App Store review / Guidelines / 2.3.6
App Review Guideline · first-hand cases · checked Oct 24, 2026
Guideline 2.3.6: Age rating answers
Short answerGuideline 2.3.6 says to answer the age rating questionnaire honestly. The reviewer compares your answers with what the app shows. Our habit tracker, Chain, lets people track quitting drinking and smoking, so the reviewer wanted "Frequent/Intense" for alcohol, tobacco or drug references instead of "None". We changed that one answer and the update was approved 26 hours later.
“Answer the age rating questions in App Store Connect honestly so that your app aligns properly with parental controls.” Guideline 2.3.6
What it means
The questionnaire in App Store Connect sets your age rating and how parental controls treat the app. A mis-rating can surprise families, and Apple says it can trigger regulator questions. References count, not only depictions: a quit-smoking tracker refers to tobacco on every screen.
What happened to us
Chain 1.3 was rejected on October 20 (1.2 hours after submission, its second issue that night). We set the alcohol, tobacco or drug use or references answer to Frequent/Intense on the rejected app info through the App Store Connect API, clicked Update Review on the version page, and resubmitted.
Every case on our account (2)
| App | Type | Submitted | Decided | Wait | Outcome | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain | Update | Oct 19, 2026 | Oct 20, 2026 | 1.2 h | Not approved | Age rating said no alcohol/tobacco references; a quit-habit app needs "Frequent" |
| Chain | Update | Oct 20, 2026 | Oct 21, 2026 | 26.0 h | Approved | Approved 26 hours after the rating fix |
Wait = from the "Submitted" time in the Apple email to the decision email. Source: our App Review decision emails.
What worked
- The API change alone was not enough: before Update Review, App Store Connect refused to resubmit (HTTP 409, "not in valid state"). See Update Review.
If you got Guideline 2.3.6: do this
- Read your own screens as a parent would: count references, not only images.
- Habit, health, dating and finance apps: check the substance, gambling and mature themes answers.
- Change the answer, click Update Review, then resubmit.
Related
- Guideline 2.3.7: Accurate Metadata: names, keywords, prices
- Guideline 2.5.1: Public APIs, used for their intended purpose (HealthKit)
- App Store Connect: Resubmit greyed out until "Update Review"
- App Store review times, monthly report
- Every guideline and message we hit
Sources
- Apple App Review Guidelines, 2.3.6: developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#2.3.6 (read Oct 24, 2026)
- Our decision data (every App Review email, CSV): tensorust.com/reports/app-store-review-times/2026-10/decisions.csv (through Oct 23, 2026)
Need the whole pipeline (signing, screenshots, review notes, fastlane submission from Windows)? Fixed-price iPhone app builds.
Up next
Often comes with this oneGuideline 2.3.7: Accurate Metadata: names, keywords, pricesThe next rule our apps ran into, with the cases and the fix.Read it next →Did this answer your question?