Apple Guideline 4.2.6 Framed, Then Reframed, Appy Pie Stays Above It All

By Abhinav Girdhar | Last Updated on April 24th, 2022 10:51 am

App Builder Appy Pie, January 15: In the recent past Apple has been going back and forth about its controversial guideline 4.2.6, first employing a blanket ban on all “commercialized template or app generation service.” and later succumbing to the mounting pressure from all around and going ahead and modifying it to a more lucid version of their guideline.

Apple claimed this step was intended to enhance the user experience and provide only the best quality through the App Store. However, as a direct impact of this guideline several members from the small business owners’ community that include restaurants, non-profits, organizations, clubs, and others faced severe losses as they depended on their apps only to reach out to their customers. This is a community who does not have the deep pockets that are needed to develop native or custom apps from scratch.

The Apple Guideline 4.2.6 released in June 2017 read as follows:

4.2.6 Apps created from a commercialized template or app generation service will be rejected

This guideline was a measure to curb the cloned apps, apps of poor quality and the spamming on the app store. The implementation however had severe repercussions for the small business owners. The template apps that are developed on the templates that can be bought from the developers which brings the costs down drastically and makes it possible for those with tighter budgets to reach wider audiences. The blanket ban against template apps even led to many small businesses shutting their shops due to severe losses they incurred.

In light of this guideline, most of the app makers who catered to DIY app clientele and were in trouble. It jeopardized the livelihood of the developers and their clientele who were mostly small businesses. Though this guideline did not affect Appy Pie and the apps created by them for their clients in any manner and it was “business as usual” for them, but as a responsible member of the community and in spirit of camaraderie for the competitors, Appy Pie chose to take a stand.

Congressman Ted W. Lieu & Sarah Perez from Tech Crunch came out in support of Appy Pie and the crusaders who took a firm stand against the invalidation of apps that came from longstanding and legitimate developers who were never a threat to the sanctity of the iOS app store in any way. The congressman reached out to the Apple CEO, Tim Cook and wrote to him about the insurmountable impact this guideline had on the small business community. All these efforts did not go in vain as in December 2017, the guideline was revised for clarity and Apple, in a decision worthy of great applause, let everyone know that they would continue to provide opportunities to the small business players at the same platform as the big conglomerates and give them a fair chance to flourish and thrive.

The revises Apple Guideline 4.2.6 that came out in December 2017 read:

4.2.6 Apps created from a commercialized template or app generation service will be rejected unless they are submitted directly by the provider of the app’s content. These services should not submit apps on behalf of their clients and should offer tools that let their clients create customized, innovative apps that provide unique customer experiences.

We hail Apple’s decision to revise this controversial guideline and express our gratitude for Congressman Ted W. Lieu and Sarah Perez from Tech Crunch for contributing to the cause of the small business community and helping them get their foot in the door towards an equitable platform.

It is to help our customers and ensure that they do not get stranded navigating through the new guideline and processes, that Appy Pie is now also offering one on one assistance to its clients, a unique service that will effectively hand hold you through the labyrinth of the process of submission. All the client needs to do is book an appointment with our submission team specialists by following the link https://appypie.setmore.com/.

In spite of being a relatively new service, more than 15 clients have availed and benefited from this service by successfully publishing their apps on iTunes. Let’s take a look at these live apps on the App Store!

Edupoint  – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/edupoint-sg/id1165335895?ls=1&mt=8

in2Campus – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/in2campus/id1244827979?ls=1&mt=8

Daily Lift – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/daily-lift/id1330315592?ls=1&mt=8

Phoenix Airwaves- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phoenix-airwaves/id1199344720?ls=1&mt=8

Alyssa Colon – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alyssa-colon/id1330794956?ls=1&mt=8

Guidos Pizza and Pasta – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/guidos-pizza-and-pasta/id1330900753?ls=1&mt=8

The Dancers Resource – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-dancers-resource/id1294498727?ls=1&mt=8

City of Rathdrum Idaho – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/city-of-rathdrum-idaho/id1290137695?ls=1&mt=8

Mindfulness2Go – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mindfulness2go/id1205850881?ls=1&mt=8

Kansas City Mob Tour – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kansas-city-mob-tour/id958652599?ls=1&mt=8

SA Driver – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sa-driver/id1329231851?ls=1&mt=8

actuallyiwill – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/actuallyiwill/id1331265010?mt=8

one date at a time – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/one-date-at-a-time/id1330441510?ls=1&mt=8

Davis Heating and Cooling – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/davis-heating-cooling/id1279268597?ls=1&mt=8

TV Olanchana – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tv-olanchana/id1330238021?ls=1&mt=8

الزاوية التجانية https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9/id1296555993?ls=1&mt=8

Art Aguja ™ Tattoo – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/art-aguja-tattoo/id1330513586?ls=1&mt=8

As a part of its growth and evolution of the services and products on offer, Appy Pie has recently launched Self Submission for Mac & Windows users. This launch not only has a huge audience buzz about it but quite a few client queries were also generated for the same. On top of it all, a substantial number of clients have already availed these services.