If you’re a new developer trying to submit an app to the iOS App Store, you might want to make sure you’re not trying to submit it to a category that’s already overcrowded.
That’s what happened to developer Night Cat Productions recently, whose horoscope application, WTFuture, was rejected twice.
This was explained by the developer in a tweet that was later deleted:
I have bad news. Apparently there are too many horoscope apps on the App Store, so WTFuture was rejected (twice). I am really sorry. If you have any ideas on how to make it “not a horoscope app”, let me know. In the meantime, I’ll continue porting to Android.
The reason for Apple’s rejection was that there are many such apps. The rejection letter points to Apple’s developer guidelines, specifically the section 4.3, That say
Also, avoid crowding into a category that is already overcrowded; The App Store already has plenty of farting, burping, flashlight, guessing, dating, drinking games and Kama Sutra apps, etc. We will reject these apps unless they offer a unique, high-quality experience.
Apple also suggests that having too many apps of a certain type can also be considered a form of spam, stating that while such an app can be “Useful, informative or fun, we just have enough apps of this type in the App Store and they’re considered a form of spam.”