What to check before you submit your iOS app to App Review

My first app was rejected four times. My second, Invobis, was approved on the first try, in under 48 hours.

Nothing about the second app was simpler. The difference was a checklist, written from the mistakes on the first, which I posted on X the week it was approved. This is that checklist, with Apple's own rule behind each line.

How often does Apple reject apps?

Often. In 2025 Apple reviewed 9,100,620 submissions and rejected 2,093,244 of them, almost one in four. Performance problems, such as crashes and incomplete apps, account for the largest share of rejections by far.

Apple says over 40% of unresolved issues come from a single guideline, 2.1, App Completeness. Its newsroom adds that over 443,000 submissions were rejected for privacy violations in 2025.

So most rejections aren't about taste. They're about apps that weren't ready, or didn't explain themselves.

Is the app actually finished?

• Test the exact build you're submitting, on real devices: the smallest and largest screens you support, and iPad if the app runs there.
• Test on the oldest iOS version you claim to support.
• Remove every placeholder: Apple's guideline 2.1 asks for final versions, with no placeholder text or temporary content.
• Tap every button and every link. Dead buttons, broken copy and wrong plurals are the small things reviewers notice.
• Make sure your backend is live and reachable during review.

Does the reviewer have everything they need?

This is the one most makers skip, and the one that helped me most: don't make Apple work out how your app works.

• If the app has a login, give a demo account that works and won't expire. App Store Connect asks for it in the App Review section.
• Use the review notes, up to 4,000 bytes, to explain how to test the app: how to reach the paywall, the subscriptions, the widgets.
• Record a short demo video for anything the reviewer can't do themselves, such as hardware, a location or a second device.
• Give a review contact with a phone number in international format, starting with "+".

Is the privacy side complete?

• A privacy policy, linked both in App Store Connect and inside the app. Guideline 5.1.1(i) requires both places, and App Store Connect requires the URL for every app.
• App Privacy details that match what your app and its SDKs really collect. Apple requires them for new apps and updates, third-party code included, and its page explains how SDK privacy manifests help you fill them in accurately.
• Permission screens that explain why you need access. Apple asks that purpose strings clearly and completely describe how you use the data.
• Never imitate or steer Apple's permission prompts. Guideline 5.1.1(iv) says apps must not try to manipulate, trick or force people to consent.
• If people can create an account, they can delete it inside the app: guideline 5.1.1(v).

Do the screenshots and metadata match the app?

• Screenshots and preview videos show the exact build you're submitting. Apple says screenshots should show the app in use, not just title art, a login page or a splash screen.
• The name is 30 characters or fewer, and nothing in the description promises a feature that isn't there.
• Every screenshot is a size Apple accepts. Our free screenshot size checker tells you in seconds.

Is the paywall set up the way Apple wants?

If your app sells anything, this is where first apps get stuck.

• Paid features use in-app purchase, as guideline 3.1.1 requires, and there's a way to restore purchases: Apple says you should have a restore mechanism for restorable purchases.
• The price is the clearest thing on every paywall, clearer than the free trial or the discount.
• The paywall says how long the plan lasts, that it renews automatically, and how to cancel. Guideline 3.1.2 asks you to describe what people get for the price before you ask them to subscribe.
• Terms of use and the privacy policy are always visible from the paywall.
• Subscriptions and their review screenshots are set up in App Store Connect before you submit.

Is the app more than a website, or a copy of one?

Guideline 4.2 asks for minimum functionality: an app that's only a repackaged website doesn't belong on the App Store. Guideline 4.3 turns down apps that can't be told apart from what's already there, and names crowded categories such as flashlights, wallpapers and simple timers.

If your app is in one of those, say plainly in your notes what's different about it.

What does App Store Connect ask for?

• A support URL with real contact details.
• The age rating questionnaire. An app without a rating can't be published.
• The export compliance questions about encryption.
• Description, keywords, screenshots and copyright. What's New isn't used on a first version.
• Any special capability your app depends on, approved in advance. Some are only offered as entitlements for limited use cases, so request them well before you plan to submit.

How long does review take?

Apple says it reviews at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48. After approval, an app can take up to 24 hours to appear on the App Store.

Set the release to manual, so approval doesn't pick your launch day. The launch checklist covers the weeks after.

What if you're rejected anyway?

It happens to a lot of first apps, mine included, and it isn't the end. In 2025, 387,087 submissions were approved after an earlier rejection.

Read which guideline the rejection cites, fix exactly that, and explain the change in your review notes when you resubmit. Then add the lesson to your own checklist. Mine started that way.