App Store 1.3 rejection: Kids Category

You’ve built an app for children, and Apple is checking more than its content. Guideline 1.3 covers links, purchases, outside distractions, advertising, and data collection in Kids Category apps. Leaving the category later doesn’t automatically remove the expectations created by earlier versions.

Follow every route out of the child’s experience

Check web links, purchases, settings, ads, and third-party sign-in. Put covered adult actions behind an appropriate parental gate. A parental gate is an interaction meant for an adult; it isn’t the same thing as permission to collect a child’s data.

We’d inspect the app’s libraries before finishing the listing. Analytics and ad libraries can transmit identifiers even when the app doesn’t ask for a name.

Check the limited advertising and analytics exceptions

Apple generally excludes third-party analytics and advertising from Kids Category apps. Its narrow exceptions set conditions on the information collected and, for contextual ads, the provider’s published practices and human review of creatives. Read those conditions before assuming an SDK is suitable.

Remove incompatible SDKs or configure and document an allowed setup. Also check children’s privacy and the app’s actual data flows.

Test the child’s route

Use a fresh installation and test every external action before and after the gate. Inspect network traffic and advertising content with test data. Give Apple the gate location, SDK details, and evidence supporting any exception you rely on.