[Solved] Apple Rejected My App for Requesting Camera Permissions, but I Don't Use the Camera

[darren]

Heyyo,

Apple rejected my latest version. Here is their complaint:

During review, we were prompted to provide consent to access the camera. However, we were not able to locate any features in your app that use the camera.

Guideline 2.5.1 - Performance - Software Requirements

During review, we were prompted to provide consent to access the camera. However, we were not able to locate any features in your app that use the camera.

Next Steps

If your app does not include any features that use the camera, please remove access to the camera from your app.

If your app does include features that use the camera, please reply to this message in Resolution Center to provide information on how to locate them.

Please see attached screenshot for details.

What they claim is true. When I try to upload a picture, you are prompted to provide access to the camera:

But as you can see by the message I don’t use the camera, I only use the Photo Library:

The camera is not used directly, but the user is allowed to select a photo from the photo library to transfer through the app.

And we can verify this in the app. I don’t use the Camera component:

The iOS Permissions say that the Camera explainer is required. So I have that set:

Am I missing something? Can I turn off the Camera permissions somewhere and still just use the Photo Library?

[martint]

Hi Darren, This was a similar issue, dont think it was solved but think they were correctly thinking it must be a thunkable code issue,

Cloudinary upload in camera folder?

I have an app that lets the user choose a photo, then that photo is stored to cloudinary. The app uses the new drag and drop interface. The block to store to cloudinary comes from the “camera” folder, as does the “image from photo library”, though neither uses the camera. The reason it matters is that when I download to app store, the settings require me to explain what the app uses the camera for, even though the app doesn’t use the camera. Does their need to be a separate “photos” folder for…

[tatiang]

I would recommend contacting Thunkable directly either by email or by using the chat icon from the Projects page. Their staff may respond here but I think it’s slower to wait for forum responses.

[jane]

Hi Darren,

It does look like anywhere a Thunkable app uses the photo library or camera, we request photo library and camera permissions on iOS.

I’ll ask about only calling the relevant permission to accommodate use cases like yours, or vice-versa where a developer could want Camera permissions but not photo library permissions.

I’ll follow up here when I have more info.

Thanks,
Jane

[jane]

Update:
Thunkable team member Jose has been handling an update to Expo.
This update has included changes to how permissions are requested.
Once this update is live, it should address this permissions issue.

This update has already gone through the QA process. Thunkable team member Wei has said we can release the update today tomorrow, after a few more files are tidied up.

I’ll follow up here when the update is live.

[jane]

Update to my update:

There are a few files that need to be tidied up before this update goes out, so it might not be released until tomorrow.

I’ll still update here when the change goes live.

[David_Wolber]

Jane and team, thanks for this change as it will help with the iOS publishing process.

Dave

[vishruth-ram]

In iOS and android it gives three options:

• camera
• video
• select photo

[jane]

Hello everyone! This is still in progress, I apologize that it hasn’t been released in the timeline I initially expected. I have followed up with the team to try and get this update out ASAP.

[vishruth-ram]

@jane if you’re talking about updates, can’t it be done with COVID-19 in the first place? in peace that shouldn’t be there right now, anything if the team somehow solves it. except for

[jane]

V1 of this fix is live! If you add a Photo Library component to your Snap to Place project, it will request Photos permissions but not Camera permissions on iOS:

There seems to be a little more work needed for Drag and Drop projects. The team is aware of this and the update for Drag and Drop projects should be out soon.

[jane]

Ok, I believe I have the final word on the subject

As of ~10 minutes ago:

Using the ‘Photo from Camera’ block in a Drag and Drop project will request Camera permission, not Photos permission
Using the Camera component in a Snap to Place project will request Camera permission, not Photos permission

Using the ‘Photo from Library’ block in a Drag and Drop project will request Photos permission, not Camera permission
Using the Photo Library component in a Snap to Place project will request Photos permission, not Camera permission

You can see the change by adding the block/component in question to a project and looking at the iOS permissions section of the Settings panel. You will only be asked to input a permission string for the relevant permission.

Thanks again for reporting!

[darren]

Thanks Jane, I got the new binary uploaded and it was approved this morning.