iOS Human Interface Guidelines

Question

I'm working on my first iOS app, and I'm concerned about the Human Interface Guidelines on a particular thing I've done. From reading the documents, I don't see why it would be a problem, however, I've done several things I'm not sure about and wonder it anyone can make suggestion(s) about items I may have run afoul on.

This is a simple "tagging" operation for images. The view has two buttons ("Record Optional Sound Clip" and "Save"), which I've made somewhat translucent. When touched, the buttons change to have an opaque black background, which to me, makes it evident they're buttons; however, they do look much like the UITextField for "Description" above. I've attached a sample of one of the images:

I've also placed a simple help message near the top to make it evident how to cancel the tagging (rather than placing the traditional X in a circle, which is more obvious but to me, less attractive). However, without some guidance it may not be obvious to users how they can cancel the edit, but the HIG seems to discourage this.

I'm principally interested in whether any of this stuff is likely to get an app rejected?

TIA for any suggestions.

Answer 1

None of this stuff will get your app rejected. The human interface guidelines are principally there to help you avoid UI/UX features which might be confusing to users. I only know of one case where your app will get rejected for UI/UX features, which is that you have to hide iAds when they are not on the screen. In terms of something like this though, you will be perfectly fine and t is a fairly typical paradigm which you are following (for example, they would have to reject Facebook if they were to reject you for this).

I think, though, you should take a step back and ask yourself "why are these guidelines there?" It's not a question of whether or not your app will be rejected, but a question of what you want to present to your users. If you think that these are okay as buttons then go ahead. Otherwise, you might want to re-think your UI/UX. As far as I am concerned, Apple provided a nice set of rules to get you going in terms of making an understandable UX, so you might as well follow it. However, that being said, in the end, your users will be the deciders of if your UX is confusing or not!

EDIT

I want to add that in the Apple App Store Review Guide, section 10 (UI) they say the following:

10.1 Apps must comply with all terms and conditions explained in the Apple iOS Human Interface Guidelines

10.3 Apps that do not use system provided items, such as buttons and icons, correctly and as described in the Apple iOS Human Interface Guidelines may be rejected

10.6 Apple and our customers place a high value on simple, refined, creative, well thought through interfaces. They take more work but are worth it. Apple sets a high bar. If your user interface is complex or less than very good, it may be rejected

That being said, I don't think this is enforced very strictly, and I doubt that your app will get rejected for the features that you are suggesting. But, I thought I would give fair warning in case you are working on a deadline and are very risk adverse.

Answer 2

I don't think that anything you describe will get your app rejected.

The left-to-right swipe to cancel seems odd. Have you considered a button labelled 'Cancel' in the same style as your save button, to the right of the text field and above the save button?