Does Apple reject “mobile web shell” applications?

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I'm not sure how to word this correctly, so I'm going to be a little verbose: I'm tasked with building an app for my company that will just load a mobile website into a barebones browser with no address bar or anything. So basically the app will be just the same as if the user had navigated there in Safari (sans normal browser controls). My question is: does Apple reject this sort of app because of it just being a wrapper around a mobile site? I'm totally lost on this, as I've never developed for iOS before and have no idea what kinds of roadblocks i might hit. iphone ipad share|improve this question asked Mar 29 '11 at 20:59 danh32 2,7661527

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Apple may reject your app if all it does is wrap a web site in a UIWebView. You need to have more functionality in your app than just loading a web page. From the app review guidelines for iOS: 2.12 Apps that are not very useful, are simply web sites bundled as apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected EDIT: You may want to investigate developing your company's app as a mobile web app. There's plenty of information published by Apple (and others) about how to write mobile web apps that function similarly to native iOS apps. share|improve this answer edited Oct 6 '11 at 16:31 answered Mar 29 '11 at 21:03 Greg 11.1k53045

Yes would people please explain the down votes? This answer seams perfectly valid. –  Robert Mar 29 '11 at 21:12 Thanks for the info! As I haven't registered as a developer yet, I can't access the guidelines. I'd love to just write the mobile web app, but my company seems very eager to be in the app store. In any case, I will have to bring this up soon. Thanks again! –  danh32 Mar 30 '11 at 13:30  add comment

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-EDIT- I stand corrected; our application shipped over a year ago, and it looks like the guidelines have since changed. -END EDIT- My company has developed an application that has been approved by Apple that is exactly what you describe, simply a container application that acts as a wrapper around a web page. Now, it still has to go through the approval process, so whatever web site the application will be interfacing with has to be online and fully functional as Apple reviews the application. share|improve this answer edited Mar 29 '11 at 21:38 answered Mar 29 '11 at 21:04 Michael Fredrickson 22.6k12253

Why the downvote? This isn't my opinion, this is a fact. My company's application, which is just a simple web container, has been approved by Apple and is currently available in the App Store. – Michael Fredrickson Mar 29 '11 at 21:25 3   It looks like the "are simply web sites bundled as apps" clause of section 2.12 was added sometime in February. When the guidelines were posted back in September 2010, this guideline read "Apps that are not very useful or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected." The fact that Apple added this clause would make me hesitate to submit an app that was only a web wrapper for review at this time. Perhaps your app was reviewed and approved before this change to the guidelines. –  Greg Mar 29 '11 at 21:35  I stand corrected. We shipped last year. –  Michael Fredrickson Mar 29 '11 at 21:36 For what it's worth, my company also shipped one of these apps. We submitted it in 2012, Apple has approved multiple versions of it, and it's currently available in the store. They may reject it for being a wrapper around a web page, but that doesn't mean they will. –  Jesse McGrew Jan 16 '13 at 0:05 add comment

up vote2down vote	Put some functionality that gives your app look like native application. Make sure that your description for app is enough for understanding to Apple app tester about you app. and resend your app to apple store or you can send reply to apple review team about your application. share|improve this answer answered Aug 15 '12 at 7:04 jayraj m.g. 234110
	Thank you for the answer! –  daviddarx Aug 28 '12 at 8:57 add comment

up vote1down vote	See section 2.12 in App Store Review Guidelines: Apps that are not very useful, are simply web sites bundled as apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected share|improve this answer answered Mar 29 '11 at 21:20 Caleb 62.5k1067128
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