Apple tightens App Store rules to crack down on low-quality apps

Apple has updated its developer guidelines and significantly tightened the rules around low-quality apps on the App Store. The changes were announced in a statement on the company's official developer site.

Under the new rules, Apple plans to be much more aggressive about pulling apps that bring little value and disappear into already oversaturated categories. The company has had an anti-spam policy in place for years, but the latest language is far stricter. The following types of apps are now most at risk:

• Apps in already established categories such as dating, flashlights, sound effects, wallpapers, simple timers, and fortune-telling tools. Apple says it will no longer accept new submissions in these categories unless they offer a meaningfully different or improved experience. Existing apps may also be removed if they are not updated, improved, or able to attract users.
• Novelty apps such as drinking games, Kama Sutra titles, and fart and burp apps. Apple openly describes these as "mediocre, low-quality, or low-effort" and says they add no value to the App Store.

Submitting the same kind of low-effort apps over and over can now lead to a full ban from the Apple Developer Program.

The new rules also tighten how developers handle user-generated content. They are now expected to remove anything that breaks App Store rules quickly, including any form of pornography. Apps that lack a clear moderation plan will be blocked from the store.

Another notable change concerns interactive notifications on the lock screen. Apple has now explicitly banned developers from using them for spam, phishing, or any kind of unsolicited messaging.