Can a tool guarantee my app will be approved?

No, and any tool claiming so is overselling. Static checks catch deterministic configuration issues. They cannot predict judgement calls such as whether an app has enough functionality under Guideline 4.2 or reads as spam under 4.3.

Can a tool tell me if I will be rejected under 4.2?

No, and any tool implying otherwise is overselling. 4.2 is a human deciding whether your app does enough to exist. Static analysis catches deterministic configuration problems, not judgement.

Can a WebView app pass App Review?

It can, but the burden is on you to show it does something a browser does not. Native navigation, offline capability, push notifications, device integration and platform-specific interactions all help. A thin wrapper around a responsive site generally does not.

Can an app require location to function?

An app whose core feature genuinely needs location can require it for that feature, but it should degrade gracefully rather than becoming unusable, and it should not demand the permission before the user has seen why. Non-functional-without-location is the specific pattern the guideline targets.

Can an app take payment for a real-world service without IAP?

Yes. Physical goods and real-world services rendered outside the app are outside the in-app purchase requirement. A cleaning business app charging a customer for a clean is not selling digital content.

Can I add a privacy manifest for a third-party framework myself?

Not legitimately in the framework's own bundle if it is a binary you do not control. Apple requires the manifest to be in the bundle that includes the executable or dynamic library, and states that a third-party SDK cannot rely on the app's manifest. The real fixes are updating, forking, replacing or removing.

Can I download this mapping as data?

Yes. It is published as JSON under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to shipcheck.bakerventuresstudio.com. Apple's list changes, so check the transcription date and verify against Apple's page before relying on it.

Can I hard-code subscription prices in my app?

No. Prices vary by storefront and change, and hard-coded prices go stale or display the wrong currency. Read the localised price from StoreKit and display that, which is also what avoids a mismatch between your UI and the actual charge.

Can I just declare every reason code to be safe?

No. Apple's wording is that you must declare one or more approved reasons that accurately reflect your use, and that you may use the APIs and derived data only for the declared reasons. Over-declaring is a misdeclaration, and several reason codes carry conditions such as not sending data off-device that you would then be bound by.

Can I link to my website to subscribe?

Rules on external purchase links have changed and vary by storefront. Treat in-app purchase as the safe path for your own subscription, and check the current guideline text and any storefront-specific entitlement before relying on an external link.

Can I mention Android in my App Store description?

Generally no. Naming another mobile platform in your description, keywords, screenshots or preview video is what this guideline is about. Referring to non-mobile platforms such as a web app or a desktop version is a different situation and is normally fine.

Can you appeal an App Store rejection?

Yes. You can reply in the Resolution Center, and you can escalate to the App Review Board. Replying with a specific, clause-level explanation of what you changed is far more effective than resubmitting silently, because the reviewer sees your reply attached to the submission.

Do App Review notes actually get read?

They are attached to the submission and available to the reviewer. Treat them as the one place you get to pre-empt a question rather than as a guaranteed read - which means the notes should be short enough that reading them is cheap.

Do I have to declare data collected by third-party SDKs?

Yes. Google's guidance is that your declaration must cover your app's full behaviour including libraries and SDKs it uses. You are responsible for the data practices of code you ship, whether or not you wrote it.

Do I need a demo account for App Review?

If any part of your app is behind a login, yes. Guideline 2.1 covers app completeness, and a login a reviewer cannot get past means the app cannot be fully reviewed. A broken or expired demo account is one of the most common and most self-inflicted rejections there is.

Do I need a restore purchases button?

Yes in practice. An app selling non-consumable or subscription content needs a way for a user to restore an existing entitlement on a new device, and its absence is a routine rejection.

Do React Native apps get rejected more often than native apps?

There is no public data comparing rejection rates by framework, so any claim in either direction is speculation. What is specific to React Native and Expo is the type of rejection - configuration issues originating in dependencies and generated native projects rather than in code the developer wrote.

Do rejections hurt your app's ranking?

There is no evidence that a rejection itself affects App Store ranking. The cost is time and momentum - a delayed launch, a missed campaign date, a marketing push aimed at an app nobody can download yet.

Do these tools need access to my code?

It varies, and this is the sharpest difference between them. AcceptMyApp's code checker asks you to grant one-time read-only access to a GitHub repository. shipcheck runs inside your own Claude Code session against local files, so nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Do unused permissions affect Google Play?

