Apple offers App Store review guidelines (and updates iPhone software)

Apple has relented on two of the most contentious aspects of its control of its App Store: its restriction on software converted from releases for other smartphones, and its refusal to publish the hitherto inscrutable rules governing whether a new program will make it into the store. The App Store, remember, is the only easy way to add non-Apple software to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

For users hoping to see favorite programs from other smartphones appear on the iPhone -- and for coders hoping to make that happen, or who simply don't want to be forced to use Apple's programming tools -- the big news came in the third paragraph of the Cupertino, Calif., company's press release:

"In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need."

Among other things, this will open the door for developers to convert Adobe Flash applications to run on the iPhone -- not the same as the Flash Player running on the iPhone -- using the toolkit Adobe shipped earlier this year. For more context, see Apple developer John Gruber's analysis of this and other changes in the developer agreement, such as a change to the in-app advertising policy that Google says will no longer block developers from using its AdMob service instead of Apple's iAds.

As for the "published" App Store Review guidelines, you need an Apple developer's login to read them. But a friend sent along the text of this 3,020-word document; it makes for some interesting reading.

Much of these rules are common-sense guidelines: An app can't crash, lie about its functions, steal a user's data, violate a user's privacy, encourage a user to harm other users, rely on internal iOS features that Apple hasn't documented for public use, and so on. But then there are these other clauses among the 113 listed in the document:

2.11 Apps that duplicate apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them.

2.12 Apps that are not very useful or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected.

3.1 Apps with metadata that mentions the name of any other mobile platform will be rejected.

9.2 App user interfaces that mimic any iPod interface will be rejected.

9.3 Audio streaming content over a cellular network may not use more than 5MB over 5 minutes.

10.3 Apps that do not use system provided items, such as buttons and icons, correctly and as described in the Apple iPhone Human Interface Guidelines and the Apple iPad Human Interface Guidelines may be rejected.