Loïc
Ben SandofskyThe latest Halide update was rejected because, after seven years, a random reviewer decided our permission prompt wasn't descriptive enough.
I don't know how to explain why a camera app needs camera permissions.
Nick Kohrn 🔭 💻@sandofsky App Review strikes again. What a joke.
jfroehlich@sandofsky pfff, nearly spilled my tea.
Ryan Mendoza@sandofsky "The camera will be used to take photographs with the camera for photography on the phone."
FTFY
B O@sandofsky for these kinds of special apps, installation could be considered explicit consent
satmaar@piyuv @sandofsky That might set a bad precedent. I agree that it’s embarrassing Apple reviewers can’t comprehend why a camera app might need camera access, but equalising installation to explicit content is not the right way out of the situation…
EndlessMasonThe app store could include the consent up front.
There's no reason the "install this app" button couldn't be "install this button and let the app access your camera"
@EndlessMason @piyuv @sandofsky Still, I’d rather have a separate prompt for granting permissions.
Also, there are multiple cam apps that double as photo editors or preset collections. I’d want to be able to use the non-camera functionality without instantly granting access to camera on installation.
Then you're going to hate using my imaginary app store lol
Rudimentary Pancake Assembler@piyuv @sandofsky
Android could take notes.
File managers: Unrestricted fs (all of /storage/emulated/).
Browsers: Unrestricted ~/downloads.
Camera: Unrestricted sensors.
Gallery: Unrestricted media access.
We already have it with sms and phone apps.
Why not with all those too?
Greg Dzhanelidze
Ray Greenwell@sandofsky this stinks!
But then, after accepting the idiocy of app review, I tried to come-up with a description that might be better than what you have now and I don’t think I can, at least not without sounding condescending or obnoxious.
Ziggy the Hamster ☎️ 4ZTH@sandofsky @marcoarment I feel very safe /s
Jsho@sandofsky to spy on users for data collection, of course!
noah@sandofsky Mistakes happen! It’s not like Halide has won an ADA and been featured in multiple Apple keynotes…
Ilker Ulusoy@sandofsky Last day, a random reviewer rejected my app because the reviewer did not like our support form in the suport url 😀
Ellipsis... 🇨🇦@sandofsky "The camera will be used to capture the souls of the people you photograph, consigning them to eternal damnation in the fires of Hades. [OK] [Cancel]”.
Jeremy Kahn"[OK] [ask me later]" if it's an app from a FAANG company
Daniel Dickison@sandofsky We’ve had random-ass rejections like that at Bandcamp over the years. Usually cleared up quickly on appeal but still 🤦
ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES"The fairy photon enters the aperture and sings as it makes its way to the CMOS chip
What's that? The permission troll just crawled out from under the Broadcom WiFi chip where it spends most of its time punching mean Internet traffic, and swatted the fairy photon away!
Oh no!
Halide needs your help, fair wise iPhone owner
Close your eyes and make a wish and tap your heels together three times
Then tell the permission troll to stay away. Let the fairy photons come home to CMOS"
timmitra 🇨🇦@sandofsky I got the same rejection a few weeks ago. I had ChatGPT rewrite my description. It passed.
Dag Ågren ↙︎↙︎↙︎@timmitra @sandofsky Usually you just need to reply and explain it. It’s just a reviewer who is not paying attention.
Riaz Ur Rahaman@sandofsky From what I heard, these app store reviews are outsourced to some companies which I feel is the gap if its true. The app review system if not owned by Apple internally is not good
Aho@sandofsky was "maybe" option missing?
Matteo@sandofsky This might get you a pair of @revenuecat's socks (although I never received mines 😢)
Jack Linke 🦄
Eric Böhnisch-Volkmann@sandofsky You really can’t make this up 🤦🏻♂️
nSonic@sandofsky @marcoarment 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Rodrigo Castro@sandofsky have you tried creating one with ChatGPT to see if they accept it? lol
Fubaroque@sandofsky Just ask chatGPT to say the same in sixty words and resubmit. I’m sure that will make them happy. 🥳 Users will not read beyond “need camera access” anyway for an app like this.
evan 
@sandofsky what a friggin joke 😣 but hey, this post surfaced your account for me, so hi Ben! Thanks for Process Zero!
mORA@sandofsky The US is that country where to get the ESTA they ask you if you want to commit a massacre. And I suspect it's to protect the internal market.
Bernd Kilga@sandofsky Apple does not know how extremely stressful this is.
