11. nin: access
Supposedly, nin: access (opens in new tab) got rejected because 'The Downward Spiral' was within a podcast that could be streamed from the app. The volume of Reznor's music is nothing compared to the synchronised face-palm of thousands of iPhone-owning NIN fans who heard this news. The app was later approved entirely unchanged.
12. Ninjawords Dictionary
To be fair to Apple, there's more to the Ninjawords (opens in new tab) story than Apple rejecting the dictionary due to it including offensive words, which was the claim at the time. Schiller later said Apple actually took offence at 'urban slang' terms the app unearthed due to the open-source nature of its content. Still, the episode left a sour taste regardless, and the app's 17+ rating seems over the top.
13. Party Trampoline
"You can't have Obama and other politicians bouncing about on a giant trampoline (opens in new tab) - it's offensive," said Apple. "What if we cover their heads with huge paper bags?" asked the developer. "Sure - that'd be just dandy," said Apple, presumably as forty billion irony machines exploded in the background.
14. Pocket God
Surprisingly, even Bolt Creative's regularly updated Pocket God (opens in new tab) once suffered a rejection. It was twelfth time unlucky for the app when Apple decided the Something Fishy update violated Apple branding. It turns out an icon for 'gravity' - a simplified iPhone - was the cause. Replacing the icon got the app through, albeit too late for an amusing April Fool's Day gag to be relevant.
15. Podcaster
One of Apple's oddest rejections, podcast manager Podcaster (opens in new tab) didn't get the nod because Apple claimed it "duplicated functionality" - but of the desktop version of iTunes. The developer's since worked on RSS Player (depicted), version 2 of which is, ironically, in review at the time of writing.
16. Pull My Finger
Initially rejected due to "limited utility," Apple later relented and allowed Pull My Finger (opens in new tab) on to the App Store. About fifty billion fart apps have subsequently been approved, and we therefore somewhat sympathise with Apple on this one.
17. South Park
Oh my God, Apple killed South Park! Back in 2008, the app was rejected twice for being "potentially offensive," unlike, say, the seasons of South Park for sale on iTunes, or the South Park movie for sale on iTunes, which boasts the memorable song 'Shut your F**king Face, Uncle F**ker'.
IMAGE CREDIT: Boing Boing
18. Start Mobile Wallpaper Gallery
What's that? You think Apple would be fine with an app on its store that has a pocket-sized version of the Obama 'Hope' image that hangs in the Smithsonian? Nope. It was rejected, hilariously, for "ridiculing public figures". Clearly, the Apple reviewer hated art, Democrats, or both. The app (opens in new tab) was eventually approved via 'expedited review'.
19. StarTime
This Star Trek homage clock (opens in new tab) was beamed up to the sin-bin for "resemblance to a well-known third-party mark," despite using no official imagery nor using the phrase 'Star Trek'. It was eventually approved with minor changes.
20. Tweetie
An update for this Twitter client had the bad luck to get reviewed when a rather rude word was trending on Twitter. It was therefore booted due to offensive content - content every other Twitter client (and Safari) could access that day. Approved after resubmission and a swift lesson to the App Store review team regarding Twitter trends. Tweetie has since been superseded by Tweetie 2 (opens in new tab).
