Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API
Apple rejected the dictation app WhisperPad, which was designed to help users with hand injuries. The rejection was based on the app's use of the accessibility API in a manner Apple deemed inappropriate. Despite previous approvals for similar functionality, the developer faced challenges in appealing the decision.
- ▪WhisperPad was created by Rene Zelaya to assist with typing due to a repetitive strain injury.
- ▪Apple rejected an update to WhisperPad under Guideline 2.4.5, claiming improper use of the accessibility API.
- ▪The app was initially approved but faced rejection despite the developer's appeals and explanations.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Apple rejected my dictation app for using the accessibility API Rene Zelaya · May 27, 2026 I built WhisperPad because I needed it. In the fall of 2024 the joints in my fingers started to hurt when I typed. Maybe the bill came due for spending most of my life on a keyboard: a childhood of video games, then 10 years working in tech. It got worse throughout the winter, and by early 2025, I could not type for sustained stretches without triggering an unsustainable level of pain. It was a progressive injury, so there was no single dramatic moment; just a slow narrowing of how much I could do in a day. That narrowing arrived at an inconvenient time. I was between jobs and trying to decide what came next, and I had landed on applying to a master's program in human-computer interaction.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at MITM LLC.
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