Apple has updated its App Review Guidelines with multiple new rules, including one targeting the misleading use of other developers’ branding. Here are the details.
‘Come up with your own ideas’
From time to time, Apple updates its App Review Guidelines to respond to changes in the market, whether they’re good or bad.
In general, Apple adds a few rules, removes others, and clarifies some of them to make its intentions more straightforward.
Today, Apple made a total of nine changes to its App Review Guidelines, with one addition particularly aimed at developers who try to piggyback on the success of other apps:
4.1 Copycats (c) You cannot use another developer’s icon, brand, or product name in your app’s icon or name, without approval from the developer.
Today’s update adds to two prior rules under that Apple had in place to curb copycats:
(a) Come up with your own ideas. We know you have them, so make yours come to life. Don’t simply copy the latest popular app on the App Store, or make some minor changes to another app’s name or UI and pass it off as your own. In addition to risking an intellectual property infringement claim, it makes the App Store harder to navigate and just isn’t fair to your fellow developers. (b)Submitting apps which impersonate other apps or services is considered a violation of the Developer Code of Conduct and may result in removal from the Apple Developer Program. (Applies to Notarization of iOS apps in the EU)
Just recently, the App Store was inundated with Sora 2 clones and copycats, mere days after the release of OpenAI’s official app.
Apple moved quickly to either remove or ensure that these copycat apps reverted to their original names and icons, but the situation highlighted this as one of the longest-standing issues for the App Store.
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