Does Apple prohibit advertising third-party software in applications?

There is hysteria in the Western media: in the App Store, those applications that pay for watching video ads and social sharing are now banned. Why it's worth calming down and not making a big deal out of a molehill, I figured it out App2Top.ru .

Techcrunch and Pocketgamer reported that many companies in the first days of June faced refusals from Apple related to two points of the Apple Developer Guidelines: 2.25 and 3.10. They say that Apple prohibits applications where there are motivating promotional videos and motivating social sharing.

What are these points and what do they actually prohibit?

Paragraph 2.25

“Applications that showcase Applications other than your own for sale or promotion in a form similar or similar to the App Store will be prohibited unless they are created for certain agreed needs (for example, health management, aviation, and so on) or provide significant additional value to a certain group of users.”

Our first interpretation is: no advertising from third-party companies.

But in fact, Apple interprets this as follows: if a banner is placed for a single application within the framework of the advertising network used, then everything is fine, if it is for a library of third—party (not published by you) applications, then it is prohibited.

Paragraph 3.10

“Developers who attempt to manipulate or fake user reviews or ratings in the App Store with paid reviews or any other inappropriate methods will be excluded from the iOS Developer Program.”

In addition to all the obvious points, such as the prohibition of buying motivated traffic, this provision, as it turns out on the forums of Western developers, has a hidden meaning. Now you can't pay users for sharing.

As it used to be: you offer the user hard currency (or a game bonus), and in exchange they must link the game account to their Facebook.

You can't do it now. You can only ask, talk about why sharing is cool and remind in every possible way that “friend, it's time to look at the results of your friends.”

Is it bad?

Yes.

Is it critical?

We are not sure.

Why would Apple do that?

Two words — transparency and honesty. The Apple company wants to maximize the relevance of its own rating tools so that only really good applications appear in the top.

Plus, the following thing has appeared: You can only give money and bonuses for watching videos if you are talking about advertising a physical product, otherwise you will be banned. This rule immediately covers both of the above points. 

Well, of course, we must understand that with such vague rules and the absence of a general ban, all of the above is not the ultimate truth.