[…] in order to make TypeApp unavailable, your client must archive TypeApp, thereby permanently removing it from the MacOS App Store. Merely removing the app from sale, as your client may have done, does not suffice.
TypeApp is not a duplicate app, and nevertheless we removed TypeApp voluntarily on May 23, 2019, two weeks before Apple removed BlueMail from the Mac App Store.
Apple never mentioned there was an issue with that removal process. Only at the end of November 2019 did Apple’s App Review team suddenly claim that the removal was not done correctly – and, according to Apple’s lawyers, it was fear of duplicate apps and clutter on the store that got BlueMail kicked out.
Apple repeatedly claims we must “archive TypeApp” to “permanently remov[e] it from the MacOS App Store,” and suggests that we did not actually remove TypeApp from the App Store. This does not make sense and is not consistent with Apple’s documentation. We had already voluntarily removed TypeApp from the Mac App Store in exactly the manner Apple’s documentation instructs – two weeks before Apple claimed BlueMail and TypeApp were duplicates.
More details
In December 2019, we searched for a function to “archive” the app, but could not find it. There is no “archive” button, and no option for “permanently removing it from the MacOS App Store”.
Since October 2018 there has been an option to remove an app from the “My Apps” view, but it only hides the app inside the developer console itself. The app can be restored at any time.
“Remove from Sale” is the only option we have found to actually remove an app from the App Store. Apple’s documentation states:
“If you no longer want your app to be available to customers, you can remove it from the App Store, which removes all versions of the app […] The app status changes to Developer Removed from Sale, and within 24 hours your app won’t be available on the App Store.”
App Store Connect Help
To avoid any doubt, this is exactly what we did on May 23, 2019, voluntarily, without any request or help from Apple’s team, and we communicated it to Apple at the time.
Until December 2019, Apple never said we had not removed TypeApp appropriately – because in fact it was removed appropriately.