Developer Gets App Rejected for Dissing In-App Purchases

Terry Cavanagh’s new game for iPhone and iPad “Don't Look Back” got rejected by Apple’s App Store review team for badmouthing in-app purchases, a practice that enables developers of free applications to make a living.

Described as “a game about fantasy,” Don’t Look Back is a short game Cavanagh coded back in 2009.

According to the description he originally included with the binary, “this is a completely free game, not ‘free to play’; there are no in-app purchases or any of that nonsense.”

That nonsense thing didn’t rub Apple the right way, and so the Cupertino mammoth sent Cavanagh a rejection notice, stating “Your app marketing text contains the following: ‘there are no in-app purchases or any of that nonsense.’ It would be appropriate to remove or revise this content.”

Cavanagh, whose application was subsequently reinstated in the App Store lacking said derogatory comments, reportedly admits that he may have stepped over the line a bit.

However, that doesn’t mean he agrees with Apple’s radical practices of pulling a title for simply expressing one’s thoughts. Guess the App Store is no place for personal opinions.

Nor should it be. After all, where would we be, had every developer been allowed to diss other application sellers and their conduit?

Don't Look Back is localized in English, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

The game is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad and runs on iOS 4.3 or later. This app is also optimized for the four-inch display of the iPhone 5 and fifth-generation iPod touch.

Download Don't Look Back (Free)