I can’t understand Apple’s Critical Alert policy (2023)
53 comments
·May 8, 2025dinkblam
codetrotter
> we got rejected because of "Mac*" in the name. we pointed them to a dozen others that had it, where it seemingly was no problem. didn't help.
To be fair, it’s understandable for many reasons that they don’t want other companies to use “Mac” in the name of the software.
- Brand dilution
- Losing trademark if Mac becomes a generic word
- It’s also annoying actually with apps that name themselves that way. Just because I’m on a Mac doesn’t mean I need that a whole bunch of my apps start with “Mac” in their name. Likewise for apps that start their name with lowercase i on iOS, and apps that end their name with droid on Android.
Also, for the ones that were allowed anyway, were those already big outside of App Store by chance? Or have they been allowing even new apps that don’t have an existing user base into the App Store with names like that?
Agentlien
> Losing trademark if Mac becomes a generic word
This is interesting considering that it was a common word before Apple started. Both the variety of apple called Macintosh and a Mac raincoat (named after Charles Macintosh).
Though it would be really funny if the Beatles were referring to a computer in Penny Lane:
"And the banker never wears a mac in the pouring rain. Very strange"
os2warpman
I don’t know if a pill reminder app rises to the level of importance where a critical alert is needed.
There are only five apps on my phone, out of over a hundred, that use critical alerts.
PulsePoint, if someone near me is having a heart attack
Messages, if one of my kids is in trouble
Health, if I am having a heart attack
Home, if my smoke alarm is going off
ActiveAlert, my fire department’s dispatch notification app, which will tell me where to drive the ambulance if someone is having a heart attack
If I’m in a darkened theater and someone nearby needs cpr, my house is on fire, or one of my kids is in trouble I want the phone to make a sound.
I want someone else’s phone to make a sound if they get those notifications, too.
If it’s time to take their atorvastatin I don’t give a shit their phone better stay shut the hell up.
If someone’s calendar app slipped through the cracks and got permission to issue critical alerts, THAT is the problem, not the fact that a pill reminder app can’t.
Martinussen
If I miss the dosing window by more than an hour or so it'll either ruin my sleep or ruin my day after lunch, I have responsibilities and can easily lose track of time for an hour or two while working or in meetings, so the iOS medication reminders are very useful to me personally, at least.
edit: though if I remember or see the initial reminder and log it, it obviously won't go off with sound. If it pings, I've basically always already forgotten.
xattt
With all due respect and without knowing your clinical history at all, this level of sensitivity to a statin probably warrants a review of your med with your provider.
xtajv
Ok sorry, I'm going to state the obvious.
The "Apple Critical Alerts" API is clearly intended as a replacement channel for cellular emergency alerts[0]. (If not a "replacement", then perhaps a "supplemental" option. Redundancy is good when we're talking about whether "911" works).
The "Apple Critical Alert" API policy, restricting who's allowed to call the API, is a good thing. You just do not get performant public notifications if you allow just anybody to broadcast. (Milli)seconds count, people.
I hate Singleton patterns as much as anybody. And I hate when business happens behind closed doors, with limited public access, and restricted opportunity for public comment.
But again, if we're talking about the choice between """ locking down this one special channel, because it's responsible for real-time public safety alerts """ vs. """ asking how many broadcasters can possibly share that channel, before contention and congestion result in human-perceptible delays to alert delivery. """ Then I would opt for the former.
--- [0] You know how your phone will buzz REAL loud if there's like, an Amber Alert or Tsunami or something? That's a feature of the cellular system. To my knowledge, emergency alerts and 911 calls go over a separate dedicated mini-channel, which has gone by various names through POTS/2G/3G/5G and beyond. A.K.A.s: - Public Warning System (PWS) - Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) - CMAS (Commercial Mobile Alert Service)
HelloImSteven
Apple's Critical Alerts aren't a broadcast system though. It's just an API to bypass the mute switch and DnD, but users have to go into settings to enable it on a per-app basis. The alert is otherwise just a normal notification.
