This Week's Sponsor:

FastMinder

A Simple, Lightweight, and Clutter-Free Intermittent Fasting Tracking Experience


iAd Gallery Violates Apple’s Own Guidelines

iAd Gallery, a free iPhone app Apple released yesterday in the App Store, has generated several debates on the Internet about its rather “limited” feature set: the app, good-looking and responsive, does only one thing: it’s a collection of advertisements you can browse and “love.” By aggregating the best campaigns recently launched on the iAd network, iAd Gallery only lets users interact with a spinning wheel featuring ads from different brands, view information and “launch” them to experience the rich functionalities of iAds. Basically, it’s a free ad collector for iPhone. Not exactly the kind of “productive” (or at least entertaining) software most users would expect from Apple.

As noted by Dan Frommer at Silicon Alley Insider, it is kind of ironic that iAd Gallery may be violating Apple’s own Review Guidelines for iOS apps and should have been rejected by Apple itself. In the 2.13 section of the Guidelines, the company explains:

Apps that are primarily marketing materials or advertisements will be rejected

iAd Gallery indeed is based on marketing materials and doesn’t do anything but enabling you to browse various ad campaigns. Sure, you can read details about a specific campaign and learn more about the agency behind it, but that’s not really a “functionality” in our opinion. The app also lets you get in touch with the iAd team with a Contact button: perhaps the App Review Team at Cupertino thought that was enough to let the app through the App Store gates.

The truth is, of course Apple won’t reject its own app because it violates one of the Guidelines. They manage and have the ultimate word on the App Store, and they can release whatever they want under the Apple, Inc. name. But looking at the big picture, it is kind of funny that Apple is distributing an app that would have been rejected if it came from someone else.

Unlock More with Club MacStories

Founded in 2015, Club MacStories has delivered exclusive content every week for over six years.

In that time, members have enjoyed nearly 400 weekly and monthly newsletters packed with more of your favorite MacStories writing as well as Club-only podcasts, eBooks, discounts on apps, icons, and services. Join today, and you’ll get everything new that we publish every week, plus access to our entire archive of back issues and downloadable perks.

The Club expanded in 2021 with Club MacStories+ and Club Premier. Club MacStories+ members enjoy even more exclusive stories, a vibrant Discord community, a rotating roster of app discounts, and more. And, with Club Premier, you get everything we offer at every Club level plus an extended, ad-free version of our podcast AppStories that is delivered early each week in high-bitrate audio.

Choose the Club plan that’s right for you:

  • Club MacStories: Weekly and monthly newsletters via email and the web that are brimming with app collections, tips, automation workflows, longform writing, a Club-only podcast, periodic giveaways, and more;
  • Club MacStories+: Everything that Club MacStories offers, plus exclusive content like Federico’s Automation Academy and John’s Macintosh Desktop Experience, a powerful web app for searching and exploring over 6 years of content and creating custom RSS feeds of Club content, an active Discord community, and a rotating collection of discounts, and more;
  • Club Premier: Everything in from our other plans and AppStories+, an extended version of our flagship podcast that’s delivered early, ad-free, and in high-bitrate audio.