Hi, I’m Viktor Seraleev. I’m the founder of Sarafan Mobile, we specialize in the development of photo and video apps for iOS and Android. Most of

My 8-month investigation and court: Apple had confused my developer account and accidentally killed my $33,680 MRR mobile business

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2024-05-08 18:00:07

Hi, I’m Viktor Seraleev. I’m the founder of Sarafan Mobile, we specialize in the development of photo and video apps for iOS and Android. Most of our apps have consistently ranked among the top in user retention benchmarks by AppStore Connect. However, our developer account was unexpectedly closed on September 21, 2023. This is a story in three parts.

Since Apple doesn’t provide a specific reason for the closure, I was convinced that the closure of my account was related to actions by competitors. This belief stemmed from the fact that at that very moment, one of my applications was under attack: not only was the application entirely copied, but also the advertising creatives. Additionally, there was an onslaught of fabricated reviews. Full version is here.

After exhausting all attempts to write appeals detailing the steps I had already taken and those planned to improve my applications, I was forced to seek assistance from lawyers. It was important for me to ascertain the reason for the closure and to recover the frozen funds, as at the time of deletion, we had 1209 active trials, $33,680 MRR, and $108,878 of honestly earned money over the last 3 months.