Anyone who does iOS development has likely encountered this situation: after submitting your app with great effort, you receive an App Store review rejection email the next day with a variety of reasons—incorrect screenshot sizes, missing privacy policy links, unclear permission usage descriptions, and so on. Most rejection reasons can be avoided in advance, without waiting to be rejected before making changes. Here are the common reasons for rejection, categorized and explained with how to fix each.
Screenshots and Metadata Issues
Screenshots are a frequent cause of rejection. Rejections can result from sizes not conforming to App Store specifications, screenshots containing unreleased features, screenshots marked with test environment indicators (such as "beta" watermarks), screenshots inconsistent with the actual interface, or screenshots with incorrect device model labels. These issues can be caught by checking for yourself before submission.
How to fix: Regenerate screenshots at the sizes required by App Store, with one set for 6.5 inches and another for 5.5 inches. If your app supports iPhone only, these two sets are sufficient; if it supports iPad, add an additional set. App Store screenshots do not support transparent backgrounds (alpha channel), so convert transparent backgrounds to opaque before uploading. When batch-uploading screenshots, tools like Appuploader allow you to select multiple images at once and upload them automatically sorted by device size, rather than dragging them one by one on the web page.
Privacy Issues
Missing privacy policy links or incomplete content is a common reason for rejection. If your app collects user data (including via third-party SDKs), you must provide a privacy policy, and the link must be accessible.
How to fix: Prepare a privacy policy page and host it at an accessible URL, then fill in the link in the privacy policy section in App Store Connect. If your app involves third-party SDKs for advertising, analytics, payment, etc., make sure the privacy policy covers these data collection behaviors. If your app has user-generated content (UGC), you also need to provide reporting and blocking mechanisms, as this is also a review concern.
Unclear Permission Purpose Descriptions
When your app uses permissions such as location, camera, contacts, or photo album, you must explain the purpose of each permission in the review notes in App Store Connect. If you simply state "requires permission" without giving reasons, reviewers may reject it for unclear purpose.
How to fix: In the review notes, explain the purpose of each permission one by one, e.g., "Location permission is used to recommend nearby merchants," "Camera permission is used for scanning QR codes to log in." If you use in-app purchases, describe the items and prices being purchased.
Missing Test Account
If your app requires login to access core features, you must provide a working test account and test instructions. If reviewers cannot log in, they will reject the app directly for inability to evaluate functionality.
How to fix: In App Store Connect review notes, provide the test account, password, and a path to demonstrate features. If you use Sign in with Apple, explain its configuration.
Using Deprecated APIs
Using APIs that Apple has deprecated (such as UIWebView) will result in rejection. UIWebView has been removed on newer OS versions.
How to fix: Replace UIWebView with WKWebView. Search your project globally for references to UIWebView and replace each one with the WKWebView API, then rebuild and upload. If your project uses a third-party library that internally contains UIWebView, check whether you need to upgrade the library version. Such issues can be detected early using build warnings before submitting for review.
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