App Store Review Guidelines
Short definition
The App Store Review Guidelines are Apple's authoritative, regularly updated rulebook that every submitted iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS app must satisfy to pass App Review.
Detailed
The guidelines are organised into five sections: Safety, Performance, Business, Design, and Legal. Each section contains numbered rules (for example, 2.1 App Completeness, 4.3 Spam, 5.1.1 Data Collection and Storage) that App Review uses as the basis for approval or rejection decisions. Apple revises the guidelines several times per year; material changes are announced on the Apple Developer News page.
Example
An app rejected under 4.3 'Spam' (duplicate or minimally differentiated submission) must either substantially differentiate its feature set and re-submit, combine with other apps under the same brand, or appeal to the App Review Board with a written justification.
Primary sources
How Forvibe handles this
Forvibe's App Store Review Simulation addresses this directly: catch apple rejection risks before you submit.
See how it works →Related terms
- App ReviewApp Review is the human-plus-automated approval process Apple runs on every iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS submission, and the equivalent (mostly automated) process Google runs on every new or updated Google Play submission.
- App Store ConnectApp Store Connect is Apple's web and API console for submitting, managing, and distributing iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS apps on the Apple App Store.
- Privacy Policy (app context)An app privacy policy is a legally binding document that discloses what personal data the app collects, how it is used, with whom it is shared, and what rights users have over their data.
- Auto-Renewable SubscriptionAn auto-renewable subscription is an In-App Purchase type that charges the user at a fixed interval (weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.) and renews automatically until the user cancels.
- App Privacy DetailsApp Privacy details (often called the 'privacy nutrition label') are Apple's required disclosures on every App Store product page showing the categories of data the app collects, whether the data is linked to the user, and whether it is used to track the user across other companies.