# Apple's October 2026 App Review Update: What Changed and What to Do

Author: Onur Uğur
Language: en
Source: https://bytswise.com/blog/apple-app-review-guidelines-october-2026/
Published: 2026-10-17

Apple updated the App Review Guidelines on October 16, 2026. Two new rules matter most to app builders: 2.5.19 on hidden features and 2.3.14 on the new header and search images. Here's what Apple wrote, what it didn't, and what I'd check before the next submission.

## Key takeaways

- 2.5.19 (new): no hidden, dormant or undocumented features. Hiding them, for example with code obfuscation, can get the app removed and the developer account terminated.
- 2.3.14 (new): header and search images must fit your app or brand, suit all audiences, and leave out prices, discounts, unverifiable claims and misleading references to other apps.
- 1.2: content moderation now explicitly covers nonconsensual intimate imagery, AI-generated included. Apps must prevent it and remove it.
- 5: apps that facilitate human trafficking or child exploitation are removed and blocked from alternative distribution.
- Housekeeping: the Music Streaming Services Entitlements bullet left 3.1.1(a), and Before You Submit / After You Submit now link to more documentation.

Apple published the update on October 16 and framed it as a push against nonconsensual intimate imagery and bait-and-switch apps. For scale, Apple says that last year it stopped more than 150,000 apps with safety issues from reaching customers and terminated more than 193,000 developer accounts for fraud and abuse.

Below are the three changes most app builders will feel, then the small ones.

## If you change your paywall remotely

### What Apple says

The new guideline 2.5.19 opens like this:

> "Don't include any hidden, dormant, or undocumented features in your app."

The rest says your app's functionality should be clear to users and to App Review. Hiding undocumented features in the binary, for example through code obfuscation, is grounds for removing the app and terminating the developer account.

The idea isn't new. The text used to sit inside 2.3.1, and Apple's news post calls it a clarification of a longstanding rule: an app can't misrepresent what it does during review and then change after approval, for example by adding features that weren't in the submitted version. The penalty Apple names is removal from the App Store and the Apple Developer Program. 9to5Mac points to the kind of app behind it: gambling apps disguised as games that changed behavior for users on Brazilian IP addresses.

One older rule now matters more. Guideline 2.3.1(a) already requires you to describe every new feature, functionality and product change specifically in the Notes for Review field in App Store Connect, and to make it accessible for review. Apple rejects generic descriptions.

### What Apple doesn't say

The update doesn't mention paywalls, remote config or A/B tests. Some developers read 2.5.19 as a shot at remote paywall flags. That's a reading, not Apple's words.

### What I'd do

This is my advice, not Apple's text.

- **Describe every paywall variant in Notes for Review.** Say what changes (copy, layout, price display, offer), how it's served, and how the reviewer can see each one.
- **Take "dormant" literally.** Code that ships switched off and gets switched on after approval is the pattern Apple describes. Put it in a build App Review can test.
- **Don't serve what review couldn't see.** If a variant isn't reachable in the build you submitted, ship it with the next build and describe it.

## New header and search images (2.3.14)

On October 5 Apple added creative assets: images and videos for the product page header and for search results. Guideline 2.3.14 is the review rule for them. They must relate to your app's content, functionality or overall brand, follow the standard metadata rules, and be appropriate for all audiences. Apple rules out inappropriate content, references to other apps meant to mislead, unverifiable product claims, and specific or discounted prices.

### Specs

| Placement | Ratio | Size (px) | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product page header | 21:9 | 3840 × 1646 | JPEG or PNG |
| Product page header | 16:9 | 5244 × 2950 | PNG |
| Search results | 3:2 | 1920 × 1280 to 3840 × 2560 | JPEG or PNG |
| Search results | 16:9 | 5244 × 2950 | PNG |

No transparency. Videos use the same ratios, run 5–30 seconds at 30 or 60 fps, loop, and start muted. You upload assets with an app version or in the new Asset Library. I covered that workflow in [the Asset Library guide](https://bytswise.com/blog/app-store-asset-library-guide/).

### Do and don't

From 2.3.14 and Apple's asset best practices.

**Do**

- Show one clear idea in the header, written for a first-time visitor.
- In search, state the obvious: show what using the app actually looks like.
- Keep text to short phrases, and localize them.
- Keep key art inside the template's safe area, with the focal art centered.
- Check both placements, Dark Mode included, in App Store Connect's preview tool.

**Don't**

- Put specific prices or discounts in the image.
- Add website URLs or copyright symbols.
- Claim awards or recognition you can't verify.
- Use Apple recognitions like Editor's Choice or App of the Day.
- Show logos of, or references to, other platforms and marketplaces.

### Example: Homiva AI's header and search image

Homiva AI is my AI room and interior design app. I gave Gemini 4 Argon a brief: make one header and one search image from five of the app's own before-and-after renders, and follow the list above.

