I want to offer to my merchants the ability to connect their telegram or other messaging apps so they can send message and receive notifications.
During the app review process I had a “Connect to telegram” button that redirected users to my website to connect their telegram (because I didn’t have this feature in the Shopify app yet). I was asked to remove it as you cannot advertise features and drive merchants out of the Shopify Admin.
My question now is, I am allowed to link to my Telegram Bot so it will be easy for merchants to click and find the bot? All the functionality they need will be inside the Shopify App. I have some grey areas when it comes to external redirections such as this, or for OAuth purposes as to whether they are allowed.
I would appreciate if someone could shed some light on this for me.
Hey @Apostolos , generally, integrations like the one you mentioned there are acceptable when all setup, configuration, and day‑to‑day use live within your embedded app in the Shopify admin (if you are intending to build an embedded app and not an off-site one).
If an off‑admin step is strictly necessary to complete a third‑party handoff (for example a Telegram deep link or OAuth), that’s typically fine as long as the flow is initiated from the app, avoids pop‑ups, and returns the merchant back to the admin with a clear connected state. What we try to avoid is advertising or routing merchants to external sites for primary workflows that should exist in the embedded app. If you keep the experience anchored in‑admin, you should generally be okay (there’s some more information here on restricted behaviour for apps)
I can’t guarantee the outcome of app reviews here on the forums since decisions are often made on a case by case basis, but if you’re open to sharing what grey areas you’re concerned about, I can see if I’m able to help provide any information. Hope this helps, let me know if I can help out further at all
Hi @Alan_G, yes that clarifies things quite a bit.
A final question I have is - since my app is already published - could I ask for another review after a big update that changes the UI in a meaningful way? I’ll do my best to make everything compliant but sometimes there can be a detail we didn’t think about as developers and I wouldn’t want it to seem like I am trying to intentionally make changes that are not compliant after the app was reviewed and published.
Hey @Apostolos, happy to confirm some info with you here. Not every published app update needs a new review, but if your update changes extension types or configuration that are subject to review you should submit an app version for review from the Partner Dashboard (there’s a list of app/extension types that do require additional reviews here in the docs):
In general though apps, you don’t need to have your app re-reviewed once it’s approved (but we do really appreciate your honesty/transparency for sure. Periodic app audits can occur though, and Built for Shopify apps do have annual reviews, so I did just want to mention that. Hope this helps, let me know if I can clarify anything on our end here.
