Mysteries of Communication

Dear Web,

since the world is opening up again, I thought it might be a good idea to spruce up the Concerts in Oslo apps for IOS and Android. Nothing major — just fix some minor layout issues and stuff like that.

The Apple App Store submission was accepted within 12 hours (very nice), but two days after submitting the update to Google Play, the app was rejected:

So I’m asking you, Dear Web, to interpret this gnomic paragraph for me:

Reasons of violation

About the Metadata policy

We don’t allow apps with misleading, improperly formatted,
non-descriptive, irrelevant, excessive, or inappropriate
metadata, including but not limited to the app’s
description, developer name, title, icon, screenshots, and
promotional images. Developers must provide a clear and
well-written description of their app and avoid using
repetitive or unrelated keywords or references. We also
don’t allow unattributed or anonymous user testimonials in
the app’s description.

So… either the description is repetetive, or the description isn’t… long enough?

Here’s the description, in full:

The app lists most concerts in Oslo and allows you to select which venues to include or include, as well as mark concerts you’re going to.

You can also export the concerts to your calendar app and share them on various social media sites.

Now, that’s not the best prose in the world, but… er… it’s pretty descriptive? Is it repetetive? Should I cut it down to “This app lists Concerts in Oslo, Norway”? Should I expand it to explain the concept of “a concert”, or explain that “Oslo” is a city, or… what?

Or is the icon the problem?

The extra confusing thing here is that this has been the description of the app since 2016, but it’s being rejected now, when all I want is to publish an updated .apk.

*sigh*

Plz hlp.

4 thoughts on “Mysteries of Communication”

    1. Oh, the second “include” should be “exclude”, I think… That is indeed repetitive. Perhaps?

  1. Yes, I reckon “…which venues to include/exclude,…” could solve the problem.
    Those typos again, Lars.

  2. I guess we’ll never find out. I changed the text to just “This app lists upcoming concerts in Oslo, Norway.” and it was accepted.

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