Aki Rodic
Lucas ✦I was supposed to launch Pagi for iPad today, but Apple didn’t let me, so I wrote this little blog post about it, to get the frustration off my chest.
Thank you all for sharing this blog post and the words of encouragement I received during the last 24 hours. I am thankful to every single one of you.
I don't really understand how it happened yet, but I woke up to #Pagi being accepted, without any further notice.
Maybe the right eyes saw it and waved it through. I don't know.
I received a call from Apple yesterday. They clarified the reason for initial rejection. I updated the blog post accordingly: https://lucas.love/blog/pagi-app-store
The short version is that someone seemed to have uploaded a version of #Pagi before I did. This was possible, because I developed it in public on #Futureland and GitHub.
Thanks again for reaching out, everyone. 🖤
If something like this ever happens to you, submit an appeal via this form: https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/app-review/appeal
John Cleary@lucas Glad to hear. Still sucks you had to go through what you did! Of course “running to the press never works” am I right? 😩
Nate Vack 🍴@lucas I'm glad they changed their mind! I wish they would explain their reasoning to you though :/
@njvack I received a call from them in the afternoon today. They were very nice and clarified the reason for initial rejection. I will write more about it tomorrow.
The short version is that someone seemed to have uploaded a version of #Pagi before me. This was possible, because I developed it in public on GitHub.
@lucas That actually makes sense, though boy howdy would it have been useful for them to communicate that to you initially instead of just ganking your app from TestFlight
I'm learning iOS development in fits and starts and these sorts of stories are unnerving, to say the least, to a potential developer
So, thanks for sharing your experience, and good luck with the launch!
Aleksandar Vacić@lucas @stroughtonsmith once again, it’s shown that the only argument to succeed with Apple is community strength in numbers.
They respond quickest to bad public opinion.
Matilda@lucas I'm sorry they did that and the Kafkaesque excuses are annoying. They have loads of duplicative apps--I don't get that at all!
BUT, I am super glad I found out about Pagi. I have been looking for something with these specific features for this specific use for a long time! Thank you!
Thank you for popping by and leaving kind words, @owlislost.
Highly appreciated. 💚
Pagi does not use trackers, so I don't even know how many people use it. Messages like this help with motivation.
I totally agree with you. There are so many trash apps, which makes this even more frustrating.
Pirijan@lucas from what I've read this is coded language to mean that they want you to charge in the app so they can get their 30%.
Just getting my tiny safari extension approved for the mac app store involved explaining the business model of kinopio and that I'm not selling anything in a browser extension.
If I ever decide to make an ios app store app, it'll be extremely low-effort bc it's just not worth the risk of random bs
@pirijan I submitted it as a one-time purchase. You think they want to nudge devs towards in-app-purchases?
Thanks for sharing your experience. I heard a lot of similar stories since I started talking about it.
I probably will go with your low-effort approach from now on. Seems reasonable.
Too bad. It was a fun side-project.
@lucas maybe. You could also add widgets or some other app only feature , but ya it may not worth the extra work to find out :(
Can you release it as a perpetual TestFlight thing? (That’s what futureland does?)
I mean the main thing is that at least you had fun building it – and I’m sure you learned a lot of good things too!
@pirijan You know what¿ I set up a TestFlight for some users, but they deactivated it when they rejected Pagi. I double checked with @humdrum earlier today. He can’t download the latest build anymore. Total shit show.
You are totally right. It was a and is a fun project and I am still able to distribute the macOS version. I learned a ton!
@lucas oh wow I didn’t realize they did that , totally sus
Adrian Thomas@lucas In my experience the best way to get through to App review is to request a phone call.
They will often explain things more openly on a call and it gives you a better opportunity to explain your side of things. Just put your number in the box and ask them to call you.
They will often explain things more openly on a call and it gives you a better opportunity to explain your side of things. Just put your number in the box and ask them to call you.
Duncan Babbage@lucas this is tough, and I agree with what this says about the negatives of gatekeeping.
I think you have not quite understood one part of their initial rejection: “Specifically, this app appears to be similar to another app previously submitted under a terminated Apple Developer Program account.”
Unfortunately, I think you may have been caught up in the wake of an unrelated bad actor.
1/
@lucas There is no way that App Store reviewers have knowledge of most past rejected apps.
My strong expectation is this will have been based on analysis of either *screenshot* or more likely *source code* similarities automatically flagged in their system for the reviewer, as part of their processes to try and stop bad actors from just creating new accounts and resubmitting when their developer accounts are terminated.
