Apple rejected my minimalist app—so I rebuilt it
I submitted a deliberately simple currency app to the App Store. Apple rejected it for minimum functionality, so I rebuilt it without turning it into a bloated mess.
Earlier this year I submitted my first iOS app to the App Store: Currency Cheat Sheet & Widgets.
I made it for one very specific reason: I wanted a currency cheat sheet widget that works quickly. I don’t want to open a full currency converter and type in every price. I want to glance at a list of common amounts on my Home Screen and get on with my day.
The app did exactly that. It had live exchange rates, a quick-reference cheat sheet, widgets, and offline caching. I deliberately kept it small.
Apple rejected it.
The usefulness of the app is limited by the minimal functionality it currently provides.
The rejection was under App Store Review Guideline 4.2: Minimum Functionality. In other words, the app worked, but Apple did not think it did enough to earn a place in the App Store.
Minimalist is not the same as minimal
My first reaction was that simplicity was the point. Most currency apps feel like dashboards designed by a foreign-exchange trader. I wanted something quicker and calmer.
But there is a real difference between a minimalist interface and a minimally useful product. Removing clutter is good. Removing too much of the product is not.
I still think the original idea is useful. The entire point is that the widget does one job without getting in the way. But App Review judges the complete app, and the app surrounding that widget did not offer enough on its own.
So I kept the fast widget intact and made the rest of the app more substantial.
What I added
I rebuilt the app around a more complete travel workflow:
- A dedicated Travel Calculator
- Tip calculations with useful presets
- Bill splitting for multiple people
- Instant totals and per-person amounts in a second currency
- Live conversion for more than 55 currencies
- Expanded quick-reference cheat sheets
- Configurable Home Screen widgets
- Cached rates for offline use
The calculator is the biggest addition. It gives the main app more interactive utility, while the cheat sheet widget remains as quick and focused as before.
I did not want to make the widget slower or bury it under a pile of settings. The extra functionality lives in the main app; the original glanceable currency sheet is still the core idea.
Resubmitting with Xcode Cloud
I also revived the neglected release process. The project now builds successfully again, the App Store description explains the expanded feature set, and Xcode Cloud handles the archive and build numbering.
Today I submitted the rebuilt version for review. In the Review Notes I explicitly explained what changed and where the reviewer can find the calculator and widgets.
Now I wait.
What I learned
The interesting lesson is not that every app needs more features. It is that Apple may consider a deliberately narrow utility too minimal, even when that narrowness is the reason you built it.
The rebuilt version gives Apple more of an app to review without compromising the thing I actually wanted: a currency cheat sheet widget that is always one glance away.
Maybe Apple will agree this time. I will update this post when the review comes back.
You can read the app’s privacy policy while it waits for review.