"I’m the real No. 3!" (from EarthBound/Mother 2) – Hi, I’m Tomo.

Recently, I had an app rejected under Guideline 4.3: Design Spam. It was a tough blow, and I spent a week feeling down while working on fixes. But in the end, I managed to make the necessary adjustments, and my app finally passed the review. Here's my story.

To Sum It Up: The Icon Was the Problem

In my case, it turned out that the issue was with the app icon, which caused the rejection.
Let me walk you through the process and how I eventually realized that the icon was the problem.

Initial Rejection for a Different Reason

Regardless of whether it's a new app or not, my apps often get rejected for "Ad Tracking Dialog not appearing."

While I can only speculate as to why this happens, I suspect the following:

• Apple runs an automated test.
• During the test, the dialog is either automatically granted permission (or suppressed?).
• The dialog is considered "already shown," so it doesn’t appear during manual review.

I'm so used to this by now that I’ve even prepared a template response saying, “Please reinstall the app~” 😂

But Then, Rejected Again

Wait, is the dialog not appearing again? That’s what I thought at first. But this time, the real issue appeared: Guideline 4.3: Design Spam.

I’ve received similar rejection reasons in the past, like:
“Your app is too simple and lacks value,” or “This is a copycat/spam app.”
Let’s be honest—getting such definitive feedback and being sent back to the drawing board can really crush your spirits 😭

And then there’s the classic “Why don’t they tell you everything in one go?” issue. I mean, you already noticed the ad dialog problem earlier! That just makes it all the more frustrating.

Added Features and Tried Again

With Guideline 4.3: Design Spam, you usually get feedback pointing to issues with the binary, metadata, and/or concept.

This basically means:

The binary is the problem (not entirely sure, but does this mean Apple can detect if the same source code was used for a different app?)

• The app itself (its features) isn’t good enough
• The icon, screenshots, or description are problematic
• It could be any one of these, or all of them, but honestly, you never know which one it is.

Since I had some features planned for the next version anyway, I decided to make some changes:

• Updated the binary with the new features
• Changed the screenshots to only show plain, functional app screens
• Tweaked the description and keywords slightly

Left the icon as it was
With those changes, I submitted it again.

Still Rejected

Unfortunately, the response came back unchanged—still rejected.

At this point, I asked:

• Which part of Guideline 4.3 does my app fall under?
  • Features
  • Icon
  • Screenshots
  • Description

They quickly replied, but with a templated response: “We cannot provide individual feedback for your app.”

With no other options left, I reluctantly made a significant change to the icon and resubmitted the app.

Finally Approved

I had a lot on my mind while waiting—if the icon change didn’t work, adding more features probably wouldn’t help either. My last resort was to contact Apple through their appeal form.

But as I was eating dinner, I got a notification on my phone—my app was approved! 🎉

So, it turns out the issue was the icon.

You might wonder, “What about the screenshots or the description?”
Well, I reverted those changes in version 1.1 after the app was approved.

To be precise, I submitted the updated screenshots later as part of an A/B test through Product Page Optimization. I wanted to keep things isolated to figure out what exactly caused the rejection.

Is There a Better Way to Handle Reviews…?

When you search for "Guideline 4.3," you'll find countless blogs from people around the world struggling with the same issue.

One case that stuck with me was about someone who created a card game using SpriteKit. It was rejected because it resembled poker. Sadly, it seems they gave up, saying, "Since I didn’t use Unity, I can’t release it on other platforms either." That’s such an unfortunate situation.

I also came across blogs where people couldn’t release their matchmaking services because of similar issues.

Honestly, competition and spam are two entirely different things, and I wish Apple would take that distinction more seriously.

Take the watermelon-stacking game that went viral a couple of years ago, for instance. The original version only made it to iOS after countless knockoffs had flooded the market—around the start of the following year. It makes me wonder: weren’t those clones flagged as spam? And if the original developer had been accused of spam, how could they have proven, “I’m the original”? It seems like a nearly impossible task. I can also imagine Apple coldly responding, “We don’t care about Japan’s trends,” which would be terrifying.

Finally, I can now escape the cycle of waking up at 4 a.m., replying to emails or preparing responses, and then trying to sleep again, even though I’d already worked during the day. 🥱

For now, everything’s settled, and I can finally move on. 🎉