App Review just got stricter: hidden features and creative assets

Apple has a name for apps that change after approval: bait-and-switch. Since October 16, it also has its own guideline.

Apple says that last year it stopped more than 150K apps with safety issues and terminated over 193K developer accounts for fraud and abuse. The updated App Review Guidelines are the answer, and two of the changes affect ordinary product teams, not only bad actors.

1. 2.5.19: no hidden, dormant or undocumented features. Your app's functionality must be clear to users and to App Review. A feature that shows up after approval and wasn't in the reviewed build can cost you the app and the developer account. 2. Remote config needs a paper trail. Feature flags aren't banned, but anything reviewers can't see or read about in Notes for Review looks hidden. Guideline 2.3.1 already rejects generic descriptions, so "bug fixes and improvements" won't cover a new feature. 3. 2.3.14: creative assets get their own rules. These visuals can appear in the product page header and in search results. They must relate to your app or brand and suit all audiences. No unverifiable claims, no misleading references to other apps, no specific or discounted prices. 4. AI-generated content is named directly. Guideline 1.2 now lists nonconsensual intimate imagery, including imagery made with AI tools, as content apps must proactively prevent and remove.

Our take: for honest teams this is mostly a documentation job. List every server-controlled feature in your review notes, keep a demo account that can reach it, and check creative assets as carefully as screenshots. "The #1 app in its category" on a banner is now a review risk, not a tagline.