Story No. 02
The one word Apple would not let through
Ariadne was turned away from the App Store over a single button label. Fixing it took a minute; it also made me write down everything the app does and does not ask you for.
On September 21, Apple sent Ariadne back. Not for a crash, and not for a privacy leak. For one word on one button: Allow.
Why Ariadne exists
Ariadne exists because of my dad. He can use Google Maps, but marking a spot to come back to is beyond him: drop a pin, save it, find the saved list again. Every step is one more place to get stuck. So I made him an app with one step. You press START where you are, and it leads you back.
The screen before the question
Ariadne needs one thing before it can do anything: your location. So before the phone shows its own permission dialog, the app shows a screen of its own. One sentence says why: to put you on the map and lead you back to the place you marked, even with the phone in your pocket. Under it sat one big button.
That button said “Allow”.
What Apple’s rule actually says
App Review quoted guideline 5.1.1(iv). An app may explain why it needs a permission before asking for it. But the button on that screen must not look like the permission itself. Use “Continue” or “Next”, Apple said, and let the real choice happen in the system dialog that comes after.
They were right. My button pretended to be the decision. Someone who taps “Allow” believes they have just said yes to something. They have not: the real question is still coming. For an app made for older adults, that is exactly the wrong kind of confusing.
The fix was a single word. Version 1.0.5 says Continue, and the explanation stayed as it was. It is also a rule now for every app we make: a screen before a permission never says “Allow”.
Everything Ariadne asks for
Rewriting that button made me look again at the rest. So here is the full list:
- Location, while using the app. Never “Always”. You press START, and the path is drawn from that moment on, even in your pocket. On Android a notification stays in the shade the whole time, so you can see that it is running. The price: after the phone restarts, drawing does not pick up again by itself. You press START again.
- Notifications, on Android 13 and newer. Only so that the notification above can be shown. Say no and the app still works.
And here is what it does not ask for:
- No account. Nothing to sign up for, no password to forget.
- No route planning. The way back is the way you came: your own thread, drawn as you walk. Once you have set out, it needs no signal.
- Nothing leaves the phone. Your location and your path stay on the device.
Fewer questions
Every permission dialog is a moment when someone can get lost. When I write one, I picture my dad reading it: one question he does not understand, and the phone goes back in his pocket for good. So Ariadne asks as little as it can, explains it in one sentence, and puts one button under it that says what it does.
Continue.
Ariadne is out now, free on the App Store and Google Play.