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Michael Tsai on My Retraction of the Astrology/Astronomy App Store Rejection Story
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Illustration only Photo by Uladzislau Petrushkevich on Unsplash
John Gruber retracted a widely circulated story about an astronomy app being rejected from the App Store for being astrology, after discovering the app as originally submitted was in fact an astrology app with tarot features.
For developers who rely on credible App Store rejection stories to advocate for review reform, this incident provides ammunition to critics who want to dismiss legitimate complaints as fabricated. It also illustrates the reputational risk of amplifying developer claims without independent verification of submission details.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
Gruber retracted the story after learning the app submitted under the name 'Asterly' contained astrology and tarot features, contradicting the claim that it was a pure astronomy app rejected for being confused with astrology.
The developer, Terry Godier, separately faced accusations of cloning another developer's open-source app using Claude, and redirected his domain to the original developer's.
Only one feed carried this event, so the framing is entirely from Gruber's perspective and his own admission of error.
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