Hello everyone, I’ll be honest with you, the kind of honesty that comes when you’ve run out of places to turn. My name is Donovan, I’m a French student, and I’m writing here because at this point, I truly don’t know what else to do Two years ago, I started a small project to learn mobile development. Nothing ambitious at first just a personal exercise, a way to grow. But after countless late nights, weekends sacrificed, and lines of code no one will ever see… that small project became a real application. I finished it. Refined it. Carried it like something that genuinely mattered. And for the past two months, I’ve been fighting with App Review. Always for the same reason: Guideline 4.3(b) – Design – Spam. Each time, I respond. Each time, I explain. But each time, the door closes with the same cold, impersonal message: “We encourage you to reconsider your app concept and submit a new app that provides a unique experience not already found on the App Store.” Unique. Such an easy word to use… especially when no one seems willing to look closely at what’s actually in front of them. My application is a dating app, yes. I know there are many on the App Store. But I implemented a feature that no other dating app currently provides, and more importantly: the app is 100% free, no paywallsno mandatory subscription. As far as I know, there is no completely free dating application on the App Store. I even added features that were never planned, just to avoid being dismissed as “spam.” But nothing has changed. Two years of work. Two years of progressing 4–5 hours per week, between classes, exams, and everything else life throws your way. And now, it feels like all of that can be wiped away by a single generic sentence. So here I am, turning to you, the developer community, the only people who truly understand what it means to run into an invisible wall. I need your help. Your advice, your experiences, your strategies. How can I get Apple to finally accept my app? How can I avoid throwing away two year of work because of a vague, unexplained guideline? Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply

Hi everyone, my name is Donovan, I am sharing here the official response I received from Apple following my appeal with App Review Board (image attached). For context, I am an independent developer and a student, working alone. This application was originally created as a student project, with a very simple goal: to improve my skills in mobile application development and to understand the entire creation cycle, from the initial idea to a genuinely usable application. What was meant to be an exercise gradually became a real product. Over time, many people tested the project, used it, provided positive feedback, and encouraged me to take it all the way. That is why I decided to continue it, structure it properly, and finalize it with the level of seriousness expected from a public-facing application. Today, the application is a dating and social connection app, entirely free, with no blocking paid features, funded only by light and optional advertising. It follows the rules, works correctly, and offers features that Apple itself acknowledged as useful and informative. And yet, after review, the message is clear: it is not the quality that is being questioned, but the category. Because it is a dating app, a category considered saturated, two years of independent, self-funded work, carried out seriously and in compliance with the rules, can simply be dismissed. What is being judged here is not the work itself. It is the right to enter. The “unique and very high-quality experience” being required appears to be a threshold reserved for those who are already established, visible, or funded. For a serious student project carried by a single developer, the door remains closed, cleanly, politely, definitively. For those who still wish to see what the application looks like, I have attached a few images illustrating the interface and the main features. Unfortunately, this will likely be the only way to discover it on iOS. Under these conditions, the conclusion is pragmatic. Rather than continuing to defend the very existence of an honest and free project, it becomes more coherent to invest my energy where it is genuinely accepted. On its side, Android validated the project without difficulty. It still allows an independent developer to propose an idea, let it evolve, and bring it to completion without requiring prior success just to earn the right to try. It is therefore very likely that these two years of development will never make it to the App Store. Not out of frustration. Out of clarity. I am publishing this message not to provoke, but to inform other independent developers: Apple is a remarkable platform, provided you are already established on it. And this is a reality worth knowing before turning a student project into a life project. Screenshots: