App Store 2.2 rejection: Beta apps and TestFlight

Your app may be ready for feedback before it’s ready for the public store. Apple’s 2.2 directs demos and beta versions to TestFlight. A public submission needs to be the finished experience you’re offering users.

Decide which release you’re preparing

Check unfinished screens, sample-only content, inaccessible features, and wording such as “coming soon.” We’d separate a usable first release from a build whose main purpose is testing. Simply removing the word “beta” doesn’t finish the missing work.

TestFlight builds must still comply with the review guidelines and be intended for public distribution. Apple also prohibits compensating people for TestFlight distribution, including offering access as a crowdfunding reward. Significant beta changes need TestFlight App Review before distribution.

Send the right build through the right route

Finish and test the public experience, or use TestFlight to continue testing it. Review your tester recruitment and rewards against the compensation rule.

Before resubmitting, run the promised core flow with a new account and check that the listing matches it. Tell Apple which unfinished behavior was completed or explain why the current build is a finished product.