Licensing Problems on Apple App Store
Hello,
My name is Josiah Blaisdell, I am the owner of Squircle Labs (https://squirclelabs.com), we are starting an online service that provides digital computer science educational materials to schools, parents and learners all over the world. I am based in Albany, Oregon. I have published an app on both the Roku store and the Amazon Fire store that offers families a way to subscribe to my channel to get access to educational computer science content. I use Minecraft Education Edition to create my content and I provide individuals who sign up for my service with a license to access the game. My company is named “Epsilon Learners” in Azure. Information about a similar service to the one we provide is available here: https://thejournal.com/articles/2022/07/20/discovery-education-launches-minecraft-education-edition-channel.aspx I am working with Oregon Department of Education leadership and a charter school system in Nevada to offer my service to Oregon and Nevada learners. Being blocked from Apple is a really devastating blow for me.
I received an email this morning from Apple that said:
"Thank you for your response.
However, to be in compliance with guideline 4.1, it would still be appropriate to attach documentary evidence in the App Review Information section in App Store Connect. In accordance with section 3.2(f) of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement, you acknowledge that submitting falsified or fraudulent documentation can result in the termination of your Apple Developer Program account and the removal of your apps from the App Store. Once Legal has reviewed your documentation and confirms its validity, we will proceed with the review of your app.
Alternatively, please remove the third-party content from your app and its metadata."
My only alternative if I cannot satisfy Apple’s request is to remove all content associated with Minecraft from my app. I do not want to do this. Is there anything you can do to help? I am willing to bend over backwards to make this work. Whatever is needed, I can find a way to do it.
I also have posted about this here: Vimeo Contract/Streaming Service – Minecraft: Education Edition Support but in the follow up conversations I never got any indication that using MCEDU would be an issue, in fact I encountered a lot of support. Dan Noble was super helpful. And I am still in talks with him and a researcher at Oregon State University to develop a series where ocean science is used as a cross cutting concept to introduce core concepts in computer science.
This is the first time I have needed help because of licensing issues, it is higher severity for me because it’s preventing me from publishing. *grimace*
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This sounds like it has something to do with the documents you sent. I would check your documentation and make sure it meets whatever Apples guidelines are for the documentation side.
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Update on this: we have had to pull the app from the apple app store, reason being that apple continued to refuse us despite multiple efforts to meet their standards :(
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Hey there,
Thanks for the update, sorry you had to pull the app :/
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