App has been rejected twice: Guideline 4.3(a) - Design - Spam

App Store Distribution & Marketing App Review
ArFeRR OP
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Hello everyone, I ask for your help. I made a Colorspeak app (6804846576, https://testflight.apple.com/join/6knHy44U) for colorblind people. It not only recognizes colors like many other apps, but also simulates different forms of colorblindness for friends and relatives of the person with colorblindness.

After receiving the first rejection with guideline 4.3(a), I added necessary support for iPhone Duo, added an object recognition feature using the new iOS 27 SDK, and added Siri shortcuts. Wrote a huge comment to the reviewer that presents the app and shows its distinction from the existing apps in the App Store: many of them are abandoned or made for old versions of iOS. A lot of them do not support not only iOS 27, but iOS 26 too.

And now I am receiving the same guideline 4.3(a) rejection (submission ID: 9c5e4382-5428-45e4-905e-0fc3d9c15f4e). No additional data: what is wrong, what to fix, and who am I "copying" with this app?

I spent a lot of time after my regular work, feel very sorry about it, and hope to deliver it to the store. But blindly trying to change something and send it again may be a reason for a ban of my developer account.

I ask for advice: what should I do? It's definitely my app. It's not repacked or copied from somebody else. It has only one bundle ID. It is useful.

What's wrong? :(

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jetrise OP

4.3(a) is usually not about your idea. It means App Review matched your binary, metadata or concept to other submissions, and the rejection rarely says which ones. Adding features doesn't change that match, which is why you got the same result. What tends to work:

  1. Check where the code came from. If any part of the app started from a template, tutorial or open-source sample that many other apps also used, that's the most common trigger. Rewrite or remove that part, not just the UI.
  2. Make the metadata clearly yours: name, subtitle, icon, screenshots and description should not look like other color-identification apps. Lead with what's unique (the colorblindness simulator for family and friends).
  3. Ask before resubmitting. Reply in App Review and ask which part of the app or metadata is considered similar, and say it's your own code under a single bundle ID. You can also appeal to the App Review Board with the same explanation and a short screen recording of the simulator feature.
  4. Avoid quick resubmissions with small changes. That pattern is what puts accounts at risk. One substantive change with a clear reply, or an appeal, is safer than several quick tries.
ArFeRR OP

Thanks for your reply!

  1. Code came from Claude Code. No copying, no open source, no templating.
  2. Everything is mine.
  3. Will do, thanks. Did not think about the possibility just chatting with the reviewer.
  4. That's I am afraid of!