It didn't go as planned. Gemini's image model returned a quota error, so Argon built both images in Python from the five renders instead. Nothing in them was generated from scratch: every room is real app output. I fixed one thing by hand. A style label said "Nordic", but Homiva calls that style "Boho".

![Homiva AI product page header, 21:9: a before-and-after living room in the center, more redesigned rooms on both sides, and the line "Any room, redesigned"](https://bytswise.com/media/blog/app-review-oct-2026/header-21x9.webp "Product page header, 21:9. Exported at 3840 × 1646.")

![Homiva AI search result image, 3:2: the same room before and after, with Japandi, Mid-Century and Boho style tiles](https://bytswise.com/media/blog/app-review-oct-2026/search-3x2.webp "Search result image, 3:2. Exported at 1920 × 1280.")

The rules part of the brief, word for word:

```text
- Pertain to the app's real content/function: before → after room transformation.
- NO ratings or stars, NO prices or discounts, NO "#1"/"best"/awards, NO website URLs, NO © symbols,
  NO logos of Apple or other platforms, NO people's faces needed. Appropriate for 4+.
- Header: a single clear idea for a first-time visitor; focal art centered; very short text phrase (max ~5 words),
  e.g. "Any room, redesigned" — spelled correctly. Search asset: "state the obvious", show the firsthand
  experience (the before/after itself).
- No transparency/alpha.
```

If you use an image model, check every word and number it puts in the image. In an earlier test of mine, Gemini added a ★4.9 rating that didn't exist to a paywall redesign.

## If your app generates or hosts images

Guideline 1.2 now names nonconsensual intimate imagery, AI-generated included, as content apps must proactively prevent and remove. It applies to apps where users create, generate, upload or share content, and Apple lists social media, user-generated content platforms and AI content creation apps. Apple's news adds that developers without adequate safeguards, or who don't fix violations after notice, risk breaking the Developer Code of Conduct and being removed. 9to5Mac links the change to reports this year about "nudify" apps.

This covers apps like mine: Homiva AI and Tattoo Genie AI both generate images with AI. Apple doesn't list specific safeguards, so here's what I'd have in place:

- Filter prompts and generated images before anything is shown or shared.
- Give users a way to report an image, and remove violations fast. Apple calls out failing to act after notice.
- Describe your safeguards in Notes for Review.

## The smaller changes

- **3.1.1(a):** the Music Streaming Services Entitlements bullet is gone. It's now covered under StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlements, and Apple clarified that links may go to a permitted destination.
- **5 (Legal):** apps that facilitate human trafficking or child exploitation are removed and blocked from alternative distribution.
- **Before You Submit / After You Submit:** both now link to more documentation.

## Pre-submission checklist

- [ ] Every new feature and product change is described specifically in Notes for Review.
- [ ] Every paywall variant or remote change is listed there, with how to see it.
- [ ] Nothing ships switched off, waiting to be turned on after approval.
- [ ] No functionality is hidden from App Review, by obfuscation or anything else.
- [ ] Header and search images have no prices, discounts, URLs, copyright symbols, unverifiable awards, Apple badges or other platforms' logos.
- [ ] Images match the spec (ratio, size, no transparency), key art sits in the safe area, and the preview looks right in Dark Mode.
- [ ] Every image suits all audiences and makes sense to a first-time visitor.
- [ ] If users create or share images: filters, reporting and a fast removal path are in place.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is App Review guideline 2.5.19?

A rule added on October 16, 2026: no hidden, dormant or undocumented features, and your app's functionality must be clear to users and App Review. Hiding features, for example through code obfuscation, can lead to removal and termination of the developer account. Apple says it clarifies a longstanding rule that used to be part of 2.3.1.

### Does 2.5.19 ban remote paywall changes or A/B tests?

Apple's update doesn't mention paywalls, remote config or A/B tests. The safe practice, which is my advice and not Apple's text: describe every variant and remote change in Notes for Review, as 2.3.1(a) already requires for new features, and don't switch on anything App Review couldn't see.

### What do 2.3.14 creative assets have to follow?

They must relate to your app's content, functionality or overall brand, follow the standard metadata rules and be appropriate for all audiences. No inappropriate content, misleading references to other apps, unverifiable product claims, or specific or discounted prices.

## Sources

- [Apple Developer News — Updated App Review Guidelines now available, and Strengthening App Review Guidelines against nonconsensual intimate imagery and bait-and-switch apps (October 16, 2026)](https://developer.apple.com/news/)
- [Apple — App Review Guidelines](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/)
- [9to5Mac — Apple's new App Store rules crack down on AI nudification and bait-and-switch apps](https://9to5mac.com/2026/10/16/apples-new-app-store-rules-crack-down-on-ai-nudification-and-bait-and-switch-apps/)
- [Apple Developer News — Showcase your apps with new assets on the App Store (October 5, 2026)](https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=ljpl7kyn)
- [Apple — App Store asset best practices](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/asset-best-practices/)
- [App Store Connect Help — Creative assets specifications](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/app-information/creative-assets-specifications)

## Shipping an app update soon?

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