Apple has made some recent amendments to its App Store review guidelines. The rule says that no developer will be allowed to create applications that display time. This rule has been enforced for past several weeks. According to the newly added 10.7 rule under “User interface,” Watch Apps that have a “primary function” of telling the time will be rejected.
This rule was not present before in the App Store review guidelines or the Apple watch human interface guidelines. But this is now implemented very strictly, this can be observed because several applications have been rejected due to the primary function of telling time.
A developer recently made an app which used clock-like face to show the sunset/sunrise times with respect to the position of the sun and the moon. This application was also rejected by the App Store.
“The developer was told by Apple that Apple Watch apps containing a clock face, the likeness of a clock, or time-telling functionality would be rejected, and the Apple employee he spoke with mentioned that quite a few developers had been rejected due to the policy.”
In an interview, “Apple executives have explained that hundreds of hours of work went into developing the watch faces that are available for the Apple Watch, with an obsessive amount of detail put into each one for the best possible time-telling experience.” Apple’s aim is to make Apple watch a part of fashion; the company is now maintaining stringent rules for developers.
Apple promoted the Apple watch as the “most accurate” time piece, which is possibly not correct. The reason behind rejecting third party time telling apps is that it may affect the accuracy. Watch faces in Apple watch are not customizable. Users can’t select their desired wallpaper, while iPhone and iPad allowed this feature, but user can customize watch faces.
Apple usually has strict rules when a new product is launched but gradually with time they display tolerance, when IOS 8 was launched launcher app was forbidden. It may be possible that in future, Apple will open up watch faces to the developers and or show less strictness about their policy regarding the time telling apps.
But developers should know that for now “time telling” apps cannot make their way to the App store.
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