find.

YouTube had far fewer good iOS development tutorials back then, and a lot of learning material was paid.

Eventually I reached the point where I thought: I can actually build this.

I still remember how amazing it felt writing some code and then seeing something I had created running on my own iPhone.

I released my first app on August 11, 2017.

That app is still maintained today.

It is written in Objective-C, which is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, and one of my plans has been to finally rewrite it in Swift/SwiftUI.

That was the beginning of my journey as an independent developer.

I’ve never been a developer who releases dozens of apps every year.

I’ve started many ideas and abandoned many of them because somebody built something better, because I decided the idea wasn’t good enough, or simply because I no longer felt passionate about making it.

That is why the notice I received this week was so difficult to understand.

The app connected to the termination notice was first submitted as version 1.0 in April 2025.

During the initial review I had five rejections.

Unfortunately, App Store Connect no longer shows me enough detail to reconstruct every rejection from that period.

But from what I remember, they were mainly related to screenshots and App Store metadata.

One issue was that my screenshots were too marketing-oriented and did not show enough of the actual app experience.

I changed them.

Another rejection concerned content shown inside the screenshots.

One screenshot showed a man and woman kissing.

I replaced it with an image showing a marriage proposal.

That was rejected too.

As I remember, the reviewer cited the Objectionable Content guideline, explaining that the content could be considered objectionable by some users. The reviewer also referred me to screenshots attached to the rejection message, which pointed to the particular App Store screenshot I had been trying to correct.

I suspected that the title or wording displayed on that screenshot might also have contributed to the rejection.

So I changed the screenshot's text as well.

After making these adjustments, the app eventually passed review.

During those submissions I also made changes to the binary and uploaded new builds.

The important part is what happened afterwards.

Version 1.0.1 — approved April 28, 2025.

Version 1.0.2 — approved May 5, 2025.

Version 1.0.3 — approved May 27, 2025.

Version 1.0.4 — approved August 7, 2025.

Those four updates passed App Review without rejection.

Then more than one year passed.

I did not submit another update to this app.

And on October 26, 2026, I suddenly received a notice saying:

“App submissions from your account have repeatedly violated the App Review Guidelines in an attempt to evade the review process.”

It also says that after multiple resubmissions, violations described in previous correspondence remained unresolved.

That is the part I cannot reconcile with the history I can see.

After the initial review process in April 2025, Apple approved the app.

Then Apple approved four additional updates.

The last one was approved in August 2025.

As far as I can determine, none of my other apps have a history of repeatedly being rejected for the same unresolved issue either.

I have never intentionally tried to hide functionality from App Review.

I don’t use A/B testing to show reviewers a different paywall.

I don’t dynamically switch to a different paywall for review.

I don’t intentionally use dark patterns.

In this app, I have never shown a paywall during onboarding or immediately after onboarding. I also don't use promotional paywall screens that interrupt users after they enter the app.

Users are not forced to make a purchase just to get past onboarding. My intention has always been to provide a transparent experience where users can explore the app and understand its functionality without being pressured into purchasing.

My apps are not built around hard paywalls — I normally provide free functionality so users can actually use and evaluate the app.

I also regularly check my privacy policy and support pages to make sure they continue working, because I know broken or misleading links can themselves cause App Store problems.

The difficult part for me is that this is not just an app.

Independent development has been my work for almost a decade and is how I support myself and my family.

Almost ten years of work could potentially disappear because of a violation that, at least from the information currently available to me, I still do not understand.

I appealed approximately 30 minutes after receiving the notice.

Looking back, I probably should have waited until the next morning.

I received the message around midnight and didn’t sleep that night.

The appeal form also limits the response to 2,000 characters, so I had to repeatedly shorten what I wanted to explain.

The next day I realized there were things I could have explained much more clearly.

For now, I’m waiting for Apple’s response.

I hope Apple reviews the account manually and that this can be resolved.

P.S. I also want to clarify a few things about the app involved in this termination notice.

This was not an AI girlfriend / boyfriend app. Its name and icon did not imitate, copy, or attempt to resemble any other apps, brands, or popular services.

It was a simple AI image-to-video generator. Users could upload their own photos and generate AI videos from them. The app did not offer pre-made templates or similar content.

I also implemented safety checks for both uploaded images and text prompts before processing generation requests, with the intention of preventing NSFW or otherwise prohibited content.

Every new user received their first AI video generation completely free. I personally covered the cost of that generation, so users could try the app and see the results before deciding whether to spend any money.

After using their free generation, users could optionally purchase additional credits through Apple's In-App Purchase system. The app never offered subscriptions of any kind. There were no recurring payments or automatic renewals, only one-time purchases of credits when users wanted to generate more videos.

I also never actively promoted or advertised this app. I didn't create TikTok or Instagram accounts for it, run social media campaigns, or use paid advertising to attract users.

And importantly, Apple's stated reason for the Pending Termination Notice was not any of these issues. The notice specifically alleged repeated App Review Guideline violations, attempts to evade the review process, and unresolved violations after multiple resubmissions.

That is precisely what I am trying to understand, because the initial rejections were addressed, the app was approved, and all four subsequent updates passed review without rejection.

#Apple #AppleDeveloper #AppStore
@AppleSupport @Apple #IndieDev
#BuildInPublic

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

@SurceBeats Thank you, I really appreciate it. It's scary that even after getting approved, you can never be sure your account is safe.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

My advice would be to consider removing this game and starting something else. Even if it eventually gets approved, there's a risk Apple could later decide you never fully fixed the issues from those repeated rejections and terminate your account. That's just my opinion based on my experience, but I don't think it's worth risking your entire developer account over one game.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

That's what makes it even sadder. Some developers openly admit to deliberately breaking App Store rules and still get a chance to fix things and keep their accounts. But others, who genuinely believed they had fixed their mistakes, don't get that same opportunity. It's really sad how differently these situations can end.

[Vladyslav @Zeil_Zeil]

@ioskevinshah At least Apple gave you a warning and a chance to address the issue instead of going straight to a termination notice.