Rene Zelaya (Hacker News):

In April, Apple rejected an update to my Mac dictation app, WhisperPad, under Guideline 2.4.5. Their position was that I was using the accessibility API in a way that wasn’t an accessibility use. The app exists because I have a hand injury. Apple had approved earlier versions doing the same thing. This time they did not.

I had used Apple’s built-in dictation first, and the experience was a particular kind of frustrating. The transcription was close but rarely right, and every correction meant going back in with the keyboard, deleting, retyping. I was hurting my hands to fix the tool that was supposed to be saving them.

[…]

They responded that they would take a closer look. They told me not to reply in the thread, and said they would come back with a decision. That was April 21st.

Then it went quiet. By May 21st I had heard nothing[…]

Finally he heard back and was rejected again. He didn’t want to “sacrifice the reach of the App Store” so he made a “compromised version” for the store and is also selling the full version via Paddle.

Previously:

• Iris Rejected From the App Store
• TextExpander Rejected From App Store

Update (2026-06-08): THOHT is another dictation app that did manage to get approved in the Mac App Store despite using the accessibility API.

Accessibility App Store Rejection Dictation Mac Mac App Mac App Store macOS Tahoe 26 THOHT

5 Comments