Apple rejects app for showing iTunes 11 notifications

Mac developer Sherief Farouk has a Mac app called Listening To that shows what song is playing using Mountain Lion’s notification system. It’s a cool and useful app, but Apple doesn’t seem to agree.

Farouk told The Loop that Apple rejected an update to the app this week claiming that showing the “iTunes ‘now playing’ or track changes is a misuse of Notification Center.”

Here’s the funny thing. The app was already approved and in the Mac App Store for some time with the notification functionality working perfectly. Apple rejected the app when Farouk submitted an update adding a preference to remove the menu bar icon. No changes were made to the notification functionality in the update, according to Farouk.

The app, in its current version, is still available for download from the Mac App Store. I downloaded it last night and it works just fine.