A small software company in Africa is seeking help after Apple terminated their entire developer account following what they describe as unauthorized activities by a single employee. The company, posting on Hacker News under the username 0x1f, says their app serves as “a vital economic engine for our local community, employing a whole fleet of delivery agents and serving as a lifeline for local stores and restaurants.”
According to the post made 5 hours ago, the company discovered that one employee used a shared company machine to engage in activities that violated Apple’s Developer Terms of Service. The company states they “fired the employee on the spot and completely overhauled our security,” implementing “mandatory, peer-reviewed, supervised sessions for any Apple Developer portal access.”
The company suspects the violation involved “leaked certs” (certificates), though they acknowledge not knowing exactly why the account was terminated. A commenter noted that sharing one Apple Developer account between multiple developers also violates Apple’s terms and conditions, suggesting “every developer should have their own account and work on their own machine.”
The termination has immediate economic consequences for the company’s community. “Because of this one employee’s actions, our app is facing total removal, and families in our community are quite literally losing their daily income,” the post states. The company has submitted an appeal through App Store Connect and emailed Apple executives but reports feeling “completely stuck behind automated walls.”
The company provided their Apple Team ID (T35TM9SW45) and is asking the Hacker News community for advice on “how to get a human at Apple to actually read our appeal.” Some commenters have requested more transparency about the specific nature of their app and the employee’s violations before offering support.
