Apple Rejection Due to 5.2.1 Guideline - Republishing an App from Business Owner's Dev Account

Overview

You are unsure what to do next after getting rejected due to 5.2.1 Guideline while republishing an app which is already live and resides in the Business Owner’s Apple Dev Account. The error message from the Apple Resolution Center is:

Guideline 5.2.1 - Legal - Intellectual Property

We noticed that your app was created from an app generation service or a commercialized template, but does not appear to be directly submitted by the owner or provider of the business, brand, or service.

Solution

1. Check if your submission used same details as the previous submissions of the app
   
   
2. If yes, then the problem is not with the account or submission in itself, resubmitting the app through the pipeline will not achieve any different outcome
   
   
3. Apple might be having an issue with how the entries in following fields are related to each other and the Organization/Entity in itself:
   1. Apple ID
   2. Apple Developer Name
      Note: In particular, if you have your personal name listed as the developer. If at all possible, we would recommend using a Company/Organization account type with the organization's name.

       

4. As per Apple: To resolve this issue, this app must be submitted by the owner of the business or organization for which the app has been designed under its own Apple Developer Program account. Alternatively, you may provide documentation that shows your ownership of the business or organization for which the app is designed.
   
   
   1. Reply to the Apple Resolution Center with the information and images that show your affiliation to the Business Owner’s Apple Dev Account. If you submit documentation, include:
      1. You or your company’s name
      2. Identify you as the owner of the business/entity
      3. Relevant signatures and dates
      4. Details explaining your affiliation with the business/entity
      Note: Providing documentation of your rights to include third-party content within your app does not suffice. Our article on Apple binary rejected due to 4.2.6 and 5.2.1 guidelines provides some guidance on the type of evidence that you would have to provide to Apple to proceed with the review.
      
      
   2. The alternative would be to adjust the details of the developer account itself to better relate to the Organization/Entity and then resubmit the app. Apple should advise on just what changes can be made to the existing account if that is the route to be taken.
      
      
5. If that fails, then republishing explicitly entering Business Owner details at every opportunity will be the next step.

Testing

Apple will review your app again, and if it finds that the app is submitted from an Organization's account with correct details, it shouldn't be rejected by this guideline. Thus, unless there's some other rejection reason, your iOS app will be approved and published on the Apple Store.