An ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest rejection email looks as follows: ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest- Your app includes "<path/to/SDK>", which includes , an SDK that was identified in the documentation as a privacy-impacting third-party SDK. Starting February 12, 2025, if a new app includes a privacy-impacting SDK, or an app update adds a new privacy-impacting SDK, the SDK must include a privacy manifest file. Please contact the provider of the SDK that includes this file to get an updated SDK version with a privacy manifest. For more details about this policy, including a list of SDKs that are required to include signatures and manifests, visit: https://developer.apple.com/support/third-party-SDK-requirements. Glossary ITMS-91061: Missing privacy manifest: An email that includes the name and path of privacy-impacting SDK(s) with no privacy manifest files in your app bundle. For more information, see https://developer.apple.com/support/third-party-SDK-requirements. : The specified privacy-impacting SDK that doesn't include a privacy manifest file. If you are the developer of the rejected app, gather the name of the SDK from the email you received from Apple, then contact the SDK's provider for an updated version that includes a valid privacy manifest. After receiving an updated version of the SDK, verify the SDK includes a valid privacy manifest file at the expected location. For more information, see Adding a privacy manifest to your app or third-party SDK. If your app includes a privacy manifest file, make sure the file only describes the privacy practices of your app. Do not add the privacy practices of the SDK to your app's privacy manifest. If the email lists multiple SDKs, repeat the above process for all of them. If you are the developer of an SDK listed in the email, publish an updated version of your SDK that includes a privacy manifest file with valid keys and values. Every privacy-impacting SDK must contain a privacy manifest file that only describes its privacy practices. To learn how to add a valid privacy manifest to your SDK, see the Additional resources section below. Additional resources Privacy manifest files Describing data use in privacy manifests Describing use of required reason API Adding a privacy manifest to your app or third-party SDK TN3182: Adding privacy tracking keys to your privacy manifest TN3183: Adding required reason API entries to your privacy manifest TN3184: Adding data collection details to your privacy manifest TN3181: Debugging an invalid privacy manifest

In this post, we'll share tips to help you submit apps that deliver original ideas to your users. When working on your app, focus on creating interesting, unique experiences that aren't already available. Apps that actively try to copy other apps won't pass review, and accounts that repeatedly submit copycat apps or attempt to impersonate a service will be closed. The rules that prevent copycat and impersonator apps from being distributed on the App Store are described in App Review Guideline 4.1: 4.1 Copycats (a) Come up with your own ideas. We know you have them, so make yours come to life. Don’t simply copy the latest popular app on the App Store, or make some minor changes to another app’s name or UI and pass it off as your own. In addition to risking an intellectual property infringement claim, it makes the App Store harder to navigate and just isn’t fair to your fellow developers. (b) Submitting apps which impersonate other apps or services is considered a violation of the Developer Code of Conduct and may result in removal from the Apple Developer Program.(c) You cannot use another developer’s icon, brand, or product name in your app’s icon or name, without approval from the developer. These requirements help make the App Store both a safe place for people to discover apps and a platform for all developers to be successful. Best Practices Here are three best practices that will help you submit apps that follow App Review Guideline 4.1: 1. Submit apps with unique content and features. People want apps that provide unique experiences. Find areas that aren't currently being served and build compelling apps for those audiences. Do: Create apps that provide a new experience or a unique spin on an existing concept. Design original, delightful interfaces that elegantly meet your user's needs. Don't: Don’t imitate the features and functionality of other apps. Don’t copy the look and feel of other apps, such as using an identical user interface design. 2. Make sure App Store metadata only contains relevant information and content you either own or have permission to use. The metadata provided in App Store Connect is used to populate your app's product page on the App Store. People rely on this metadata to learn about your app and what it has to offer. Leveraging the popularity of another brand or app, either by including irrelevant references or protected content, is misleading and won't help your app succeed. Do: Use engaging, descriptive language to describe your unique app. Create original content that best represents your app, such as screenshots showing the actual app in use. Don't: Don't use protected material you do not have the necessary permission to use, such as app icons that are similar to icons of a popular app. Don’t include irrelevant references, such as popular app names or trademarked terms, in any metadata fields. 3. Provide information that is authentic and verifiable. People want to know the developers behind their favorite apps are who they say they are. It's important to continually review and provide up-to-date information, including the developer or company name listed on your Apple Developer Program account, the Support URL listed on your app's product page, and other helpful information. This will enable your users to contact you when they need help and it will also hinder people who may try to impersonate you, your app, or your service. Do: Make sure all information, resources, and documentation related to your account and apps are current and accurate. Don't: Don’t provide inaccurate information or resources, such as directing people to outdated support pages. Don’t provide fraudulent documentation. Accounts that submit fraudulent documentation will be removed from the Apple Developer Program. Support Incorporating these best practices into your app's development will help you submit apps that follow App Review Guideline 4.1. If you need additional assistance, consider taking advantage of one of the following support options available from App Review: If your submission has been rejected, reply to the message from App Review in App Store Connect and request clarification. Request an App Review Appointment to discuss the results of our review. Appointments are subject to availability, and take place during local business hours in your region on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If you believe your app follows the App Review Guidelines, consider submitting an appeal to the App Review Board. Resources Learn about foundational design principles from Apple designers and the developer community. Learn how to create engaging App Store product pages. Note that apps that violate intellectual property rights are subject to removal through the App Store Content Dispute process. If you believe an app on the App Store violates your intellectual property rights, you can submit a claim.

Hello! My subscriptions have been stuck in review for a while. I have been chasing my tail trying to get the sandbox purchases to work but the subscriptions are not returning after "sale". Is this because the subscriptions are still in review? Will the purchase ever return a product in the sandbox environment if the products are still in review? How do we get the subscriptions approved? I have submitted them with the app multiple times. The app is rejected because I can't complete it without the subscriptions but the subscriptions are never reviewed. Help!

I am unable to submit any app for review. Every attempt to add a build to an App Store version results in a 409 error, both through the App Store Connect website and directly through the App Store Connect REST API. Affected accounts: Account 1: My personal Apple Developer account Account 2: A company-owned Apple Developer account where I have Admin access Both accounts are completely separate — different legal entities, different enrollments — but exhibit the exact same behavior simultaneously. API errors observed When calling PATCH /v1/appStoreVersions/{id}/relationships/build: 409 ENTITY_ERROR.RELATIONSHIP.INVALID "The specified pre-release build could not be added." When calling POST /v1/appStoreVersions to create a new version: 409 ENTITY_ERROR.RELATIONSHIP.INVALID "You cannot create a new version of the App in the current state." What I have verified All builds are processingState: VALID and not expired usesNonExemptEncryption: false is set on all builds No build is already attached to another version Build version string matches the App Store version (1.1.0) App bundle ID matches the build bundle ID Localization, review contact details, and keywords are all filled in Banking info in Agreements, Tax, and Banking was recently updated on both accounts Issue persists on both the website and via the REST API, ruling out a browser/cache issue Question Has anyone seen 409 errors affecting two completely separate developer accounts simultaneously? Could there be a platform-level issue with App Store Connect that is not reflected on the System Status page? I opened a support ticket 1 week ago but I only got a reply today and it's just asking for more details.

Hey everyone 👋 I have 14 years of experience in iOS development, starting in my mid-teens and later working as a senior and lead developer with Fortune 50 companies. Around 1.5 years ago I began my indie journey as a side hustle, and for the past 3 months I have been building apps full time with a growing portfolio and increasing revenue 📈 I currently handle everything myself including development, ASO, and design, with marketing planned for later 🚀 I just shipped a major release last week and taking a relaxed week now, so feel free to ask anything about iOS development, indie life, ASO, monetization, or related topics 💬

Hello everyone, I’m facing an issue with my app "FindUWay" (iOS), and I’m trying to understand if this is related to EU Digital Services Act (DSA) compliance. Current situation: App is approved and published on the App Store All agreements, tax forms (including W-8BEN), and banking info are completed and active App is set to be available in 175 countries, including Malta Issue: The app is NOT available in Malta and shows "App Not Available" on multiple iPhones and Apple IDs. Important detail: In App Store Connect, the only pending item is: Digital Services Act (DSA) compliance → Status: "In Review" since April 5th What I’ve observed: The app works and appears normally in some regions In Malta (EU), it does not open or install properly This seems to affect multiple devices (including iPhone 17 Pro Max) Questions: Is DSA compliance review blocking app availability in EU countries? Is it expected for the app to be unavailable while DSA is still "In Review"? Is there anything else I need to configure or submit? Has anyone experienced delays with DSA review recently? This is impacting my app launch, so any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello, I recently submitted an update for my app, and I would really appreciate it if you could review it when possible. The latest version includes important fixes and improvements. Please let me know if anything else is needed from my side. Thank you for your time and support.

I’m looking for some advice regarding the usage of temporary exception entitlements in Mac App Store apps. Specifically the Apple Event Temporary Exception to communicate with other third party applications (not first-party macOS system apps): The Best Practices for Submitting Scriptable and AppleScript Apps to the Mac App Store section is a bit vague (how to 'request' a temporary entitlement?) and I couldn't find it mentioned in the Review Guidelines. Before designing, implementing and testing functionality based on the Apple Event Temporary Exception I’d like to know if these entitlements would: A. Always be rejected on the Mac App Store B. Only accepted in highly specific use cases C. Accepted if there is a clear use case and sufficient argumentation For this particular use case I’d like to send Apple Events to Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXPress. The application helps the user with some design tasks in their documents. The app requests the currently open documents and accesses document content to process used design elements. This is optional functionality that the user must explicitly enable in the app. I’m aware that the com.apple.security.scripting-targets entitlement is preferred. (Side question: are these always allowed or can they also be rejected for third party app scripting?) However, many third party applications don’t offer any scripting access groups in their definition, including Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXPress in this case. So before spending a lot of time implementing this feature I’d like to have some indication whether it is unlikely that sending Apple Events to third party apps will be allowed on the Mac App Store. Thanks for any insights!

Hello, Our app has been stuck in "In Review" for 7 days, after being approved. The iOS version was approved on April 9th and the macOS version was approved on April 12th. Since then, both versions show "In Review" and there has been no status changes or messages in App Store Connect. • April 8 ---> Waiting for Review • April 9 ---> In Review (Approved) • ... • April 16 ---> In Review We contacted Apple a week ago (case ids 102865508515 and 102865870578) but there was no response. We also talked to Apple Support, they told us the issue has been escalated to the technical team. There are also leaderboards that were archived before these last versions and they are still showing in the Games App and Game Center. Possibly because of this same issue, we suspect. At this point we don't know what the issue is, how long until these very important updates will go live, or when we can push other updates. App ID: 1611398578 Thanks.

Hello everyone, My app is has been "In Review" since Thursday evening, and held in that status since. In my experience, when an app moves to "In Review" it takes at most an hour to review app functionality and move to ready for release. We have timelines to meet. Neither an expedited review nor reaching out to support helps the situation.

Hi everyone, I’m currently facing an issue in App Store Connect when submitting a build to TestFlight. When I try to complete the “What to Test” section and submit, I get the following error: “There was an error processing your request. Please try again later.” Case details: Case ID: 102871190604 Submitted: April 17, 2026 (GMT+7) Status: No response after 3–4 days This issue is blocking me from submitting the build. What I’ve tried: Retried multiple times Switched browsers (Chrome, Safari) Used Incognito mode Logged out and back in Simplified the “What to Test” text Checked build is processed and not expired I have already contacted Apple Developer Support but haven’t received any response yet. Questions: Is this a known App Store Connect issue? Should I wait for support, or upload a new build? If any Apple staff could help check this case, I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

Hi everyone, I’m getting this error in App Store Connect when submitting a build in TestFlight: “There was an error processing your request. Please try again later.” Case information: Case ID: 102871415765 Contacted Apple Developer Support: April 17, 2026 (GMT+7) It has been 3–4 days with no response so far Where it happens: App Store Connect During the “What to Test” step The build is already processed and available What I tried: Retried several times Switched browsers Used Incognito mode Logged out and back in Simplified the “What to Test” text Checked that the build is not expired This issue has been blocking submission for several days now. Has anyone experienced this recently? Is there any workaround, or should I upload a new build? Thank you.

Hi everyone, I’m experiencing a delay with my app review process and wanted to check if this is normal or if anyone has faced something similar. App Name: Finna: Budget Tracker Here’s the timeline: Apr 13: Submitted → Waiting for Review → In Review → Rejected Apr 15: Fixed the issues and resubmitted → Waiting for Review (since then, ~48+ hours now) Current status is still “Waiting for Review”, and it hasn’t moved to “In Review” yet after resubmission. A few points: -> This is not a brand-new submission (it was previously reviewed and rejected once). -> I addressed all rejection points carefully before resubmitting. -> No major feature changes, just fixes based on Apple’s feedback. Questions: Is it normal for resubmitted apps to take longer than the first review? Does rejection history affect queue priority? Should I wait more or consider contacting Apple Developer Support? Would appreciate insights from anyone who has gone through similar delays recently. Thanks!

My app is waiting for review for more than 48 hrs since Wednesday at 5:57 PM. It has been rejected, and errors were fixed with an updated new build. Is this normal?

My apps are stucked in „Waiting for revlew” for 6-7 days. What is going on? It’s not only my problem, a lot of users have the same problem, there are many forums with that issue. It’s pretty unbelievable for me, that in 2026 we have to wait about week to approve or reject an app. Ridiculous. Take the example of Google Play…. Regards.

Hello, My app "Tall - App de rencontre" (App ID: 6761081326) has been rejected 4 times under Guideline 4.3(b) Design Spam. The App Review Board also upheld the rejection (Appeal Ticket APL411770). I fully understand the dating category is saturated. However, my app has unique mechanical features that do not exist on any other dating app on the App Store: MANDATORY HEIGHT GATE: During registration, women below 1.75m and men below 1.80m are blocked and CANNOT complete registration. This is hard-coded into the onboarding. It is not an optional filter. Users who do not meet the height criteria simply cannot use the app. DOOR-FRAME HEIGHT VERIFICATION: Users must submit a full-body photo standing barefoot under a standard door frame to verify their height. Unverified users see all other profiles blurred. This trust-and-safety mechanism is entirely unique. "THE BAKERY": A curated, time-limited daily drop of compatible profiles replacing infinite swipe. This is an anti-swipe paradigm designed to prioritize quality over quantity. I also have an existing community of over 1,000 people across multiple WhatsApp groups TALL FRANCE, 10K Instagram followers, and 44K TikTok followers — all specifically for tall people looking to connect. This proves real demand for this niche. I also noticed that the app "Score Dating" is currently live on the App Store in the Lifestyle category. Score blocks users who do not have a credit score of 675 or above. My app uses the same concept — a mandatory gate based on a specific criteria (height instead of credit score). If Score is accepted, I believe Tall should be evaluated with the same standard. I have responded to every rejection with detailed explanations and visual evidence, but received the same copy-paste response each time. I have a Meet with Apple consultation scheduled to discuss this further. Has anyone successfully overcome a 4.3(b) rejection for a niche app with genuinely unique features? Any guidance from Apple or the community would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Frankie Babet

Hello, I would like to request an escalation regarding my app review status. My app (Apple ID: 6758756966) was submitted for review on February 24 and has been in “Waiting for Review” status for an extended period, with no progress so far. I have contacted Apple Developer Support multiple times (Case IDs: 102840237455, 102840079647, 102846664998, 102841727941) starting from March 9, but unfortunately, I have not received any response to any of these requests. I have also submitted three expedited review requests, but none of them have been acknowledged. Could you please: • confirm whether the submission is still active in the queue • check if there are any issues preventing it from moving forward • and assist in escalating the review if possible If any additional information is required from my side, I am ready to provide it immediately. Thank you very much for your time and support.

Hi all, Looking for some clarity.. I have an app (Pocket Love: AI Roleplay Chat, Apple ID: 6745031268) that went through a long review process with many resubmissions. The feedback I received across those reviews was often generic “overtly sexual”) message, but without any detail on exactly what needed to change. Because of that, I approached it iteratively making adjustments each time based on what I thought the issue might be. Over time I made quite significant changes across the app (imagery, unlockable content, voice-overs, menus, copy, etc.), and increased the age rating to 18+. I also had a call with a policy eexpert & App Review. In the final interaction, I was asked to ensure all unlockable content was visible, so I re-uploaded a build and provided screenshots with everything pre-unlocked for transparency. Despite this, my account has now been flagged under 3.2(f) for “dishonest or fraudulent activity,” and is pending termination. What I’m struggling to understand is: Can repeated resubmissions / iterative changes alone be interpreted as “evasion” under 3.2(f)? Or does this typically mean App Review believes there was something intentionally misleading? From my perspective, I was trying to respond to feedback and get the app into a compliant state, not bypass review or hide anything. The game does have "sexy" imagery lingerie etc..and adult themes but 0 nudity and is tamer than similar games live on the app store. Would really appreciate any insight from others who’ve experienced similar, or from anyone familiar with how this is interpreted internally. I can't believe my account is pending termination without any intentional wrongdoing, I currently have 3 other live games one with strong revenue, that will be removed too due to this. My initial appeal was rejected today. Thanks!

My app was declined for violation of Guideline 5.1.1. I'm very confused though, because a shopping app like Nike is permitted to not allow anyone into their app if they don't "Sign Up/Log In", yet my client a smaller first time app maker, isn't allowed to do the same? Why is it okay for a company like Nike to do it but not smaller brands?

I had an app rejected for a reason I thought was incorrect. I replied with an explanation and resubmitted, but it was rejected again, so I clicked the link to appeal that went to the link below where I submitted a detailed appeal.https://developer.apple.com/contact/app-store/?topic=appealI did not receive any email confirmation or response from the appeal and can find now way to track the status of the appeal. However, I do now see in iTunes Connect that the app no loger displays the red bar at the top that used to say "There are one or more issues with the following platform(s):1 unresolved iOS issue". Does this mean the appeal was accepted? Is there a way to track the status of an appeal?

Hi everyone, I am writing this post with the hope that someone from Apple's App Review team, Developer Relations, or the wider developer community can shed some light on what I am experiencing. I have exhausted every official support channel available to me, and I am at a complete loss. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ THE SITUATION ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ I have a v1.0 iOS app that has been stuck in 'Waiting for Review' for 57 days. It has never progressed beyond this status. No rejection. No feedback. No communication. Just silence. I am not here to complain. I am here because I genuinely do not understand what is happening, and I need guidance. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ TIMELINE ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • Day 1 — App submitted for review. Status: 'Waiting for Review.' • Day 22 — No movement. No feedback. Out of frustration, I made the mistake of doing a Developer Reject and resubmitting. I now understand this was the wrong decision, as it likely reset my position in the queue. • Day 27 — Contacted Apple Developer Support. A Senior Advisor confirmed the app was still in review and said they would reach out to the internal review team. • Day 42 — Still no change. Sent a formal follow-up and escalation request. • Day 44 — A second Senior Advisor responded, confirming they had also forwarded the case to the review team. • Day 57 (today) — The app is still in 'Waiting for Review.' Nothing has changed. Two separate Senior Advisors have each told me they contacted the internal review team. After both of those interactions, nothing changed. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ WHAT MAKES THIS UNUSUAL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ I want to be clear about something: the app has NEVER entered 'In Review.' It has been in 'Waiting for Review' the entire time. This is not a case of a slow review — it appears the app has never been picked up for review at all. I have checked Apple's System Status page multiple times throughout these 57 days. All services have consistently shown as fully operational. I have not resubmitted again after Day 22. I have been patiently waiting, following the advice given to me. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ MY HONEST QUESTIONS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Is it technically possible for a v1.0 app to be permanently stuck in 'Waiting for Review' without any notification or rejection? Could this be a system or queue issue on Apple's end? Is 'Waiting for Review' for 57 days — with no status change and no communication — within the range of what other developers have experienced? I want to understand if this is abnormal. When a Senior Advisor says they have 'forwarded the case to the review team,' what does that actually mean in practice? Is there a way to verify this happened or to escalate further? Is there a formal escalation path beyond Developer Support — for example, Developer Relations or the App Review Board — for situations where standard support channels have not produced any result after nearly two months? Could the app category (social / matching) be the reason for an extended manual review? If Apple requires additional information, documentation, or content moderation policies from developers in certain categories, why is there no notification or communication mechanism to request this? ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ WHAT I AM NOT ASKING FOR ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ I am not asking for my app to bypass the review process. I am not asking to skip the queue. I am not asking for guaranteed approval. I understand Apple's review process exists to protect users, and I fully respect that. I am simply asking for ONE of two things: — Either: review the app and give me a decision — approval or rejection, both are acceptable. — Or: tell me if there is a problem, a hold, or something you need from me, so I can act on it. Fifty-seven days of silence, with no path forward, is the one outcome I cannot work with. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ A NOTE TO APPLE DEVELOPER RELATIONS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ If anyone from Apple is reading this — I am not writing out of anger. I am writing because I am a solo developer who has poured everything into this product, and I am genuinely stuck. I have done everything I was asked to do. I have been patient. I have followed the process. All I am asking for is a resolution — in any direction. If there is anything I can provide — demo account credentials, additional documentation, a content moderation policy, privacy details, anything at all — I will provide it within hours of being asked. Thank you sincerely to anyone who takes the time to read this and share their experience or advice. — Akif Solo Developer

Our app update for Underground Arena (a padel sports community platform) has been pending review for over (65 days), since the first submission on February 11, 2026. At no point has the submission transitioned to "In Review" or received any feedback. The previously approved version (v1.1.2) was reviewed and approved within one day. This update includes security improvements, privacy policy alignment, and metadata updates. No changes to monetization or permissions. We have submitted two expedited review requests and opened support case 102840575585 — none have resulted in movement. We have a padel tournament on April 22, 2026 that requires the updated app for participant registration. Our Android version is already live on Google Play, and iOS users are currently unable to access the latest features. Could someone from the review team please confirm whether this submission is in extended review, or advise on any information needed to proceed? Thank you.