What changed in the October 16, 2026 App Review Guidelines
By Niv Nisanov ·
On October 16, 2026, Apple published a revised version of the App Review Guidelines and two news posts about it: Updated App Review Guidelines are now available and Strengthening App Review Guidelines against nonconsensual intimate imagery and bait-and-switch apps. This note lists what Apple says changed and which of our guides it touches. It covers only what Apple published.
What Apple listed as changed
- Before You Submit and After You Submit: links to additional documentation were added.
- 1.2 User-Generated Content: clarified which app content and app types the guideline covers. Apple's post says content moderation requirements now explicitly cover nonconsensual intimate imagery, including imagery generated with AI tools, and that developers who fail to implement adequate safeguards, or don't remedy violations after notice, risk violating the Developer Code of Conduct. Our guide: Guideline 1.2.
- 2.3.14: a new guideline covering creative assets. Our guide: Guideline 2.3.14.
- 2.5.19: a new guideline that, in Apple's words, clarifies long-standing policy on hidden, dormant, or undocumented features, formerly covered in Guideline 2.3.1. Apple's post describes it as a prohibition on apps misrepresenting what they do during review and then changing after approval. Our guide: Guideline 2.5.19.
- 3.1.1(a): the bullet on Music Streaming Services Entitlements was removed and folded into the bullet on StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlements, with a clarification that links may be provided to a permitted destination. Our guide: Guideline 3.1.1.
- Section 5: clarified that apps found to facilitate human trafficking and/or the exploitation of children will be removed from the App Store and blocked from alternative distribution.
Apple also says translations of the updated guidelines will be available on the Apple Developer website within one month of October 16.
What this means if you are reading a rejection
The practical change for decoding is numbering. Before October 16, hidden or undocumented features were cited under 2.3.1. Now they sit under 2.5.19, and the current 2.3.1(a) is about describing new features with specificity in Notes for Review and about misleading marketing. If your rejection cites 2.3.1 and talks about features the reviewer could not see, read the 2.5.19 guide as well. The decoder links both.
Context Apple gave
In the same post, Apple says that last year it prevented over 150K apps with safety issues from reaching customers and terminated over 193K developer accounts for fraud and abuse. Those are Apple's figures; we have no way to check them.
Sources: Apple Developer News, October 16, 2026 (1, 2), and the App Review Guidelines. Read the official text before acting on any summary.