AlexanderMars@console @sandofsky they 100% know it’s stressful for app devs and they don’t give a damn. Unless the story goes viral and someone from Ars or the Verge sends an inquiry. Then they’re all magnanimous for an hour until they revert to their rest state, which is not giving a shit about developers. It’s been the SAME DAMN SHIT for 15 years. That’s why they demonetise popular apps by stealing features for iOS. Some of y’all have Stockholm syndrome with Apple. Written on an iPhone.
Reply Guy
NMDoernerOh, but they know! They just don't care at all.
Anders Hovmöller@sandofsky My weather app got a rejection because "to show you the weather where you are" wasn't good enough. The app doesn't have the feature to show weather anywhere else 🤣
Wayne Werner@sandofsky have you tried taking photos *without* using the camera? 🙃
Glyn@sandofsky it’s absurd that the App Store is filled with so much fraudulent and useless crap, while legitimate and useful stuff has to leap these absurd barriers.
Robert Jan Schutten@sandofsky Laughter in the city center. https://mastodon.social/@b3ll/113176540734324042
Duncan Babbage@sandofsky I agree the rejection is dumb, but you could take the opportunity to rewrite from the current passive voice. Though it probably seems obvious to you, that would clarify that Halide doesn’t use the camera to capture photos other than when the user triggers it:
For example, “Enables you to capture photos with the camera using Halide.”
Marc Robinson 
@sandofsky When I was a proofreader we had two levels of review, ‘full read’ and ‘check changes.’ This is clearly a case where the reviewer should only have to check changes from the previous version.
Eshu Marneedi@sandofsky “In order to enable the full functionality of this application and to allow it to capture external visual imagery through photographs, it is imperative that access to the camera is granted.”
BenRiceM@sandofsky been there.
shironeko@sandofsky "this is a camera app"?
Philip Mallegol-Hansen
Michael Lewis@sandofsky I’m imagining a room full of approve/reject buttons, with a squirrel at each that is randomly rewarded with an acorn.
Demiurg@sandofsky You are doing it wrong. Usually you should ask for permission to access all contacts, messaging, email, galery, biometric data, banking apps, local storage, device statistics, location and the right to talk with the boss of the user, because you want to take photos! 😎
Miguel de Icaza ᯅ🍉
Andreas K@sandofsky
Perhaps “Halide is a Camera app, so it needs the permission to access the camera hardware”?
Perhaps “Halide is a Camera app, so it needs the permission to access the camera hardware”?
Stuart Celarier ❌👑@sandofsky Just like this great warning which is mandatory in some states.
Peanuts. Contains Peanuts.
Owen 🇦🇺@sandofsky @marcoarment Yes, that’s totally non descriptive… you should obviously have said:
“The camera will be used to capture a visual representation of a moment, which is created by recording light through a lens onto a sensor. An iPhone camera captures this image by using a combination of lenses and advanced sensors that convert light into digital data, allowing for stunning photos with vibrant colors and details.”
🙄🤦♂️
Scott K. Tusing@sandofsky We ran into this recently with an app that requires camera access to be useful, and has been out for two years.
Steveg58@sandofsky
And I can absolutely see why that complaint was made. You need to specify that the permission if for the user to take photos because as phrased they are giving the app permission to take photos whenever the app writer pleases.
This is no longer 2017 there are a lot of hostile apps out there.
And I can absolutely see why that complaint was made. You need to specify that the permission if for the user to take photos because as phrased they are giving the app permission to take photos whenever the app writer pleases.
This is no longer 2017 there are a lot of hostile apps out there.
Melvin Gundlach@sandofsky @Steveg58 Isn’t (according to Apple) the App Store extremely safe because of App Review? So either App Review doesn’t work or no more explicit description is needed. Apple cannot have it both ways.
Matt@sandofsky somebody’s “arbitrary rejections” KPI was clearly lagging this month.
Ambient Sponge@sandofsky This is one of the stupidest things I've seen in a while. 🙄
Kovarchi
Ollie Boermans@sandofsky @baldur make it less passive.
“The camera will be used when you take photographs with Halide“.
Alternatively focus on the outcome when you Don’t Allow:
“As a camera app, Halide is useless without access to the camera.”
In3D.ca@sandofsky Maybe some paranoid person who thinks the photographs will be taken using some nefarious algorithm? Try "The Camera will allow you to take photographs."
🇳🇱 🇪🇺Jeroen 🇺🇦 🇺🇦@sandofsky ugh, I feel you. The randomness of the App Store review process can be such a pain to deal with.