Apple has simply updated its App Store Guidelinesd, the file that informs iPhone and iPa that tell iPhone and iPad developers what kind of behavior the business will tolerate and where its most likely to turn down apps or crackdown after the reality– and as TechCrunch reports, numerous of todays modifications are intended directly at fraudsters and scammers who take advantage of Apple users. Not all of them.
I simply put the entire thing through a diff checker to show you precisely whats changed. Inspect out all the distinctions here on your own, or continue reading for the highlights.
Apple is warning fraudsters its coming for their entire accounts
Apple already had actually an area titled “5.6 Developer Code of Conduct” that warned devs not to “prey on users or attempt to rip off customers” amongst a laundry list of other bad behavior. Now, it also consists of 2 clear cautions and a possibility of redemption:

Repetitive manipulative or misleading habits or other fraudulent conduct will cause your removal from the Apple Developer Program.
Your Developer Program account will be terminated if you engage in activities or actions that are not in accordance with the Developer Code of Conduct. To restore your account, you might supply a written declaration detailing the improvements you plan to make. Your account may be brought back if your plan is authorized by Apple and we verify the modifications have been made.

Apple will count slippery identities, fake evaluations, negative evaluations, and other indication versus a designers standing
These three areas of the Developer Code of Conduct are new:

5.6.2 Developer Identity
Supplying proven info to Apple and clients is crucial to consumer trust. Your representation of yourself, your company, and your offerings on the App Store need to be accurate. The details you supply should be genuine, relevant, and updated so that Apple and consumers comprehend who they are engaging with and can contact you relating to any concerns.
5.6.3 Discovery Fraud
Taking part in the App Store requires integrity and a commitment to building and preserving consumer trust. Manipulating any aspect of the App Store customer experience such as charts, search reviews, or recommendations to your app erodes client trust and is not allowed.
5.6.4 App Quality
Customers anticipate the highest quality from the App Store, and maintaining high quality material, services, and experiences promotes consumer trust. Indications that this expectation is not being met consist of extreme client reports about concerns with your app, such as negative consumer reviews, and extreme refund requests. Inability to maintain high quality may be a factor in choosing whether a designer is abiding by the Developer Code of Conduct.

Misleading marketing is likewise not allowed, as much as and consisting of bait-and-switch pricing. These bolded parts of area 2.3.1 are brand-new:
marketing your app in a misleading way, such as by promoting material or services that it does not really offer (e.g. iOS-based infection and malware scanners) or promoting an incorrect rate, whether within or outside of the App Store, is premises for removal of your app from the App Store and termination of your designer account.
All of this seems straight targeted at Apples rip-off issue, where the most lucrative company in the world hasnt managed to stop outright scams that are so apparent you might quickly find them yourself, and where The Washington Post discovered 2 percent of the businesss top earning apps were deceitful. Its uncertain whether enforcement will enhance together with these new rules. TechCrunch apparently didnt get an answer to that in its rundown with Apple.
Fugitive hunter apps are on notification
Keep in mind when Citizens CEO encouraged his users to pursue an innocent person by offering a $30,000 reward? Apples new rule seems designed to tamp down on vigilante justice:

1.7 Reporting Criminal Activity
Apps for reporting alleged criminal activity needs to involve regional police, and can just be provided in countries where such involvement is active.

