The COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 has changed daily life in America more drastically than anything in recent memory. People are working from home, or in many cases unable to work at all. Social distancing and isolation has led to company closures, jobs lost, projects failed, and travel suspensions. We wanted to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and misinformation. So, our team developed a COVID-19 Prevention Awareness app for the App Store and Google Play.
We were eager to launch an app with only the most reliable news updates and information directly from the CDC, WHO, and NIH. We also included links to various sources so you wouldn’t have to fumble between various websites to get the most reliable information.
Why does Apple Reject independent COVID-19 apps?
Unfortunately, the Apple review team rejected our app. They stated that “the seller and company names associated with your app are not from a recognized institution, such as a governmental entity, hospital, insurance company, non-governmental organization, or university.“
The rejection hit hard, especially since we worked on this educational project for free with no monetary incentive. At first, we received an encouraging response by Apple Support and the review team when we asked them if this was something we should create prior to developing the app. But in the end, they considered the app content too sensitive for release under our developer account.
You can see a video of the COVID-19 Prevention Awareness app on my LinkedIn post here.
We understand the need for Apple’s caution in this sensitive time. That’s why we’re still hopeful for the opportunity to collaborate with an outside group to resubmit the app for approval. We need to partner with a healthcare organization, hospital, NGO, insurance company, or university to launch the app.
Are you an independent app developers or company? If so, you should also take note of this decision. First, find official organizations to collaborate with prior to developing an app related to the COVID-19 outbreak. Then, make sure that organization sets up a development account prior to building the COVID-19 app.
What’s next for the COVID-19 Prevention Awareness App?
Based on another response from the Apple review team stating “We look forward to reviewing your resubmitted app” under a different seller name, we’re willing to offer this app to any organization belonging to the entity statuses listed above interested in releasing it. The app is already complete and the submission process should be fast and smooth. If you’d like to collaborate to release the COVID-19 Prevention Awareness app, please contact us today!
Stay informed about our projects and events! You can follow the Winnona Partners on Google News, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
