Does deleting the old app fix 4.3?

No. Deletion does not erase review history and can make the pattern look worse. Explain the history; do not hide it.

Guideline4.3

Guideline 4.3 Rejection but You Only Have One App

§ 01What this rejection usually means

“I only have one app” is not a defense by itself. Apple’s match can be against another developer’s template, an old submission you deleted, a contractor’s other clients, or leftover identifiers inside a project that looks new to you.

§ 02What Apple’s wording tells you

App Review

We noticed your app shares a similar binary, metadata, and/or concept with apps submitted to the App Store.

The note is usually generic. You have to run the checklist yourself: account history, source origin, then identifiers, then metadata.

§ 03Common causes

A deleted app or an old TestFlight on the same team.
A contractor who reused a client project.
Purchased source that already exists on the store under other brands.
Old bundle IDs and schemes still embedded in a rewrite.
A false positive on a common architecture.

§ 04How to diagnose your case

List every app this team has ever submitted, including removals.
Ask who typed the first line of this repo — you, a vendor, or a clone of an older project.
If both answers are clean, prepare a false-positive reply with evidence. Do not skip the grep.

§ 05What to inspect in your project

App Store Connect: removed apps, other bundle IDs, other users on the team
Git remote and first-commit date vs. the vendor’s public repo
Bundle ID, extensions, App Groups, Keychain, URL schemes
Firebase / Google / Facebook configuration
Icon, screenshots, onboarding, tab bar vs. known templates

§ 06What not to do

Do not create a new bundle ID to start over.
Do not open a second developer account for the same binary.
Do not only swap the icon.
Do not tell Apple they are wrong without attaching an audit.

§ 07How to fix it

Clean leftover identifiers and template assets.
Rewrite metadata so it cannot be pasted onto another brand.
Send a reply that lists what you checked and what is unique.

§ 08How to verify the fix

Repo search for the old name returns nothing you still ship.
A clean archive’s Info.plist shows only this product’s schemes.

§ 09What evidence to prepare

Account screenshot: one relevant app
Statement of source ownership
Audit list of identifiers
Product site or design files with dates

§ 10Suggested reply to App Review

Resolution Center · Reply

Hello App Review,

We received Guideline 4.3. This team has a single app on the store and we have not submitted duplicate products.

We audited the project for leftover bundle IDs, extension IDs, App Groups, Keychain groups, URL schemes, Associated Domains, and third-party config. We also compared metadata and UI against known templates. This codebase is original to [team / company].

The product is [one sentence]. If this was matched to another developer’s app, that is not an app we submitted.

We are ready to answer any specific overlap you are seeing.

Thank you.

§ 11Should you appeal?

If a factual one-app reply is ignored and the audit is clean, this is one of the better 4.3 appeal candidates. Still reply first.

§ 12Questions people ask next

Does deleting the old app fix 4.3?: No. Deletion does not erase review history and can make the pattern look worse. Explain the history; do not hide it.