It does tend to be used for public safety notifications, but it's strictly opt-in. There are also several apps using it for smart home security alerts, health reminders, etc. already.
rezonant
The article, and Apple's messaging therein, contradicts your understanding of this feature.
> Because Critical Alerts are disruptive, they are meant to be used for a very restricted number of purposes. This include medical- and health-related notifications, home- and security-related notifications, and public safety notifications.
Only the last use case matches what you describe. And as the article says, Apple's own Health app uses this feature, along with, apparently, simple TODO apps. Apple's health app makes sense, since Apple specifically calls out medical apps. Is a medicine reminder app a medical app? I would say so.
Apple's developer documentation states:
> Critical alerts ignore the mute switch and Do Not Disturb; the system plays a critical alert’s sound regardless of the device’s mute or Do Not Disturb settings. You can specify a custom sound and volume. > > Critical alerts require a special entitlement issued by Apple.
filleokus
I haven't seen any hint that the Critical Alerts entitlement would use any special infra compared to regular push notifications.
It's just metadata in the notification body indicating to the device to ignore silent mode etc.
It's e.g used by Pagerduty [0]. It's just a way to override notification settings.
The software for the systems you mention have this entitlement (or some equivalent), but are otherwise completely unrelated to this.
[0]: https://support.pagerduty.com/main/docs/mobile-app-settings#...
viraptor
That would make sense if Apple's description and usage didn't completely contradict what you wrote. It's not "clearly intended" for that purpose if Apple uses it for other purposes. This seems like your interpretation rather than Apple's policy.
xtajv
P.S. I'm sorry to be grouchy about it- I just don't think folks realize that yes, 1. emergency infrastructure really does run over the same networks as everything else 2. That We carve out special lanes for emergency/911 packets. That traffic is special.
ChrisMarshallNY
What?!
You mean I don’t get to have every phone in a store buzz, when we have a special on tinned prunes?
What is the feature for, if not that?
Overzealous marketing is why we can’t have nice things.
gagik_co
Agreed. Apple also has the category of Time-sensitive notifications which is available to all apps and would fit fine for this usecase. Worst case one would need to direct users to add the app as a Do Not Disturb exception.
nurumaik
Yet zenduty is allowed to use critical alerts api while being unrelated to public safety in general
threeseed
Zenduty is very much related to public safety depending on the industry.
If you're at a power company an incident could mean a life saving medical machine goes offline.
And I've personally seen a P1 related to a power outage at an infectious diseases lab.
cnity
I don't think it's just about latency. Actually I think it's mainly about not diluting the meaning of emergency alerts and opening it for abuse. But yeah, I agree. I think what TFA has run into is by design, and frankly I'm kinda glad it works this way.
indianmouse
They seem to shoot based on vague reasons. And they don't reason. If it is a no, it is a no.
Time for an alternative app store. It is needed across the world. Single point of failure and control is not good for any ecosystem. Too much dependence on one single entity if one wants to exists in that is really some sh*ty concept.
Break free and break good! EU has to help here...
WhyNotHugo
> Time for an alternative app store.
Not really. Just allow users to install applications without a middleman. Like we've been doing since forever in pretty much any other platform.
The whole point of an app store is to limit and control what a user is allowed to run. Alternative app stores just shift the blame elsewhere
jeroenhd
You can install alternative app stores on iOS (within the EU). AltStore, Epic Games Store, and even a corporate-targeting store from Mobivention.
Apple is pulling some shit that will probably be declared illegal the moment it hits the courts with installation fees when distributing apps outside of Apple's ecosystem, but AFAIK Epic is taking care of that for AltStore and Mobivention probably factors it into its corporate pricing structure.
There's a lack of apps on these stores, though.
WhyNotHugo
> You can install alternative app stores on iOS (within the EU).
