Why apps get rejected from the App Store, by the numbers

Apps get rejected from the App Store mostly for being unfinished. Apple’s 2024 App Store Transparency Report counts 7,771,599 submissions reviewed and 1,931,400 rejected, and its Performance guidelines, which start with App Completeness, were cited 1,235,471 times. Policy topics such as payments and safety matter, but they sit well behind crashes, broken links and placeholder content.

The table below lists every guidelines section with Apple’s own count. A submission can be rejected under more than one section, so the sections add up to more than the total.

What the 2024 numbers say

Apple’s report gives three figures worth knowing before your first submission.

One in four submissions was rejected. 1,931,400 of 7,771,599, about 25%. Submissions, not apps: the same app often goes through review several times, and Apple notes that apps may be submitted multiple times before approval.

Most rejections can be fixed. 295,109 submissions were approved after an earlier rejection. A rejection is usually a list of things to fix, not a verdict on the idea.

Performance dwarfs everything else. At 1,235,471 citations, Performance was cited almost three times as often as Legal, the next section at 445,696.

Performance: finish the app first

Guideline 2.1 asks that submissions be final versions with all metadata and fully functional URLs, and that placeholder text, empty websites and other temporary content be removed. Apple’s App Review page says over 40% of unresolved issues relate to 2.1 and lists the common ones: crashes and bugs, broken links, placeholder content, incomplete information. Guideline 2.3 adds that the description, screenshots and previews must accurately reflect the app.

In practice: test on a real device, sign in with the review account you give Apple, tap every link, and replace every lorem ipsum and test image.

Legal: privacy above all

Most Legal rejections concern privacy. Guideline 5.1.1 requires a link to a privacy policy both in App Store Connect and inside the app, and unclear data access requests are on Apple’s list of common issues. Ask for a permission only when a feature needs it, and say why in plain words. For what a policy should contain, see how to write a privacy policy.

Design: give the app its own job

The Design section drew 378,300 rejections, and Apple’s report notes it includes the rules against copycats, minimum functionality and spam. The minimum functionality rule, guideline 4.2, is explained on its own page: App Store guideline 4.2. For a business app, the safest answer is a job only an app does well: ordering, bookings, a members feed or an account, not a copy of the website’s pages.

Business: who takes the money

Guideline 3.1.1 says that unlocking features or functionality inside an app, such as subscriptions or premium content, must use in app purchase. Physical goods and services used outside the app follow different rules. Read section 3 before you add any payment to an app, because the answer changes with what is being sold.

Google Play’s policy areas

Google Play groups its Developer Program Policy into areas: Restricted Content, Impersonation, Intellectual Property, Privacy, Deception and Device Abuse, Use of SDKs in Apps, Monetization and Ads, Store Listing and Promotion, Spam, Functionality and User Experience, Malware, Mobile Unwanted Software, Families, and Enforcement. Google can reject an app or update, remove it or suspend it; a rejected update is not published, the earlier version stays live, and repeated rejections or removals can lead to suspension. Google does not publish rejection counts by area the way Apple does.

A pre submission checklist

1. Install a release build on a real phone and use every screen.
2. Remove placeholder text, test data and dead links.
3. Give App Review a working sign in and any codes they need.
4. Link the privacy policy in the store listing and inside the app.
5. Ask for each permission only at the moment it is used.
6. Match screenshots and description to what the app does today.
7. Check how the app takes payments against section 3.

Where OneCraft fits

OneCraft writes Expo phone apps with an AI agent, and its app pipeline checks every tab at 390 and 768 pixels wide and the Home screen in dark mode before it finishes, which catches layout faults but not every crash a reviewer might meet. Each app ends with an Account tab with sign in or sign out when the app has a database, and About. Test or store builds run through Expo for 5 credits each on a paid plan. OneCraft does not submit apps: you submit from your own App Store and Google Play accounts, and Apple’s program costs 99 USD a year, as the Apple Developer Program cost page explains. The steps from website to store are in putting your website on the App Store, and the website to mobile app page shows the build.