Apple rejecting apps that use the Dropbox SDK and allow purchases outside the app

Apple is under fire once again due to its App Store policies, this time for rejecting apps that use the Dropbox SDK. It goes like this: some developers were found complaining on Dropbox forums that their apps made using the Dropbox SDK are being rejected by Apple.

The reason given by Apple for these rejections is that these apps do not use in-app purchasing and instead open Safari and take the user to the Dropbox site and lets them purchase additional storage from there. Apple has had this rule for some time now that any app-related purchase should always take place within the app itself using in-app purchasing and not outside the app. Any app found in violation of this rule will be rejected or removed.

Some of the developers are finding this hard to work with because they do not intend to make the user purchase additional storage. The only reason they are taking the user to Safari is so that they can log in to their Dropbox account, that too if the device does not already have the Dropbox app installed. What the user does after that is beyond the control of the app or the developer. Since the user is in Safari, they can just go to any site and do whatever they want. Apple sees this as violation of their rule. The developers see this as downright ridiculous.

Now Dropbox has released an updated version of their SDK that they hoped would take care of the situation but so far it hasn’t. Now they say that they are working with Apple to find a better solution to this problem.

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