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App Store guideline 4.2: minimum functionality

Guideline 4.2 of Apple's App Store Review Guidelines, minimum functionality, says an app must offer more than a repackaged website and be useful, unique or app like. Apps that are mainly marketing material or a web page in a shell are commonly rejected. Section 4.2.6 adds that apps made from a template or app generation service must be submitted by the business itself.

Many businesses meet guideline 4.2 the first time they try to put their website in the App Store. Knowing what Apple looks for saves a rejected submission and a lost week.

Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder

3 min read · Published 13 October 2026

What 4.2 asks for

Apple wants apps that justify being apps: features, content or interaction beyond what a browser gives. A shop or restaurant app that lets customers order, pay, track and reorder has a stronger case than an app showing the same pages as the website with a home screen icon.

Repackaged websites

Apple states that apps should not simply be a website bundled as an app. A thin wrapper around a brochure site, with no native features and nothing more than the site offers, is a common 4.2 rejection. The reviewer opens it and asks what the app adds.

Template and generator apps, 4.2.6

Apps created from a commercial template or an app generation service are accepted when submitted directly by the provider of the app content, meaning the business itself under its own developer account, not by the builder on many clients' behalf. This is why builders ask you to submit under your own account.

Common mistakes

Submitting an app that only links to the website, offering features that also need a login reviewers cannot get, leaving placeholder content, and resubmitting the same build after a rejection without changing anything. Give reviewers a working test account and clear notes on what the app does.

Where it shows up in OneCraft

The app export for Sections sites is limited to store and menu sites, or sites with the store on, because ordering, a cart and order updates give the app a reason to exist; brochure sites are refused for that reason. The store checklist in settings and the phone panel name guidelines 4.2 and 4.2.6, and OneCraft never submits for you.

Questions people ask

Will Apple reject my app if it is just my website?

Very likely, under guideline 4.2, if it offers nothing beyond the website. Apple wants apps that are useful in ways a browser is not. Adding real functions, such as ordering, bookings, account features or offline use, gives the app a better chance in review.

What does guideline 4.2.6 mean for small businesses?

If your app was made with a template or app builder, Apple expects your business to submit it under its own developer account, not the builder under theirs. You need your own Apple Developer Program membership and you are the publisher of record.

How do I appeal a 4.2 rejection?

Reply in App Store Connect explaining what the app does that the website does not, with steps for the reviewer, or submit an appeal to the App Review Board. If the app truly only repeats the site, adding real features is more effective than arguing.

Does Google Play have the same rule?

Google Play has its own policies on minimum functionality and spam, which also discourage apps that only wrap a website with nothing more, but enforcement and wording differ. New personal developer accounts also face testing requirements before an app can go to production.

Is a PWA affected by guideline 4.2?

No, because an installable website is not submitted to the App Store and never meets App Review. That is one reason many small businesses start with a PWA, and only build a store app when customers would use features a browser cannot give.

Make one with websites

The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own.

Create a website with OneCraft

Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 13 October 2026.