Developer Shares Lessons From Five-Plus App Store Rejections
Developer Marla shares a checklist of lessons from submitting three iOS apps to the App Store, covering subscription metadata, EULA links, premium gating, screenshot sizing, and permission-button wording to reduce review rejections.
Original post · 1 min read
learnings after submitting 3 apps to the App Store (including 5+ rejections) 🤝🏻
General
- always include screen recording + description of the app
- expect multiple review cycles if your app includes subscriptions
Subscription
- always include a working Terms of Use (EULA) link in app description (in all languages!!!)
- if you use subscriptions, double-check all required metadata fields in App Store Connect before submission
- Include sandbox account data.
- auto-activating premium without purchase is a critical rejection issue (idk this took me so long to figure out)
Sounds obvious, but make sure that premium is correctly gated, got rejected many times because I missed that
App Store
- promotional images must map to the correct in-app purchase
-> If you have monthly or yearly subs, just use your app icon and make one version with „monthly“ / „yearly“ text on the icon. Heard that this is still new, but some reviewers do that.
- Make sure you’re using correct size for App Store images BEFORE design
- export designs as JPG, so they don’t have alpha channels
Details
- „Continue” / “Next” instead of “Allow” in the app. e.g. you’re asking for camera permission. Write „continue“ on the button before the dialogue opens. Never write „allow“
Review Time
- It just depends. Was super lucky with my recent app, every review was within 24hrs. Another app had 2 weeks. I have no idea why :(
General
- always include screen recording + description of the app
- expect multiple review cycles if your app includes subscriptions
Subscription
- always include a working Terms of Use (EULA) link in app description (in all languages!!!)
- if you use subscriptions, double-check all required metadata fields in App Store Connect before submission
- Include sandbox account data.
- auto-activating premium without purchase is a critical rejection issue (idk this took me so long to figure out)
Sounds obvious, but make sure that premium is correctly gated, got rejected many times because I missed that
App Store
- promotional images must map to the correct in-app purchase
-> If you have monthly or yearly subs, just use your app icon and make one version with „monthly“ / „yearly“ text on the icon. Heard that this is still new, but some reviewers do that.
- Make sure you’re using correct size for App Store images BEFORE design
- export designs as JPG, so they don’t have alpha channels
Details
- „Continue” / “Next” instead of “Allow” in the app. e.g. you’re asking for camera permission. Write „continue“ on the button before the dialogue opens. Never write „allow“
Review Time
- It just depends. Was super lucky with my recent app, every review was within 24hrs. Another app had 2 weeks. I have no idea why :(
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