Hookup apps are also on notice
Im uncertain which app made the headlines this time, but Apples contended this concern in the past.
1.1.4 Overtly sexual or adult material, defined by Websters Dictionary as “specific descriptions or screens of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate sensual rather than visual or emotional feelings.” This consists of “connection” apps that might consist of porn or be utilized to assist in prostitution.
Legal weed is OK, but its got ta be legal
Weed apps have been touch-and-go on iPhone for many years, and not for lack of rules. This is more about letting developers know that a particular directly specified classification is permitted.
( ix) Apps that supply services in highly-regulated fields (such as banking and financial services, health care, betting, legal marijuana usage, and air travel) or that require sensitive user details must be sent by a legal entity that offers the services, and not by a private developer. Apps that help with the legal sale of cannabis must be geo-restricted to the corresponding legal jurisdiction.
You do not require to offer Apple a cut of physical gift card sales
Apple stated it doesnt take a cut of physical purchases. Were physical present cards an exception? In either case, you dont need to pay now.
Digital present cards, certificates, coupons, and discount coupons which can be redeemed for digital items or services can only be sold in your app using in-app purchase. Physical gift cards that are sold within an app and then sent by mail to consumers might utilize payment methods besides in-app purchase.
Apples a lot of arbitrary guidelines arent gone, but tamped down
Of all the guidelines in the App Store, the “dont consist of irrelevant details” is probably the most convenient to abuse; developers like ProtonMail have informed us its utilized to validate eliminating an app when there arent any really relevant guidelines. It likewise upsets developers who think they ought to have the ability to tell their users about the hoops they need to leap through to enter into the store. Its not gone, but its much shorter now:
2.3.10 Make sure your app is focused on the iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS or watchOS experience, and do not include names, icons, or images of other mobile platforms in your app or metadata, unless there is specific, approved interactive performance. Make sure your app metadata is focused on the app itself and its experience. Dont include irrelevant info, including however not limited to info about Apple or the advancement procedure.
Likewise, Apples clearer now that– with certain type of apps, and outside the app itself, and just if you get their contact info somewhere else somehow– developers in fact can inform their users that they can pay beyond Apples shop:
Designers can not use details obtained within the app to target specific users beyond the app to utilize buying techniques aside from in-app purchase (such as sending an individual user an email about other buying techniques after that specific indications up for an account within the app). Designers can send interactions outside of the app to their user base about buying techniques aside from in-app purchase.
That doesnt repair the companys anti-steering rules in the least, which came up plainly during the Epic-Apple trial, but it does make edge cases clearer.
Apple wants apps to let users be complimentary
5.1.1 (v) Account Sign-In: If your app doesnt include considerable account-based features, let individuals use it without a login. You must also use account removal within the app if your app supports account creation.
Neat.
Oh, and Roblox is still completely not a game
This area is all-new:

1.2.1 Creator Content
These experiences are not native “apps” coded by developers– they are content within the app itself and are dealt with as user-generated content by App Review. The App Store supports apps offering such user-generated content so long as they follow all Guidelines, including Guideline 1.2 for moderating user-generated material and Guideline 3.1.1 for payments and in-app purchases. Developer apps should share the age score of the greatest age-rated developer material readily available in the app, and communicate to users which content requires additional purchases.

Of all the guidelines in the App Store, the “do not consist of irrelevant details” is probably the most convenient to abuse; developers like ProtonMail have informed us its used to validate eliminating an app when there arent any actually relevant guidelines. 2.3.10 Make sure your app is focused on the iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS or watchOS experience, and dont include names, icons, or images of other mobile platforms in your app or metadata, unless there is specific, authorized interactive functionality. These experiences are not native “apps” coded by designers– they are content within the app itself and are dealt with as user-generated material by App Review. The App Store supports apps using such user-generated material so long as they follow all Guidelines, consisting of Guideline 1.2 for moderating user-generated material and Guideline 3.1.1 for payments and in-app purchases. Creator apps need to share the age ranking of the greatest age-rated creator content offered in the app, and communicate to users which material needs additional purchases.

If youre questioning what Apple is on about here, heres the TL; DR:
Apple does not wish to permit cloud video gaming services like Stadia and xCloud into the App Store, so it informed everybody each video game in a collection of games had to be separately approved– despite the fact that guideline didnt exist up until Apple retroactively added it. Everybody pointed out Roblox is a collection of games that werent individually authorized, LOL. Apple argued at trial that Roblox isnt a video game, and Roblox amusingly agreed. Now Apple is now sculpting out a brand new category of “Creator Content” to cement why Roblox is OK, while other video game platforms which contain wide varieties are not. Basic!