Common Reasons Windows 8 Apps Fail

I’ve published 5 apps to the Windows 8 marketplace and 4 of them failed their first submissions. Here is a brief list of reasons that the Windows 8 apps I’ve built have failed. Hopefully I can save you repeating them.

Note: Always run the App Certification tool first. If it’s not working properly for you, try right clicking on it’s icon and selecting ‘Run As Admin’. This helped me out.

1. Missing a Privacy Policy

If you use internet/data connection in your app, then you must have a privacy policy. There are several good posts out there detailing how to add one, and what content to throw in it.

2. Game was submitted to a region that requires official review

Some countries require all games pass their review board before being sold. This list is constantly changing, but make sure you aren’t submitting to any countries that require a ratings review certificate.

3-5. HTML5 / JS Specific Problems

• Files not UTF-8. If you imported files from a web-project they may not be UTF-8, you’ll have to Save As.. each one and convert them to UTF-8
• Including external files without being in Web Context. If this doesn’t make sense then read up on the ‘Web Context’ for Win 8 apps.
• You tried to use Alert / Confirm boxes.. For some lovely reason Windows 8 apps don’t support alert or confirm boxes. They will crash your app. You’ll have to build your own, and potentially restructure code due to alert/confirm’s expected blocking behaviour.