App Store 4.2 rejection: Minimum functionality

You’ve built an app, and Apple says it doesn’t do enough. Before adding features, check whether the reviewer reached the experience you intended. A blocked account and a product with too little useful functionality need different fixes.

Guideline 4.2 asks for useful, app-like value beyond a repackaged website. A WebView, the component that displays a web page inside an app, doesn’t by itself tell you whether that standard is met.

Walk through the app as a new user

Use the submitted build and the credentials in your review notes. Start with no saved session. Can you complete the main task without your own account, private data, or an explanation from you?

Write down this short walkthrough:

Question	What to record
Who needs this app?	A specific user and the task they’re trying to finish
Where does the task start?	The screen and button visible after signing in
What can they do?	The actions available in the submitted build
What do they get?	The result they can use, save, or return to
What might hide it?	Empty data, permissions, paid access, location, or an account role

If the account lands on an empty screen, provide safe sample data and clear reviewer access instructions. Explain where the existing functionality is. If the flow itself fails, fix and test it before asking Apple to try again.

Decide whether to explain or change the product

We’d start with the user’s completed task. It gives you something concrete to assess, and something concrete to show Apple.

If that task already works, reply with the route through it and screenshots or a short recording. For example, you might demonstrate creating a booking, changing it, and viewing its current status. Use an example your app actually supports; this isn’t a list of features Apple requires.

If the app mainly opens pages, advertises a business, or sends people elsewhere to finish everything, review the product itself. Choose a useful task to make complete inside the app. Adding a camera button or notifications only to increase the feature count doesn’t establish that the experience is useful.

Read the full number in the notice. A 4.2.6 message concerns commercial templates and who submits the content owner’s app. A 4.3 message has a separate spam and duplicate-app analysis.

Give Apple a walkthrough it can repeat

In your reply to App Review, identify the version and build, explain the task, and give the taps needed to complete it. Say what changed and what was already present.

Ask someone unfamiliar with the app to follow only those notes. If they can reach the useful result, you’re ready to send the corrected submission back through App Store Connect. Apple still decides whether the app meets 4.2; a longer feature list doesn’t guarantee approval.