--- title: App Store Rejection of the Week: Dark Hours | daily.dev description: John Gruber covers the case of Dark Hours, a well-designed iOS astronomy app that was rejected from the App Store on the grounds that it was an astrology app.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/app-store-rejection-of-the-week-dark-hours-zcwna4ksi twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: App Store Rejection of the Week: Dark Hours | daily.dev og:description: John Gruber covers the case of Dark Hours, a well-designed iOS astronomy app that was rejected from the App Store on the grounds that it was an astrology app.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/app-store-rejection-of-the-week-dark-hours-zcwna4ksi og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/zcwNa4Ksi.png og:image:alt: App Store Rejection of the Week: Dark Hours og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # App Store Rejection of the Week: Dark Hours **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary John Gruber covers the case of Dark Hours, a well-designed iOS astronomy app that was rejected from the App Store on the grounds that it was an astrology app. Despite having no horoscopes, tarot features, or any astrology-related content, the app was rejected and the rejection was upheld by the App Review Board — which even claimed the app had a 'live tarot reading feature' that doesn't exist. Gruber uses this as a pointed example of Apple's App Store review process being broken: not just prone to mistakes, but incapable of correcting obvious ones. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why was the Dark Hours astronomy app rejected from the Apple App Store? Dark Hours was rejected because an App Store reviewer incorrectly classified it as an astrology app. When the developer escalated to the App Review Board, the rejection was upheld with the claim that the app includes a 'live tarot reading feature' — a feature that does not exist in the app. The app has no horoscopes, no tarot functions, and no astrology-related content whatsoever. _Developers navigating App Store rejections track cases like this on daily.dev to know what to expect._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 74 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-09-14). **TL;DR:** Commenters are overwhelmingly critical of Apple's App Store review process, viewing the Dark Hours rejection — and especially the fabricated 'live tarot reading' claim upheld on appeal — as a damning example of a broken, unaccountable system that can't correct its own obvious errors. **Sentiment:** 5% positive · 20% mixed · 75% skeptical **The case for** - One commenter noted that non-technical reviewers checking usability rather than code is actually appropriate for the role, and that code-level review should be automated. **The pushback** - The App Review Board upheld the rejection by citing a 'live tarot reading feature' that doesn't exist in the app, suggesting reviewers fabricate or hallucinate justifications rather than actually examining submissions. - Reviewers appear to have no context-sharing between review rounds, making the process feel like a non-deterministic lottery rather than a consistent policy. - Astrology apps like Co-Star have been featured as Editor's Choice, exposing the arbitrary and inconsistent application of whatever rules exist. - The appeal process is described as rubber-stamping rather than genuine re-examination, with misinformation about the app propagating upward unchallenged. - App review reportedly takes ~13 minutes on average and is performed by non-technical staff, raising questions about the depth of any real scrutiny. - Spam gambling and casino apps proliferate in the store while a well-crafted astronomy app is blocked, highlighting misaligned enforcement priorities. - The only reliable path to resolution appears to be going viral on social media rather than using official appeal channels. **By community** - hackernews (skeptical): Developers are sharply critical of the review process as opaque, inconsistent, and incapable of self-correction, with the thread quickly broadening into debate over app store gatekeeping and sideloading. **Hottest debate:** Whether allowing users to install apps outside the App Store would meaningfully harm non-technical users (e.g. 'grandma') or whether that concern is pretextual cover for Apple's monopoly control. **Open questions** - Is Apple using AI tooling in the review process that may be hallucinating features like 'live tarot reading'? - Why are categories like astrology selectively blocked for new entrants while existing apps (Co-Star, etc.) remain and even receive editorial promotion? - Are there any published false-positive/false-negative statistics for App Store rejections, and why won't Apple release them? - Will the EU's DMA enforcement actually create meaningful alternative distribution channels in practice? **Highlights** > > But that’s not what happened at all. Godier proceeded through a series of escalations up to the App Review Board and the Review Board responded that they determined the original rejection was valid because, I shit you not, “We understand that the app includes a live tarot reading feature.” > It has no tarot function, no horoscopes, and nothing that I, or anyone else I’ve asked, would associate with astrology. I have dealt with the Byzantine App Store bureaucracy before. What you do here, is you submit a new version, pretty much identical to the previous one, with the comment “tarot function removed”. > — [DrJokepu on hackernews · 3 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49215770) > From https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/apples-tigh... > In a sworn deposition in the Epic lawsuit, Phillip Shoemaker, the former head of the App Review team, said employees in his department generally did not have a technical background in computer coding. They needed to know how to use a Mac and an iPhone, he said. > “Qualifications were that they could breathe, they could think,” he said. And they typically worked at the Apple “Genius Bar” at the company’s retail stores. It typically took about 13 minutes to review a new app, Shoemaker said in the deposition. > — [lapcat on hackernews · 2 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49215599) > The most evil (yes) thing about the rejection is that the same stupid wrong misinformation about the app continued to be rubber-stamped as it propagated forward in what should be increasing levels of actual scrutiny and attention. They are lying to call it a review - it's mindless rubber-stamping either by design or because Apple employs people who just can't be bothered to do their jobs. > — [RagnarD on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49216229) > What an insane ruling considering Co-Star is entirely an astrology app and was picked as an app store "Editor's Choice" at some point. > — [szidev on hackernews · 1 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49215144) > I look forward to this app now being approved because getting a viral post on reddit/HN/Twitter is what passes for customer service in 2026. > — [AlexandrB on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49215123) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49214863) · 161 points · 74 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Retraction: The App Store Rejection of the Week That Was a Correct Rejection](https://daily.dev/posts/retraction-the-app-store-rejection-of-the-week-that-was-a-correct-rejection-ylytcynex) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - 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