![An illustration of the App Store logo.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QdhrDh3heC524kHEWV8lrhJ7T74=/0x0:3000x2000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73028185/acastro_STK045_01.0.jpg)
The new year was supposed to begin with a brand spanking new calendar app. But roughly 72 hours after the premium email service Hey announced its latest feature — an integrated calendar — co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson received some unwelcome news from Apple: it was rejecting a standalone iOS app for Hey Calendar, because non-paying users couldn’t do anything when they opened the app up.
New users can’t sign up for Hey Calendar directly on the app — Basecamp, which makes Hey, makes users first sign up through a browser. Apple’s App Store rules require most paid services to offer users the ability to pay and sign up through the app, ensuring the company gets up to a 30 percent cut. The controversial rule has a ton of gray areas and…