Build for iOS: App rejected by Apple - Issue with ARKit

App Inventor for iOS
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1

I submitted an App Inventor iOS build to the App Store and Apple rejected it under Guideline 4, stating that my app “uses ARKit but does not provide an appropriate AR experience”.

My project does NOT use any AR features at all. It is a simple, non-AR app built entirely with standard App Inventor components.

After reviewing Apple’s feedback, it looks like the App Inventor iOS build template includes ARKit (and possibly SceneKit) even when the project does not use AR. Apple detects this in the binary and automatically classifies the app as requiring an AR experience, which leads to rejection.

Since App Inventor uploads the iOS binary directly, I cannot modify the Xcode project, remove ARKit.framework, or edit the Info.plist to remove AR-related device capabilities.

Could the iOS build template be updated to avoid including ARKit when it is not needed?

Currently this prevents certain non-AR apps from being accepted into the App Store.

Thanks a lot for your help – this would be extremely important to ensure AI2 iOS builds can successfully pass App Store review.

2

I'm looking into whether there is an easy way for us to accomplish this. There isn't any additional information in the Info.plist file. Likely the static analysis software is identifying that ARKit is linked to the build product and that is tripping things. I'll see if we can remove the library and if that fails whether there's a way to null out the load command that includes the library altogether.

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That sounds great, thank you for looking into it.

If removing the ARKit link or nulling the load command is possible, that would completely solve the App Store rejection issue.

I really appreciate your help and I’m happy to test a new build as soon as it’s available.

4

In the meantime, have you mentioned to the App Store review team that ARKit is included by a library used by your app, and that you don't use it and would like an exception?

I just don't know how long it will take for us to get a fix in place that works.

5

Yes, I will contact the App Store review team and explain that ARKit is only included because of a linked library and that my app does not use any AR features at all.

I’ll ask for an exception, although Apple is usually quite strict with this type of rejection. If they decline, I’ll wait for your fix and test the updated build as soon as it’s available.

Thank you again for your support – it’s really appreciated.

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Since Apple's guidelines haven't been fundamentally tightened or changed recently, the problem likely lies with the AI2 build server, which embeds ARKit/ARKit.framework or contains references to it.

Therefore, all (new) apps and updates are likely affected. Correct?

Since releases in the App Store with AI2 for iOS were recently possible without objection from Apple, it shouldn't be too difficult to remove Remove ARKit (ARKit.framework, which is not currently in use and is unlikely to be used in the near future) from the build server.

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