Less than a month ago, developer Astro HQ revealed a clever update to their upcoming Luna Display app that sneakily turned the iPad’s front-facing camera into a contextual button while keeping the UI clear of clutter.
“While Apple is taking away buttons, we found a way to add one,” said the company. “Meet the Camera Button.”
Well, it appears Tim Cook and the old Cupertino gang didn’t take too kindly to that. As a result of their “adding buttons”, Apple rejected Luna Display from the App Store for violating their (very strict) guidelines.
According to Apple, in order for an app to be approved for the App Store, it may not “alter or disable the functions of standard switches, such as the Volume Up/Down and Ring/Silent switches, or other native user interface elements or behaviors.” Apparently—the same goes for cameras, too.
No matter—all the Astro HQ team needs to do is drop the PR-grabbing feature.
In any case—there’s no need to feel bad for the Astro HQ team. They successfully raised over $600K in their recent Kickstarter campaign…and probably already on to their next ambitious project.