How might this have happened?
2/
@lucas reading back to your earlier blog post, I saw that you released the source code to your Mac app two years ago on Github.
Unfortunately, the most likely scenario is that someone else took that source code and either submitted it to the Mac App Store, or modified it for iPad and submitted it to the iOS App Store.
Either at that time, or due to something else, their developer account was banned. Quite possibly banned after they were caught copying someone else’s app!
/3
@lucas This is the heart of the rejection, I believe. They have started with the tainted view that you may be a previously banned developer, trying to re-submit a banned app to the App Store.
At that point, arguments about uniqueness of design or value of the app are largely likely to fall on deaf ears.
/4
@lucas I don’t know if it is possible to recover on this submission. But if it is, I am guessing it should start with working to establish that you are the original author, and pointing to your GitHub repo as the likely vehicle for someone else to have submitted an app previously based on your work.
/5
/5
@lucas Having a closer look at the repo, I see all the iOS dev work on the app right up to two weeks ago is also publicly accessible. So it’s quite possible that a bad actor took your recent work and attempted to submit their own iPad app based on it, before your submission.
Heartbreaking.
Of course, I could be completely wrong on this. I hope so really, as if anything this explanation probably feels worse than just the idea “this app has been done before”.
Sad for this. 😔
@babbage thank you for taking the time to look into this and writing about your assumption. I haven't even thought about this, but I think what you are saying is plausible. I will change the repo to private for now to avoid any future problems.
It's sad, because I would love to have Pagi as an open-source project.
Btw. I don't know how it happened, but I woke up, and the app got approved without any further notice. I take it as a win!
@babbage It turns out you were right, that's exactly what happened. Apple gave me a call and explained it to me.
I updated the blog post accordingly: https://lucas.love/blog/pagi-app-store
–@lucas Though I'm sorry to hear about your hassle getting in the App Store (these kind of arbitrary and unfair rejections are all too common from Apple which sucks) I did get to learn about your app - which looks great! Any idea where you'll be making it available ton the Mac App Store in the UK? When I try to open the page it says "not available in your region".
Thank you for your kind words @d0od.
I will send you the link to the Mac version once it's available. ❤️
@d0od The macOS version should now be available for you.
Lucas ✦ (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image 💻 #Pagi is now available in the Mac App Store. https://pagi.lucas.love
@lucas Thank you, excited to try it out! 👍
KhaldoonDev@lucas Ok so before reading this post I have never known that there is an app such as Pagi. I have always searched for similar apps and I was never able to find something that ticks all the boxes for me! I am definitely going to be a customer moving forward. Please don’t get discouraged by Apple’s stupidity, myself and many people who are into journaling really appreciate apps such as Pagi!
Thank you for your kind words @khaldoondev
The app magically got approved now. You can find a link to the App Store here: https://pagi.lucas.love
Please let me know if you have any feedback or want to see certain improvements. ❤️
Pagi - Distraction-Free Morning Pages
Start your day off right with morning pages in Pagi. It features a special focus mode to highlight your current sentence and gives you the perfect environment to capture your stream of consciousness. With Pagi’s word counter and progress bar, you can easily track your progress to meet your writing goals, whether it’s 1,500 words for three pages, 750 words, or whatever feels right for you. Plus, you can customize the colors and choose from 3 different fonts to make it yours.
@lucas Definitely!
Tim BroderThank you, but that is not necessary anymore. I don't really know what happened, but I woke up to the app being approved without any further notice.
@lucas amazing! Shitty you had to ride that roller coaster but glad it’s been approved
Samuel Plumppu@lucas Thank you for writing this! I think momentum is building to ditch the gatekeepers and their #ChokepointCapitalism platforms.
I'm strongly in favor of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) built on open web standards. It's a shame that Apple - one of the biggest tech companies in the world - hasn't implemented full PWA compatibility for iOS yet.
Android PWAs work really good, but iOS still has a bit of catching up to do: https://firt.dev/notes/pwa-ios/
@lucas Whenever Apple tries to entice developers to their "ecosystem", I remember this post: https://crookedtimber.org/2022/12/08/your-platform-is-not-an-ecosystem/
Perhaps a better way to describe Apple's developer "ecosystem" is to see it like a bubble - a bubble that could trap you inside it, and which at any point might burst... :P
oguching@lucas pagi == morning. I get it.