Fun with App Rejections

REJECTED - Feb 19, 2010.

As the result of changes in Apple's policy toward 'overtly sexual' material, Poker vs. Girls is no longer for sale in the AppStore.

Please play these games
Heads Up: Hold'em
Knife Dancing
Rocket Cop

Version 2 of Poker vs. Girls was rejected by Apple four times before getting accepted. This process took nearly three months! Version 2 was first submitted to Apple in mid September, 2009 and was not available until December 10, 2009.

This page shows some of the difficulty of determining what is and is not 'acceptable' in order to get the game into the App Store. Each rejection sited two or three objectionable photographs. Each time, we removed the photographs from the game and re-submitted. The next rejection would site two or three different photographs... Here is a compilation of what we have learned.



Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture

  • Picture 1: The first picture in the above row was rejected for falling into the "Actively Taking off Underwear/Bikini" category. A big no-no to Apple. But don't think we haven't noticed that a competing Strip Poker App includes VIDEO of a girl actively removing her underwear/bikini.
  • Picture 2: Although "Actively Taking off Underwear/Bikini" is bad, not wearing any is fine.
  • Picture 3: This is apparently the acceptable level of actively removing clothing.
  • Picture 4: This picture was approved in version 1 which was rated for Ages 13+. Anyone who bought (or stole) version 1 and has not upgraded will have this picture in their app. It was then rejected for version 2 which, ironically, was rated for Ages 17+.



Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture

  • Picture 1: "Actively Taking off Underwear." Or, possibly, hair is not an Apple-approved-breast-cover.
  • Picture 2: Um, we guess she's just a little too nude here. Although if you scroll down to the bottom of this page, the pictures from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit App seem to include pictures of women who are just about as nude as she is.
  • Picture 3: Bing Blang Blaow! Our easter-egg got cracked. Since touching your own clothed breast can't be a problem if touching your own un-clothed breast isn't, our best guess is that the fingertips in the waistband of her skirt put this into the 'actively removing clothes' category. Unless, of course, PhotoShopping a $50 bill into the hand that was touching the clothed breast is the problem. If that is the case, then that's our bad. (We tried, 2+2...)
  • Picture 4: Since she isn't quite as nude as the second picture in this row, this one is fine.



Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture

  • Picture 1 & 2: Picture 1 was rejected. Then we made a mistake (misread a number or something) and removed Picture 2 instead of Picture 1. Upon re-submission, picture 1 was approved.
  • Picture 3 & 4: These are reference photographs for the rejected picture in the following row...



Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture

  • Picture 1: Given that the two previous pictures were fine, and the next two pictures were fine, it may be difficult to see why this one isn't... So what's wrong with this picture? "If anything is touching a semi-nude model's mouth, then the picture is unacceptable." No, we are not kidding. If her arms were crossed or she was running her fingers thorough her hair instead of biting a fingernail, then this photo would be acceptable. Nice.
  • Picture 2 & 3: These photographs are acceptable. Actually, none of the pictures of this girl were rejected, so we also just wanted to put up pictures of her.
  • Picture 4: The same is true of this model, none of her pictures were rejected, but we wanted to include her in this page.



Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture Approved or Rejected Picture

  • Picture 1 - 4: These were supposed to be the final four pictures when a player wins the game against this model. But three of the four were rejected. This really shows the irony of rejecting pictures because a model is actively removing her clothes, but accepting pictures of a model who isn't wearing any to begin with.
    Are you laughing yet?



All OK if you're SI

When we were putting together version 2 of Poker vs Girls, we got the Sports Illustrated app (also rated 17+) to use as a reference for what's allowed in photos. All of the photos below are available in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit App. Thus, they all have passed Apple's approval. It must be nice having a billion dollar brand name to back up your semi-nude photographs...

Sports Illustrated App Sports Illustrated App Sports Illustrated App Sports Illustrated App Sports Illustrated App Sports Illustrated App Sports Illustrated App Sports Illustrated App

Naked?

And it sure looks like the one used as the main screen shot in iTunes, she's only "wearing" body paint. There's a belly button in the middle of Florida. You can look and judge for yourselves. :)

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit App