How to Respond to Apple's "App Store Review Guidelines" Email

Have you received an email from Apple stating "Your app does not follow the App Store Review Guidelines"? Don't panic! This guide will walk you through exactly what this means and how to resolve it quickly.

Understanding the Notification

You may have recently received an email notification from Apple with this heading and may have been confused about what it meant. Looks scary, but it really isn't!

It's just Apple's method to catch your attention, and it worked.

The email might contain the following text:

We noticed some possible issues with your answers to the app privacy questions in App Store Connect and want to help you make the appropriate changes. The App Store provides users with important information about your app's privacy practices based on your answers to these questions. This information helps users better understand your app’s privacy practices before they download it on an Apple platform.

Your app appears to integrate code from third-party SDKs or libraries, such as Facebook App Events and Facebook Login. It is possible these SDKs collect and track device or user data. Your answers to the app privacy questions indicate that your app does not collect any kind of user or device data.

You are responsible for everything in your app, including code from third-party partners like ad networks, analytics tools, and third-party SDKs. To make sure future submissions are fully compliant, carefully choose your third-party partners and review their privacy practices. You'll need to know the types of data they collect from your app to accurately answer the app privacy questions in App Store Connect. Once you have this information, please update your answers as necessary. You do not need to reply to this message once your privacy information has been updated.

The most common reason why your app receives this notification is the App Privacy section of your Apple Individual Account needs to be updated. It requires action, but it is not something to worry too much about, we've got you covered.

Step-by-Step Resolution Process

1. Access Your App Privacy Settings

Log into App Store Connect
Select your app
Navigate to the "App Privacy" section

2. Update Your Data Collection Declarations

Here are the 7 data types collected from this app:

Name
Email Address
Inside User Content -> Customer Support
Identifiers: both User ID and Device ID
Purchases
Under Usage data: both Product Interaction and Other Usage Data
Diagnostics: Crash Data

The sections to populate are:

Third-Party Advertising
Developer’s Advertising or Marketing
Analytics, and
App Functionality

Please remember to always choose the following per section:

Yes, EACH DATA collected from this app are not linked to the user’s identity

And in the final step:

No, we don't use EACH DATA for tracking purposes, EXCEPT FOR Email address and Device ID

Based on the Passion.io platform, you'll need to declare these data types:

Next Steps

After updating your privacy declarations, Apple will automatically review the changes. No further action is typically required unless Apple requests additional information.