Playing a video with MPMoviePlayerController in Portrait WITHOUT Private API - Will I get rejected by Apple?

Question

It's my understanding that MPMoviePlayerController movies must play in landscape orientation because the "setOrientation:" function is private API. Well, it occurred to me that if I were to rotate the video 90 degrees in Final Cut and then re-render, the video would APPEAR to be playing in portrait orientation even though it was technically playing in landscape. I would simply have to disable the play controls to complete the effect (which is okay).

Could I my app still face rejection if I used this method? The videos would be very expensive to produce and it would be devastating to spend the money and then get rejected.

Answer 1

If you're not using private API's or violating one of the TOS agreements, there should be no reason why you would get rejected for doing this.

If you're still skeptical and want to be 99%* sure, submit an early edition app that shows a few videos this way. Set the release date to some time far into the future and after it gets approved, delete it from the store.

*I'm only putting 99% because dealing with the AppStore review team can be hit or miss depending on if they took their medication that morning or not.