Apple's rejection of Hey Calendar renews an old battle

The new year was supposed to begin with a new calendar. But about 72 hours after the announcement of the premium email service Hey Latest feature – Integrated Calendar – Co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson received some unwelcome news from Apple: it was rejecting a standalone iOS app for Hey Calendar, because unpaid users couldn't do anything when they opened the app.

New users can't sign up for Hey Calendar directly on the app — Basecamp, which makes Hey, makes users sign up first through the browser. Apple's App Store rules require that most paid services offer users the ability to pay and subscribe through the app, ensuring the company gets a discount of up to 30 percent. The controversial rule has a lot of gray areas and exceptions (i.e. reader apps like Spotify and Kindle get an exception) and is the subject of antitrust battles in several countries.

But as Hanson explained On X And later Blog postHe found Apple's refusal insulting for another reason. Nearly four years ago, the company rejected Hey's native iOS app for its email service for the exact same reason. “Apple just called to let us know they are rejecting the HEY Calendar app from the App Store (in its current form). Same bullying tactics as last time: Send the exact rejection of a call with a first name only person who will calmly tell you it's your wallet or your knees. books Hanson in a post on X.

The outcome of the 2020 fight went in Hey's favor. Days after Back and forth Between the Apple App Store Review Board and Basecamp, the Hey team approved a Fairly creative solution Suggested by Apple exec Phil Schiller. Hey will offer a free iOS app option, allowing new users to sign up directly. But the email service proposed a slight twist: users who signed up via the iOS app got a free, temporary spam email address that worked for 14 days, after which they had to pay to upgrade. Currently, email users can only pay through the browser.

After the Hey saga, Apple revised its App Store rules which stipulated that free companion apps for certain types of paid web services were… no There is a requirement to have a payment mechanism within the application. But, as Hanson reported at

“After spending 19 days reviewing our application, causing us to miss our long-planned launch date of January 2, Apple rejected our free, standalone companion app 'because it doesn't do anything.' This is because users have to sign in with an existing account To use the function. books Hanson in a blog post.

As Hanson details In X's post, Hey plans to fight Apple's decision — though he didn't specify what path they would take. the edge I've reached out to both Hey and Apple for comment.