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How to Prepare an iPhone App for App Review Before Submitting

A practical App Store Connect preflight for testing your app, helping reviewers access key features, completing disclosures and screenshots, and submitting the correct build.
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Before submitting an iPhone app, make sure the build is complete, reviewers can reach its important features, the product page and disclosures are accurate, and the intended build is the one selected in App Store Connect. Then submit the review draft explicitly: adding a version to a draft does not start review.

1. Finish the app and test its important journeys

Submit a version that is ready to publish, not a preview of work in progress. Apple recommends testing on devices running the latest software and fixing bugs before submission. Crashes, bugs, placeholder content and missing information are among the issues Apple identifies as completeness problems. See Apple’s App Review guidance.

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  • Exercise the app’s main tasks from start to finish, including sign-in, account changes, purchases or subscriptions, and hardware-dependent features where relevant.
  • Remove unfinished screens, placeholder text and sample content that could be mistaken for live product content. Check for broken links, dead ends and controls that appear to work but do not.
  • Test every in-app link. Confirm that the privacy-policy and user-support links are current and open correctly.
  • Check permission prompts and purpose strings against what the app actually does. Explain data access clearly, and provide user-facing purpose strings when the app references APIs that access sensitive user data.

When a feature depends on hardware or a special environment

If a reviewer cannot reproduce a core feature with an ordinary device and setup, explain how to inspect it in App Review Information. Apple says required hardware must be demonstrated in a video showing the app running on a physical Apple device as it pairs and interacts with the hardware. Follow the instructions in Apple’s App Review information guidance.

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2. Give reviewers working access and useful context

In App Store Connect’s App Review Information section, provide concise instructions that let a reviewer understand the app and reach its significant features. Apple’s guidance covers review notes, demo accounts and supporting information.

  • Explain what the app does. For a new app, describe its concept and business model. For an update, identify what changed and where to find important new features or content.
  • Describe how to evaluate it. State the purpose and target audience, the device models and operating-system versions you tested, and any external services or platforms that provide core functionality, such as data, authentication, payment processing or AI.
  • Call out special conditions. Describe regional differences—or say functionality is consistent across regions—and explain any required settings, configuration, hardware or setup steps.
  • Provide access that works. If sign-in is required, give working demo credentials, document different account types and include any authentication codes or steps the reviewer needs. Verify the credentials and access before review begins.
  • Cover subscription cases. For an app with auto-renewable subscriptions, Apple’s guidance says to provide an expired-subscription demo account so reviewers can inspect the purchase flow.
  • Attach relevant evidence. Depending on the app’s category, content and regions, supporting documents may be needed—for example, authorization for certain financial services, research approvals for applicable health or human-research apps, gambling licenses, or rights documentation for third-party content or marks.

For sensitive or highly regulated apps, Apple suggests considering a demonstration mode that exposes the full feature set using demonstration data. Any demo mode should make it possible to evaluate the real functionality without exposing real users’ information.

3. Complete the product page and required disclosures

The product page and submission information are part of the review preparation. In App Store Connect, complete the required metadata for the selected version and make sure it describes the submitted app accurately. Apple’s submission guidance also calls for completing the age-rating questionnaire, whose responses cover content descriptors, in-app controls and capabilities.

Privacy and accessibility information

Enter accurate privacy details for the app and for third-party partners whose code is integrated into it. Apple says these details are required to submit new apps and updates and inform the product-page Privacy Nutrition Label. Review the App privacy details requirements and verify that the disclosures match the app’s and partners’ actual practices. Where applicable, review the accessibility support information for features such as VoiceOver, Voice Control, Larger Text and Captions.

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Screenshots

Apple’s current screenshot specifications require at least one screenshot; up to ten may be uploaded per device size. The reference lists at least one screenshot for an iPhone with Dynamic Island (medium display), and at least one for the 13-inch iPad display when the app supports iPadOS. Screenshots should represent the actual product and the correct device type. If the interface and localization are consistent across sizes, App Store Connect can scale screenshots from the highest required resolution.

4. Select the intended build and submit the review draft

App Store Connect separates preparing a version for review from sending it to App Review. Follow Apple’s submission steps and verify the status rather than assuming that a draft has been sent.

  1. Open the app and the version you intend to submit in App Store Connect. Confirm that required metadata is complete.
  2. In the version’s Build section, select the build you intend reviewers to evaluate and verify that it is the correct one.
  3. Click Add for Review and choose a draft submission. The version becomes Ready for Review; it has not yet been sent to App Review.
  4. Review the items included in the draft, then click Submit for Review. When review starts, the status changes to In Review.
  5. Monitor the submission and respond to messages in App Store Connect. Apple notes that submissions are not necessarily reviewed in the order received, and separate items or versions can have different submission relationships and statuses. See Apple’s overview of submissions for review.
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How long review may take

Apple reports that 90% of submissions are reviewed in less than 24 hours on average. That is an average, not a deadline or service-level commitment for an individual submission. Apple also warns that an incomplete submission can take longer or fail; its App Review page says, “If your submission is incomplete, review times may be delayed and your submission may not pass.” Apple says over 40% of unresolved issues are related to Guideline 2.1, App Completeness. These are Apple’s stated figures on its App Review page, accessed in 2026; they do not predict the outcome or timing of a specific app’s review.

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