Hey Calendar approved by App Review after tongue-in-cheek Apple history calendar addition

Hey Calendar

Hey faced another App Review battle with its Calendar app, but was ultimately approved despite not getting reader status like Netflix.

Fighting with App Review is nothing new for Hey, as Apple previously blocked updates to Hey Email for not offering functionality without a login, despite apps like Netflix doing the same. In both cases, Hey got around App Review by creating basic functionality without a login.

After Hey's Calendar app was rejected, the company resubmitted the app with a sample calendar containing dates from Apple history.

Apple has approved that update after being in App Review for less than a day. Basecamp co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson said he only gave the update 30% odds of getting past App Review.

"We were never seriously going to give Gmail or iCloud a run for their marketshare," DHH said in a blog post. "We have many tens of thousands of customers, but they have hundreds of millions. All we're asking is to be allowed to sell the niche product that is a paid email and calendar system to people who really care."

The entire debacle is one of Apple's making, and isn't ideal given the impending launch of Apple Vision Pro. Without developer support, Apple's platforms wouldn't have apps, and Apple Vision Pro is launching with at least 1 million in the App Store.

Hey's customers have to create an account and subscribe from an external website. Apple takes issue with this despite apps like Netflix taking the same approach.

The US Department of Justice has been investigating Apple on antitrust concerns for going on four years, yet it seems a filing is always around the corner. The EU continues to push for regulation, suggesting Apple uses its monopoly power over the App Store to coerce developers to use its payment systems and pay fees.

Get the Hey Calendar app from the App Store.