Apple relaxed guidelines implemented in June banning apps from appearing on its App Store if they were created using templates or other generators.

TechCrunch reported the company revised the policy, which was designed to reduce the number the availability of low-quality apps and spam. The decision reportedly had a major impact on smaller businesses, restaurants, nonprofits and other organisations which may not have the funds or know-how to build an app from scratch.

The new rules attempt to better clarify what apps will be accepted in the App Store.

Apple’s previous guideline ruled outright any apps created from a commercialised template or an app generation service will be rejected. However, this has now been revised to state: “Apps created from a commercialised template or service will be rejected unless they are submitted by the provider of the app’s content.”

The guidelines go on to state such services should not submit apps on behalf of their clients and “should offer tools that let their clients create customised, innovative apps that provide unique customer experiences”.

Apple also said it would be acceptable for template providers to “create a single binary to host all client content in an aggregated or picker model, for example as a restaurant finder app with separate customised entries or pages for each client restaurant, or as an event app with separate entries for each client event”.

In short, Apple is happy for a small business to use an app templating service, but the template providers should not be publishing the apps on behalf of those businesses.

Long-term, Apple wants every app on its store to be published by the business or organisation it is promoting.

TechCrunch also reported government and nonprofit organsiations developing apps in the US will not be subject to a $99 developer fee as of early 2018, after Apple decided to waive the charge.