There have recently been some grumblings from the development community that Apple has rejected their PhoneGap apps for not being "native enough". By itself, this rejection isn’t that surprising. Apple has strict rules and guidelines on what they will and will not accept into the App Store. What did surprise me is that people were blaming PhoneGap as the reason. This accusation is not accurate, and this article attempts to clear things up.

There have recently been some grumblings from the development community that Apple has rejected their PhoneGap apps for not being "native enough". By itself, this rejection isn’t that surprising. Apple has strict rules and guidelines on what they will and will not accept into the App Store. What did surprise me is that people were blaming PhoneGap as the reason. This accusation is not accurate, and this article attempts to clear things up.

First, let's talk about Apple and HTML. Apple does not reject an application because the user interface is built using HTML. In fact, many Apple apps or advertising platforms for iOS are entirely built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. For instance, the Apple Store and iAd advertising platform, among others, use HTML as the primary medium for the user interface. Outside of Apple there are many successful apps that have user interfaces built with HTML, including LinkedIn Wikipedia , the BBC Olympics , and many, many others

Note: Not all of these apps mentioned use PhoneGap, but they do use HTML for the UI.

Apple rejects applications that do not:

● have a user experience that feels like an "app"

● feel "at home" in the iOS ecosystem

● offer a differentiation from a mobile web experience

This applies to all apps, not just apps developed using HTML for the UI. Adobe is not Apple, so we do not know the exact approval rules beyond the " App Review Guidelines " and " App Store Review Guidelines " provided by Apple. However, it is clear that approval largely comes down to the user experience: how the user interacts with the app and how it "feels" on the device.

" Reconsider Web-Based Designs

If you're coming from the web, you need to make sure that you give people an iOS app experience, not a web experience . Remember, people can visit your website on their iOS-based devices using Safari on iOS."

Be sure to read the full iOS User Interface Guidelines for tips on creating a great “app” experience using HTML and related technologies.



In addition to the iOS User Interface Guidelines, Apple's "App Store Review Guidelines" has additional tips for getting your apps approved. Many relate to HTML-based experiences, including the following tips:

● "2.12: Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as Apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected"

● "10.3: Apps that do not use system provided items, such as buttons and icons, correctly and as described in the Apple iOS Human Interface Guidelines may be rejected"

● "10.6: Apple and our customers place a high value on simple, refined, creative, well thought through interfaces. They take more work but are worth it. Apple sets a high bar. If your user interface is complex or less than very good, it may be rejected"

● "12.3: Apps that are simply web clippings, content aggregators, or a collection of links, may be rejected"



As mentioned earlier, Adobe does not know all of Apple's rules or processes, but the following indicators can result in rejections:



● If your app is just a web site wrapped in PhoneGap, it will likely get rejected. There are exceptions to this case, but do not expect that wrapping a web site in a web view will get you into the App Store.

● If your app requires the user to pinch/zoom/pan to view content (like a web site), it will probably get rejected. Your apps need to feel like apps and be immediately intuitive. Don’t make the user work to find how the app functions, and don’t make them navigate past navigational content just to get to something useful.

● If your app just looks like text on a page with hyperlinks, and has no native-like styles, it will probably get rejected.