App Store Review Guidelines
What are the App Store Review Guidelines?
The App Store Review Guidelines are Apple's enforceable policy document at developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines. They define what Apple's app review team accepts or rejects, covering the entire submission: code, metadata, screenshots, preview videos, in-app content, and business model.
The five top-level categories are Safety, Performance, Business, Design, and Legal. Each section enumerates specific rules. Reviewers cite the rule number when rejecting (e.g. "Guideline 2.3.10: Inaccurate metadata").
How do the Review Guidelines apply to screenshots?
Several guidelines target screenshots specifically. Guideline 2.3.3 requires screenshots to accurately reflect the app's current functionality. Guideline 2.3.7 prohibits including misleading marketing copy or fake UI elements. Guideline 5.2.5 covers intellectual property: screenshots can't display third-party trademarks or copyrighted material without rights.
The unofficial "60/40 rule" derives from Apple's stance that screenshots should be primarily product UI, not marketing collateral. Listings dominated by lifestyle photography or oversized text overlays trigger rejection more often than balanced screenshots.
When do guidelines change?
Apple updates the guidelines several times per year, usually after WWDC and around major iOS releases. Significant changes (new categories like AI guidelines in 2024, expanded compliance requirements in the EU under DMA in 2024) get announced separately. Developers are responsible for tracking changes.
Related terms
- App StoreThe App Store is Apple's official distribution platform for apps running on iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and visionOS.
- 60/40 ruleThe 60/40 rule is the informal guideline derived from Apple's App Store Review Guidelines that screenshots should be at least 60 percent product UI and at most 40 percent marketing collateral (lifestyle photography, oversized text, decorative graphics).
- App Store metadataApp Store metadata is the editable text and media content of an App Store listing: name, subtitle, promotional text, description, keyword field, screenshots, preview videos, app icon, and category assignments.
- Apple OCRApple OCR is Apple's optical character recognition system that scans the text inside App Store screenshots and adds the recognized words to the app's effective keyword index.