Sources and method
Unofficial explanations of Apple's App Review Guidelines, written in our own words. Apple's text prevails.
What this site is
This is an unofficial explanation of Apple's App Review Guidelines. It is not affiliated with Apple and not endorsed by Apple. Apple's own text prevails over anything written here.
The words App Store and Apple are used only as the names of what is described. This site uses no Apple logo.
Where the guidelines come from
Every page explains one numbered guideline of the page Apple publishes at developer.apple.com. The numbers, the headings and the date come from that page. The version read for this site says it was last updated on October 16, 2026.
Apple's text is copyrighted, so no page copies it. Each page explains the guideline in other words and quotes no more than a short phrase. A script checks every page against Apple's text and stops the build if a page shares a run of more than eight consecutive words with it.
What each page contains
The first screen says in one sentence what the guideline requires. 'What it means' follows the text of the guideline point by point. 'What reviewers look at' appears only where the guideline itself says what happens to an app, such as rejection or removal.
Nothing is added from experience, and no rejection message is quoted or invented.
What is left out
Numbers that Apple marks as intentionally omitted have no page: 2.5.7, 2.5.10, 4.2.4, 4.2.5, 4.4.3 and 4.6.
Four headings have no text of their own and only introduce numbered guidelines: 2.4, 2.5, 3.1 and 4.5. Their numbered guidelines have pages.
Lettered or roman-numbered items, such as 4.3(a) and 5.1.1 (iii), have no number of their own. They are explained on the page of the guideline that contains them.