App Store submission checklist: everything Apple asks for before review

Sending a version to App Review takes one click in App Store Connect. Getting to the point where that click works takes a dozen separate pages: the build, export compliance, review contact details, a demo account, text and screenshots for every language, the age rating, App Privacy, pricing and the release settings. Miss one and the button stays grey, or the version comes back a few days later with a request for information.

This is the checklist we use, in the order App Store Connect asks for things, with the details Apple's documentation spells out as of late 2026. It is about getting a complete submission in. If your concern is why reviewers say no once they open the app, see App Store rejection reasons and how to avoid them.

The short version

• A processed build whose version number matches the App Store version you are preparing
• Export compliance answered for that build, or declared in Info.plist
• App Review contact: first name, last name, phone with country code, email
• Sign in details that work on review day, plus notes for anything a reviewer cannot find alone
• Description, keywords and support URL in every language you list
• What's New in every language, on updates
• Privacy policy URL
• iPhone screenshots in the accepted sizes, and iPad 13 inch screenshots if the app runs on iPad
• Age rating questionnaire answered
• App Privacy answers published
• Price, availability and content rights set
• Release option chosen: manual, automatic or scheduled, and phased release on or off for updates

1. The build

The version page only offers builds that have finished processing. A build that fails processing never shows up. Two other rules catch people out:

• The version number must match. If you are preparing version 2.4 on the App Store side, you need a build whose CFBundleShortVersionString is 2.4.
• TestFlight builds expire after 90 days. Upload a fresh one if the tested build is old.

Since April 28, 2026, uploads must also be built with Xcode 26 and the iOS 26 SDK or later, so a release cut from an old CI image will fail before it reaches this step.

2. Export compliance

Every build that uses, contains or calls encryption needs an export compliance answer before it can go to review or to external TestFlight testers.

• Many apps only use standard encryption provided by Apple's operating system, such as HTTPS, which usually falls under an exemption. You still have to answer the question, and you are responsible for the answer being correct.
• Apps that use proprietary or non standard algorithms, or that need a formal classification, upload documentation in App Store Connect and wait for it to be approved before the build can be attached.

To stop answering the same questions for every build, set ITSAppUsesNonExemptEncryption in the app's Info.plist. Set it to NO only if that is true for the app and every SDK in it.

3. App Review information

This section is where many "Information Needed" replies come from. It has three parts.

Contact

First name, last name, phone number and email of someone who can answer the reviewer. Use the country code and a mailbox someone reads during the review.

Sign in

If any part of the app needs an account, tick that sign in is required and give a user name and password.

• The credentials must work when the review starts, not only on the day you submit. Accounts that expire or get reset by a nightly job cause trouble.
• If the app has several account types, such as an administrator and a regular user, put the extra credentials in the notes.
• If the sign in also needs a one time code, explain how the reviewer gets one in the notes. Apple says that without it a call may be needed, which usually takes three to five business days.

Notes

Use the notes for anything a reviewer would not find on their own: features that depend on hardware or a location, a feature switched on by a server flag, why a sensitive permission is needed, or where to find account deletion. You can attach a screen recording when a flow is hard to describe.

4. The listing in every language

Apple checks the listing for each language you add, not just the primary one. For each localization, check:

• Name (up to 30 characters) and subtitle (up to 30)
• Description (up to 4,000 characters), written from what this build does
• Keywords (up to 100 characters, separated by commas; spaces after the commas waste characters)
• Support URL, which must lead to a page with real contact information
• What's New (up to 4,000 characters), required on every update in every language
• Promotional text (up to 170 characters) and marketing URL, both optional

The privacy policy URL is required for every app and sits at the app level rather than on the version. Copyright on the version page is easy to forget and also needed.

A language added half way, with a description but no What's New, is the usual way a submission gets stuck here.

5. Screenshots

Apple's screenshot specification page is the reference, and its wording has shifted more than once as new iPhones arrived. As of late 2026 it reads like this:

• For iPhone, at least one screenshot is required for the iPhone with Dynamic Island (medium display) group, which accepts 1179 x 2556 or 1206 x 2622 pixels in portrait.
• The large Dynamic Island group, the 6.9 inch size, accepts 1320 x 2868, 1290 x 2796 or 1260 x 2736 pixels in portrait.
• The 6.5 inch Face ID group (1284 x 2778 or 1242 x 2688) is required if the app runs on iPhone and no 6.9 inch screenshots are provided.
• Smaller sizes fall back to scaled screenshots from the next size up when you do not upload them.
• For iPad, at least one 13 inch screenshot (2064 x 2752 or 2048 x 2732 in portrait) if the app supports iPad.
• Up to 10 screenshots per size, in PNG or JPEG, with no transparency or alpha channel.

In practice, one 6.9 inch set (or a 6.5 inch set) in each language covers the iPhone sizes through scaling, and you add smaller sizes only when the layout differs. Apple's page also notes that screenshots for the new iPhone Duo display will be required from April 2027 for apps built with the iOS 27.1 SDK or later.

6. Age rating

The age rating questionnaire is in App Information. Apple's ratings are now 4+, 9+, 13+, 16+ and 18+. Answer for the app as shipped, including content users can reach through web views or chat. A rating that does not match what the reviewer sees is a common reason for a version to come back.

7. App Privacy

App Privacy answers describe what data the app and its SDKs collect, whether it is linked to the user and whether it is used for tracking. They must be published before you can submit. When you add an analytics or ads SDK, revisit them in the same release.

8. Pricing, availability and content rights

• Price: free or a price point, plus any In-App Purchases or subscriptions that ship with this version, each with its own metadata and review screenshot. Submit new In-App Purchases together with the version that uses them.
• Availability: the countries and regions. Distribution in the European Union also needs your Digital Services Act trader status in App Store Connect.
• Content rights: whether the app shows or accesses third party content, and if so, that you have the rights to it.

9. Release options

Apple offers three ways to release a version once it is approved:

• Manual: the version waits in Pending Developer Release until someone with the Account Holder, Admin or App Manager role clicks Release This Version.
• Automatic: the version goes out as soon as App Review approves it.
• Scheduled: the version goes out automatically after approval, but no earlier than a date and time you set. If approval comes after that date, it goes out on approval.

Phased release

For updates (not a first release), you can turn on phased release for automatic updates. Over 7 days the update reaches a random sample of users who have automatic updates on: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and then 100 percent. Anyone can still download the update manually from the App Store at any time, so phased release limits exposure, it does not hide the update.

You can pause a phased release for up to 30 days in total, with no limit on the number of pauses, and it resumes on the day it left off. Release to All Users ends the phases and offers the update to everyone at once.

What you can change after submitting

Once a version is Waiting for Review, its build, text, screenshots and review information are locked. Some things can still change: price and availability, for example, and promotional text on the live version, which updates without a review. Everything else on the version needs the submission to be removed from review first.

Cancelling a review

In App Store Connect you can cancel a submission from the App Review section while it is waiting for export compliance, waiting for review, in review, or approved and waiting to be released. The version then shows as Developer Rejected. You fix what you need and submit again, and review starts from the beginning, so you lose your place in the queue. Cancel for a wrong build or a broken demo account, not for a typo you can fix in the next update.

How AppForShare runs this checklist

AppForShare is a test build sharing service first. On the Pro and Team plans you can also connect your App Store Connect account with a team API key (we recommend the App Manager role, never Admin) and work on a version from the dashboard.

The store listing editor covers the language items: name, subtitle, description, keywords, promotional text, What's New, support and marketing URLs per language, with Apple's character limits shown and enforced, and the privacy policy URL while the app information is being prepared. Screenshots are sorted into the App Store size they match, with transparency flattened to white, up to 10 per size.

On the same page, the App Store review card holds the rest of the list for a version being prepared:

• Pick a processed, unexpired build of that version number.
• Answer export compliance once per build. No means the app only uses exempt encryption; Yes means Apple asks for documents in App Store Connect.
• Fill in the App Review contact, tick sign in required with a user name and password, and add notes. The reviewer password is passed to Apple and never stored by AppForShare.
• Choose the release: after approval, by hand, or on a date at least one hour ahead, and turn on the 7 day phased release.

Before anything is sent, the card checks the build, compliance, contact, sign in when required, description, keywords and support URL in every language, What's New in every language on updates, the privacy policy URL, iPhone 6.9 or 6.5 inch screenshots in the main language, and a future date when the release is scheduled. It does not cover everything. Apple checks the age rating, App Privacy, price and content rights in App Store Connect, and AppForShare does not edit privacy labels. If Apple refuses the submission, the card shows every reason it gives.

An Admin of your workspace sends the version, after ticking a confirmation that names the app, version and build. It goes through your own App Store Connect key, in the name of your Apple developer account. The Admin can also cancel a review that is still waiting (not once Apple has started), release an approved version that waits for a manual release, and pause, resume or release to everyone a phased release. Each step is kept on the card with the person who took it. AppForShare never sends, cancels or releases anything on its own, and sending a complete version is not a promise of approval: App Review still decides.

Get started

Store connections, the listing editor and the App Store review card are part of Pro at $12 a month and Team at $39 a month; the first Pro subscription comes with a 7 day trial. See the pricing page for the details.