Overview

Once an app has been published you may receive a rejection from Apple on Guideline 2.5 - Performance - Software Requirements and more specifically related to audio background services (2.5.4). This article outlines why this usually happens and presents the steps you can take to resolve it. 

Diagnosis

You will have received a notification that your app has been rejected by Apple because of Guideline 2.5 - Performance - Software Requirements and more specifically about 2.5.4 which is related to Multitasking apps may only use background services for their intended purposes.

Here is an example of a rejection message: 

Guideline 2.5.4 - Performance - Software Requirements

Your app declares support for audio in the UIBackgroundModes key in your Info.plist, but we were unable to play any audible content when the app was running in the background.

Next Steps

The audio key is intended for use by apps that provide audible content to the user while in the background, such as music player or streaming audio apps. Please revise your app to provide audible content to the user while the app is in the background or remove the "audio" setting from the UIBackgroundModes key.

The most common case (as seen in the above message) is when you have declared that you will be using audio services that should be accessible when the app is in the background. 

You get this rejection message, since Apple is not able to find this audio message to confirm the need for this declaration you made.

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Solution

Make sure that you do have audio content that needs to be accessible when the app is running in the background.

• If not, please follow the steps below to deactivate the flag indicating that you have such a functionality which led to your app's rejection
  • Log onto the CMS Dashboard and select the app that got rejected
  • Navigate to Publish and scroll down to the option 'Allow music or audio to play in the background of your app' and slide the button to the left so you will not be selecting this option

    

  • Click on the Save button on the top right-hand corner

    

  • Submit the app as per the steps outlined in the Updating/Republishing your app KB article.

• If you do have audio content that needs to be accessible when the app is running in the background, check that Guest access is provided. More specifically:
  • Log onto the CMS Dashboard and select the app that got rejected
  • Navigate to Build  and check the name of the Feature that contains this audio (eg Music Feature name or Podcast Feature name)
  • Then Navigate to Manage > Customers > Groups Tab > Guest Access > Edit
  • Select that Feature Name and click Save to provide access
    
  • Appeal to the rejection by letting Apple know that you have indeed audio files that should be accessible while your app runs in the background. To this end, you can also submit a screenshot from your app's feature that contains the audio file(s)

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Testing

Apple will review your app again and will not reject it due to the 2.5.4 guideline.

Your  app should adhere to the following guideline (taken from Apple Guidelines on Performance)

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Related Articles

• App Rejection From Apple On Guideline 2.1