Halide Rejected from App Store for the Most Bizarre Reason

Halide may have been mentioned during the iPhone 16 keynote, but that apparently wasn’t enough to protect it from an overzealous App Store reviewer. Lux co-founder Ben Sandofsky shared that the latest version of Halide has been rejected by the App Store …

The reason? Because it apparently wasn’t clear why a camera app would need access to the camera to take pictures.

When you run Halide, the app will of course ask for access to the camera. Developers need to explain why they need access to features like this, and Lux’s explanation seems pretty clear:

The camera is used to take pictures

But it appears Apple felt this wasn’t clear enough, as Sandofsky explained on Mastodon.

Halide’s last update was rejected because after seven years a random reviewer decided our consent question wasn’t descriptive enough.

I don’t know how to explain why a camera app needs camera permissions.

Macworld’s Macolope suggested a clearer, if less grammatical, text:

The camera is used to take pictures for the app you just downloaded to take pictures.

Halide is one of the apps that supports the new camera control button on the iPhone 16.

Image: Lux