inessential by Brent Simmons

Heads-Up to RSS Reader Authors

Update the next morning (May 11): NetNewsWire 5.0.1 for iOS has been approved for the App Store — which happened before I had the chance to provide documentation. I will assume that the policy enforcement change described below was just an error.


NetNewsWire 5.0.1 for iOS is delayed due to an apparently new, or newly-enforced, issue: if an RSS reader includes default feeds, Apple will ask for documentation that says you have permission to include those default feeds.

The first RSS app that got tagged with this, that I know of, was NewsWave. We submitted NetNewsWire 5.0.1 for iOS for review a couple days ago and had the same issue.

Specifically, it’s in violation of legal guideline 5.2.2:

5.2.2 Third-Party Sites/Services: If your app uses, accesses, monetizes access to, or displays content from a third-party service, ensure that you are specifically permitted to do so under the service’s terms of use. Authorization must be provided upon request.

I need this for the default feeds. A couple of those are mine, and so I need about a dozen documents to cover all the default feeds.

I could complain about this — the default feeds have never been an issue in NetNewsWire’s 18 years of life — but I’m done and can’t even right now. I’ll do what I have to do.

I do have a follow-up question, though: could an RSS reader contain some kind of directory of feeds, in order to help people with feed discovery?

NetNewsWire of Old had this, and some kind of modern version would be a good idea. We’ve been talking about it. But if we have to get documented permission for every single feed in the directory, we probably wouldn’t do it.

PS If you write an RSS reader for Mac or iOS, and want to ask me any questions about this, feel free to email me.