Publishing an iOS App to the App Store

Guidelines for Submission

Photo by Tyler Lastovich on Unsplash

When submitting an iOS app to the App Store, you may come across the same lengthy set of documentation that I did — the App Store Review Guidelines. If you’re anything further like me, you may have felt a little overwhelmed by the sheer length. I’ve provided a short rundown on the guidelines to help those who are getting ready to submit their first iOS app!

Prerequisites

In order to submit an app to the App Store, you need to have an Apple Developer’s account which costs a fee of $99 annually.

We’ll focus on 5 different sections breaking down the guidelines — safety, performance, business, design, and legal.

Safety

1. Don’t include anything that could be upsetting or offensive. This includes anything that could be considered as negative to any particular group of people, violent imagery, pornographic material, or inaccurate, misleading information.
2. If accepting user-generated content, you need to be able to filter out anything that might be offensive, remove users who break rules, and users need to be able to report concerns.
3. Developer contact information needs to be provided and up to date in order to be reachable for help or support issues.
4. Data security is important. The app needs to properly handle user information, taking precautionary steps when needed, in order to prevent unauthorized data usage.

Performance

1. Testing should have been thoroughly done before the app is submitted for review. They don’t accept demos, betas, and trial versions. Bugs should be gone and there shouldn’t be any obvious technical issues.
2. The app should be complete and fully functional at a production level when submitted. All temporary/placeholder content should have been replaced with the real stuff and everything should be ready to go.
3. Metadata needs to be up to date, this includes the app description, screenshots, previews, and privacy information that you provide with the submission. This data needs to be kept up to date with each new version. You also need to select an appropriate category, answer age rating questions, and choose a unique app name.
4. The App Store suggests that iOS should be able to run on both the iPhone and the iPad if possible. The app should also preserve power and cannot make any changes to the device’s system settings.
5. As far as software goes, the app shouldn’t include any deprecated features or technologies. They also need to request user consent if they are recording or logging user activities. The app must be self-contained, which means it cannot be set up to download, install, or execute code that affects your device.

Business

1. This section mainly focuses on payments and In-App Purchases. They mostly stress that you cannot set up your own payment systems, you need to utilize in-app purchases if including unlockable features or subscription systems. Purchases are not allowed to expire, and the policies for auto-renewal for subscriptions need to be clearly disclosed.
2. With advertisements you should avoid dark patterns, this includes tricking users into clicking things they don’t intend on clicking. If ads are in the main user experience they need to be clearly marked as such and should be able to be easily closed or skipped. Ads also need to consider the age rating, don’t include inappropriate advertisements on an app deemed appropriate for children.
3. This is hopefully obvious, but you cannot manipulate reviews or inflate rankings by incentivizing feedback or creating fake feedback or you risk having your app removed and your developer account banned.

Design

1. No copycat apps. Apps cannot be slightly altered versions of pre-existing apps.
2. Needs to be more functional or have more entertainment value than a website. If it doesn’t seem like an app, and it seems like it could function as a website, the App Store probably won’t accept it.
3. Things like push notifications have to be opt-in. These cannot be required for app functionality.
4. If you offer any sort of third-party or social login service (i.e. Facebook, Google, GitHub, Twitter), you also need to offer Sign In with Apple.

Legal

1. Privacy policies need to be linked to the app. The privacy policy must include what identifying data will be collected, how the data will be used, identify any data sharing that will be done with third parties, and must include data retention and deletion policies.
2. You should only request data from the users that will be relevant to the core functionality of the app.
3. Data use and sharing can only be done with explicit user consent. You cannot repurpose without further consent.
4. If you need to include account sign-in (only do if necessary), you need to include a way for users to delete their accounts directly from the application.
5. You must follow all local and federal laws, as well as consider privacy laws for children (if your age rating includes children or is categorized as a kid’s app) like COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act).
6. Only use your own intellectual property. You must have created the content directly or be licensed to use it.

Conclusion

So, there are a lot of rules to follow and they can technically change whenever Apple deems it suitable. I believe the best approach is to try your hardest to meet all of those already specified, but leave yourself enough time for the review process and a possible revision if requested before approval. The App Store reviews about 1000K apps per week and it can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks to get a response.

Once approved, make sure you keep your app up to date with non-deprecated technologies, keep it maintained, and keep the metadata up to date. Happy apping!