Yes. Dangerous permissions in the merged manifest need to be reflected in your Data safety declaration or justified as not collecting data, and sensitive permissions such as background location require a separate Permissions Declaration with a demonstration video.

Does a screenshot showing an Android phone violate 2.3.10?

Yes, and it is one of the most common ways cross-platform teams get caught. Screenshots must show iOS. A device frame with Android navigation buttons, an Android status bar, or Material-style UI chrome is enough to trigger it.

Does an unused permission cause an App Store rejection?

It can. Apple's data-minimisation expectations under Guideline 5.1.1 make requesting a permission the app does not need a live rejection reason, and Guideline 2.5.4 specifically addresses declaring the location background mode without a legitimate persistent-location feature.

Does Android need anything different for background location?

Yes, and it is a bigger hurdle. ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION requires a Permissions Declaration in Play Console including a written justification and a demonstration video showing the feature in use, and Google expects the least invasive option that satisfies the use case.

Does declaring background location require anything else?

On iOS you should be prepared to explain the user-facing feature in Review Notes. On Google Play, ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION requires a separate Permissions Declaration in Play Console with a demonstration video and evidence that it is core functionality.

Does Expo handle privacy manifests for me?

Partially, and Expo's own guide is candid about the limits. It states that Apple does not correctly parse all PrivacyInfo files included by static CocoaPods dependencies, and recommends manually walking node_modules and aggregating the values yourself.

Does ITMS-91061 also require a signature?

Yes, where the listed SDK is used as a binary dependency. Apple's third-party SDK requirements page states that signatures are also required in those cases, and that any version of a listed SDK, plus anything repackaging one, is included in the requirement.

Does my App Store description need to match my paywall?

Yes. A description advertising a free trial the app does not offer, or a price the app does not charge, is a metadata accuracy problem in addition to a 3.1.2 problem, and it is one of the easiest rejections to avoid.

Does react-native itself need a privacy manifest?

hermes, React Native's default JavaScript engine, is on Apple's list. That makes the requirement close to universal for React Native apps regardless of which other libraries they use.

Does shipcheck upload my code anywhere?

No. It runs inside the Claude Code session already open on your machine and reads local files. There is no repository grant, no upload and no account. Competing web tools generally require one or more of those.

Does Stripe violate App Store rules?

Not for real-world services. Apple's rules do not require in-app purchase for goods and services consumed outside the app, so a booking app collecting payment for a physical service via Stripe is fine. Your own app subscription is a digital good and must go through in-app purchase.

Does the closed testing requirement apply to everyone?

No. It has applied to personal developer accounts created after a cut-off date rather than to organisation accounts or to established ones. Check your own account status in Play Console; the requirement is surfaced there.

Does this affect apps already installed?

No. Existing installs keep working. The requirement gates publishing new apps and updates.

How do I change the target SDK version in Expo?

Not by editing android/build.gradle, because continuous native generation regenerates it. Set it through the expo-build-properties config plugin in app.json or app.config.js, or upgrade the Expo SDK version, which moves the default.

How do I check my Data safety form against my app?

Derive it from evidence rather than memory. List the SDKs actually in your build, read each vendor's published data-collection documentation, check the merged AndroidManifest for permissions, and reconcile that against every row in the form.

How do I fix a 4.2 rejection?

Make the app-specific value visible and reachable in the first minute, add genuine platform integration rather than a feature list, and explain in review notes exactly where to find what makes it more than a website. Arguing the guideline rarely works; showing the functionality sometimes does.

How do I fix ITMS-91053 in an Expo project?

Read the category named in the email, identify which bundle the email names, and either update the dependency to a version that ships its own PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy or, if the usage is in your own app code, add the correct NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes entry with an accurate approved reason to your app's manifest.

How do I install shipcheck?

Three commands in Claude Code - /plugin marketplace add, then /plugin install shipcheck, then /shipcheck:scan. No account, no signup, no browser tab.

How do I remove a background mode from an Expo app?

Remove it at the source. Uninstall the package that adds it, or adjust the config plugin options in app.json or app.config.js. Editing ios/YourApp/Info.plist directly does not survive prebuild, so the change will vanish on the next EAS build.

