Hello everyone,
I’m writing this post in the hope of hearing from other developers who may have experienced a similar situation, and to better understand whether this level of action without transparency is common.
Our company, VISION VENTURES TEKNOLOJİ TASARIM VE PAZARLAMA A.Ş., is the developer of Watchlabb, an app that has been available on the App Store for approximately six months.
Watchlabb is not an online watch retailer.
We do not own watches, buy watches, or sell watches.
Our platform simply connects independent buyers and sellers of authentic watches, allowing them to publish listings, create auctions, and communicate directly with each other.
From the very beginning, our goal has been to build one of Turkey’s safest marketplaces for authentic watches.
To achieve this, we have invested significant effort into protecting users by:
Reviewing listings before publication.
Rejecting counterfeit and replica watches.
Verifying user identities.
Moderating marketplace activity.
Building a transparent and trustworthy environment for collectors and buyers.
In other words, our platform exists to prevent fraud, not enable it.
Despite this, Apple terminated our entire corporate Developer Program membership under Section 3.2(f) of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement.
The notice states that Apple has “documented indications of fraudulent conduct associated with your account.”
However, it does not explain:
What specific conduct allegedly violated the agreement.
Which feature, transaction, listing, or activity is involved.
Whether the concern relates to a specific user.
What evidence led Apple to this conclusion.
Before the termination:
We never received a warning.
We were never informed that our account was under investigation.
We were never asked to provide additional information.
We were never given an opportunity to explain or correct anything.
Even more confusing, our latest app update was approved through App Review just three days before our developer account was terminated.
This decision affects much more than our company.
We currently have approximately:
2,800 registered users,
hundreds of active listings,
ongoing auctions,
professional stores operating on our platform.
Many businesses rely on our application to reach customers, and many users depend on it to buy and sell authentic watches safely.
As a registered company, we have contractual obligations, commercial partnerships, and responsibilities toward both our sellers and our users.
Having our entire developer account terminated without knowing what specific conduct Apple believes occurred has placed both our business and our community in an extremely difficult position.
We fully support Apple’s efforts to protect users and maintain the integrity of the App Store.
Those are values we share.
What we struggle to understand is how such a severe action can be taken without identifying the specific facts behind the allegation or giving a company the opportunity to respond before permanently terminating its developer account.
Has anyone else experienced a similar situation?
Were you able to obtain more detailed information from Apple or successfully resolve the issue?
Any advice or shared experience would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
