Sophie Blake
Back in November, Apple announced a Small Business Program that lowers App Store fees to 15% for app developers and small businesses earning less than $1 million per year. The enrollment for the App Store Small Business Program started in December and the program launched on January 1, 2021.
However, developer Sean Harding shared his story on Twitter on Wednesday about how he got rejected from this program despite being an independent, small developer.
Harding, who has been developing iOS apps independently for a while, decided to “get more serious” in his own words about his apps last year. He started a small private company (LLC) and created a new developer account at Apple Developer.
However, fearing that he was having difficulty participating in the App Store Small Business Program due to app transfer, he contacted Apple Support for further clarification. Apple did not answer their questions correctly.
So I did what I thought was the right thing. I emailed Apple and asked them for clarification. If transferring the app would make me ineligible for the Small Business Program, it wasn't worth it. The first response I got back did not answer the right question. So I wrote again.
— Sean Harding (@sharding) March 10, 2021
Apple also said they would not be able to guarantee his eligibility for the program if you do pursue the app transfer.
Unfortunately, after the transfer was complete, Apple rejected Harding’s apps for the App Store Small Business Program due to his apps being transferred from one account to another.
The denial I got said, "we found that you transferred an app to another account or accepted an app transfer after January 1, 2021, which makes you ineligible to participate in the program…" 🤬
— Sean Harding (@sharding) March 10, 2021
Sean says that it’s his fault for forging ahead with transfer in the fate of the ambiguity but he also argues that Apple failed to provide clear answers.
If you take nothing away from this, learn from my mistake: never, ever transfer an app in any way or direction, if you want to participate in the small business program in the future.
— Sean Harding (@sharding) March 10, 2021
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