And you need a few million dollars in the bank to be allowed to implement one (plus some other ridiculous requirements). The whole system still makes it impossible for a small team to develop and shift software without a huge middleman
_factor
Let the App Store contain backup providers that are allowed to compete with iCloud while you’re at it. The ability to self host it yourself would be a game changer for the lockdown.
There are too many apps with local data that can only be backed up via iCloud. For what’s essentially an archive upload to storage, Apple raises a lot of barriers.
petercooper
I could shorten this to "I can't understand Apple" much of the time. I love Apple products, but they do make some wacky decisions that surely make sense somehow (probably due to scale, regulation, or business aims) but the reasoning is entirely opaque nowadays. One thing I thought Steve Jobs did reasonably well was at least try to justify Apple's decisions, but they don't have anyone who levels with people in that way anymore.
uni_baconcat
I have checked all apps on my phone. Besides Apple first party apps such as Home and Message, only one earthquake alert app has this level of notification.
bArray
I think the main point is being missed here:
> Apple’s own Health app uses Critical Alerts for its medication reminders, so I assumed my use case would qualify. I submitted a request for access to the API, but it was rejected.
I think what is being developed is a competitor to a space that Apple are in and want to be more involved in, and that is why you will not get permission to use the necessary API.
maratc
I use "Apple’s own Health app" medication reminders and from what I can see, they do not use Critical Alerts. They behave differently from the app I use that prompts me of the sugar levels of a relative (that app does use Critical Alerts, and the difference is very clear.)
LadyCailin
That anti competitive stance has been working very well for Apple lately.
Zealotux
Why can't I, the user, give a special permission to a specific app to override the silent mode just like I can with my emergency contacts?
akimbostrawman
Because you are always only the user instead of the owner with an apple device and software.
aziaziazi
I understand and share your feeling, however I think OP question is interesting enough to deserve a more complete response. Trying to frame it another way:
Is that specific non-par feature voluntary from Apple or might them just didn’t thought about it yet? If that’s voluntary, what’s the logic that make them think it’s better for their business to not allow that feature?
akimbostrawman
From my experience apple tries very hard to remove or hide any feature it can, there argument is probably to not overwhelm user and simplicity
jwatzman
For do not disturb, you can: settings -> focus -> do not disturb has a section at the top for allowing specific apps or specific people.
nottorp
You have functionality that is overlapping with something provided by Apple.
It's possible they will find reasons to reject your app indefinitely.
agos
if that is so they could just say that they reject the app because it replicates built in functionality - it's a well known cause for rejection
nottorp
They could be A/B testing.
Or more likely, Apple reviewers aren't paid so well and have 3 minutes to review each submission so they just reject for the first reason that comes up.
mimsee
If this reminder app to take meds can't access this API, how can HomeAssistant's iOS app access it where, I the user, can base the trigger for a critical notification on virtually anything?
zug_zug
Sounds like apple really needs a better review/appeal process, official set of standards, etc. Seems like it's bad for their ecosystem at this point.
threeseed
a) They have an appeals process: https://developer.apple.com/distribute/app-review
b) Standards has been in place for over a decade: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines
bitpush
People should realize that Apple plays favorites and lets their own apps use private APIs. Developers that bet on Apple platforms (iOS in particular) are at the mercy of Apple, and the company doesnt even try to play fair most of the time.
threeseed
Apple has always considered their apps to be part of the OS.
It was only because of legal disputes that they were ever split off.
And it is shocking that Apple the OS company has a favourable relationship with Apple the app company. Never happens in IT.
> What’s even more confusing is that I’ve seen general-purpose to-do or reminder apps on the App Store that somehow got approved for Critical Alerts, even though their use case seems far less urgent
thats because App Store review is a.) random and b.) they play favorites so the same rules don't apply to everyone
we got rejected because of "Mac*" in the name. we pointed them to a dozen others that had it, where it seemingly was no problem. didn't help.