What is the little plus sign on some apps in the app store?

How should we approach an Apple App store rejection for using signup links in an app that advertises certain optional paid services that are not used in the app?

• We created a free app for a job search site which is also free.  Job searches require no registration. The app only asks you to Sign in when you take an action that would be impossible without knowing who you are (such as applying to a job). The signin popup also has a link to Register for a new free account.  The bulk of the site is free including applying for jobs but the app also has one tab that advertises optional paid services like resume preparation and an ability to feature your resume to recruiters. The link next to these simply says, "Call me back" and prompts you for a phone number as these are offline activities, and do not result in any content that is used in the application, and is not a purchase that can currently be done online (i.e even our website does not offer online purchase for this). The recruiters dont use this app and they have other interfaces to search through candidates. This is only an employee app. The reviewer initially rejected the app citing: "11.13 Apps that link to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app, such as a “buy" button that goes to a web site to purchase a digital book, will be rejected" On our response, that this is not a subscription to be used inside in the app, nor is it strictly a buy button, the reviewer simply replied that it is still appropriate to remove the external links and also asked that we entirely remove the list of digital services available for purchase. Before we had a chance to argue that at least some of the service are not digital nor are they used inside the app etc, s/he further replied: "All external links and registration must be removed from your application before resubmission" The last part has thrown us for a loop.  Now we can't have a user signup for a free subscription inside the application even if we remove the paid services tab? We do not have a paid subscription tier, other than these one off services. Is this consistent with Appstore policies, and if so it does not seem that 11.3 covers this. This is our first submission to the app store, and dont want to get into a pissing match with the reviewer. Any advice on how to at least retain the ability for a new user to sign up for the free services even as we remove all mention of paid services to avoid the grey area of using the app for any paid services directly or indirectly. (The app is used in a country where Apple does not offer in-app payments even if we could handle electronic payments for the one-off services which are handled by a 3rd party)

• Answer:

  That's one reason that some people support the approach of building mobile apps as web apps, using html5 and JavaScript. If you have to bypass the AppStore I can't think of any other way.