How do I remove a permission from an Expo app?

At the source. Uninstall the package that adds it, or configure the plugin's options in app.json or app.config.js, or write a small config plugin that strips the key. Editing ios/YourApp/Info.plist directly does not survive the next prebuild.

How does this affect a launch date?

It puts a fixed multi-week floor under any Play launch from a new personal account, and the clock only starts once enough testers have genuinely opted in. Plan it as a lead time before submission rather than as a step during it.

How long does it take to fix an App Store rejection?

The fix itself is usually minutes. The cycle is the cost - a new build, a new upload, and another trip through review. Each round trip is typically one to three days of calendar time, and configuration rejections often take more than one round trip because the rejection names a guideline rather than a file.

How many testers does Google Play require?

The number and the duration are set by Google and have been revised since introduction, so take them from Play Console rather than from any article. What has been stable is the shape - a minimum number of testers who actually opt in, sustained continuously rather than counted once.

How many times do apps usually get rejected?

There is no reliable public figure, and any specific number you see quoted is usually a vendor estimate rather than Apple data. What is well documented is that Apple rejects a very large number of submissions annually and that metadata, privacy and completeness issues dominate the reasons.

How much does shipcheck cost?

The first scan is free and shows real findings rather than a blurred teaser. After that it is 29 dollars one-time for a single app with unlimited rescans, 49 dollars a year for unlimited apps, or 149 dollars a year for the agency tier.

How should you request Always location on iOS?

In stages. Show a plain-language primer screen explaining what the app does with location, request When In Use first, let the user experience the feature, then escalate to Always with a rationale when there is a reason they can see. Demanding Always at first launch is a rejection pattern.

Is a generic App Store compliance checker enough for a React Native app?

It will catch the metadata and content issues, which are framework-independent. It will generally miss the configuration issues that dominate RN and Expo rejections, because those require understanding how Expo modules pull permissions and privacy declarations in transitively.

Is Google Play review different from App Store review?

Structurally, yes. Apple's process is a human review that produces a cited guideline. Google mixes automated policy checks, some of which block the upload before any human sees it, with policy enforcement that can arrive after publication and can escalate to the developer account rather than just the app.

Is ITMS-91053 a warning or a rejection?

Since May 1, 2024 it blocks the upload rather than merely warning. Apple's own documentation states that apps which do not describe their use of required reason API in their privacy manifest file are not accepted by App Store Connect.

Is there a free alternative to paid App Store rejection checkers?

Yes. Free Claude Code plugins and open-source skills check apps against the App Store Review Guidelines, AcceptMyApp offers a free first analysis, and shipcheck's first scan is free with real findings. Start free; pay only if you need React Native depth or a maintained policy corpus.

Is there a free App Store compliance checker?

Yes. There are free open-source Claude Code plugins and skills that check an app against the App Store Review Guidelines, and AcceptMyApp offers a free first analysis. shipcheck's first scan is free and shows real findings rather than a blurred teaser.

Every question this site answers

Updated September 6, 2026 · published by Baker Ventures LLC · sources cited inline

Every question answered on this site, in one place: 106 of them across 24 pages. Each links to the page that answers it in full. This index is generated from the pages themselves, so it cannot drift from them.

All questions

Is there a free alternative to paid App Store rejection checkers?

What should I check before submitting a React Native app?

Every question this site answers

All questions

By page

App Store rejection checkers compared

Apple's required reason API categories and approved reason codes

Apple's required-manifest SDKs, mapped to npm packages

Auditing the permissions your config plugins added

Catch the rejection before you submit it

Compliance tool comparisons

Google Play, for React Native and Expo apps

Guideline 2.3.10 — other platforms in your metadata

Guideline 2.5.4 — background modes without a feature

Guideline 3.1.1 — in-app purchase

Guideline 3.1.2 — subscriptions

Guideline 4.2 — minimum functionality

Guideline 5.1.5 — location services

Guides

ITMS-91053 — Missing API declaration

ITMS-91054, ITMS-91055 and ITMS-91056

ITMS-91061 — Missing privacy manifest

Play target API level, and what it blocks

Play's closed testing requirement

The Play Data safety form, and why RN apps declare it wrong

What an App Store rejection actually costs

Why apps get rejected

Why React Native and Expo apps get rejected differently

Writing App Review notes that work