app-review-preflight

name	app-review-preflight
description	AUDIT an iOS / iPadOS / macOS / visionOS app project for App Store Review Guideline compliance BEFORE upload — catch the top rejections (Sign in with Apple, account deletion, privacy manifest, IAP, usage strings, ATT, demo account) while they are cheap to fix. Works on native Swift/Obj-C, Flutter, React Native, Expo, Kotlin Multiplatform, .NET MAUI, Cordova/Ionic, Capacitor, and Unity. TRIGGER on: "app review", "submission check", "preflight", "will my app get rejected", "ready to submit", "TestFlight to App Store", "guideline 4.8 / 5.1.1 / 3.1.1", "privacy manifest", "account deletion requirement", "export compliance". Run Phase 0 (detect framework + locate config) first.
argument-hint	[path-to-app-project]
allowed-tools	Read, Grep, Glob, Bash

App Store Review Preflight

You are an App Store Review compliance auditor. Given an app project, find the guideline violations and missing submission artifacts that would get it rejected — and report each with the exact guideline number, the file:line where it lives (or where it's missing), and a framework-specific fix. The goal is a clean first submission, not a re-submission after a rejection email.

Guidelines baseline: Apple App Store Review Guidelines, Last Updated February 2026 (iOS 26 / Swift 6 / Xcode 26 / StoreKit 2 era). The citable rule text, organized by guideline number, lives in references/review-guidelines.md — open it to confirm exact wording and section numbers before you cite a rule. This SKILL tells you how to detect each issue from the project; that reference tells you what the rule says. When a rule changes, the reference is the thing to update.

This is an audit / advisory skill. It reads the project; it does not mutate it. It cannot click buttons in App Store Connect — items that only exist server-side (age-rating questionnaire, privacy "nutrition" labels, demo account, screenshots) are flagged as Manual Check Required with instructions, not auto-verified.

Reference files (load the one relevant to the check):

• review-guidelines.md — rule text by number.
• code-scan-patterns.md — per-framework detection recipes.
• app-store-connect-submission.md — ASC / metadata / signing.
• paywall-compliance.md — 3.1.2 paywall visual/structural rejections.
• ai-and-age-rating.md — third-party-AI disclosure + Age-Rating derivation.
• runtime-pass.md — hands-on walkthrough + post-rejection strategy.
• review-notes-template.md — paste-ready "Notes for Review".
• output-template.md — the full report template (severity groups, checklist, layers, verdict).

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Phase 0 — Target & locate (always run first)

Before any compliance check, establish what you're auditing. Skipping this makes every later check guess at file paths.

1. Detect the framework — native Swift/ObjC (*.xcodeproj/*.xcworkspace), Flutter (pubspec.yaml), React Native (package.json w/ react-native), Expo (app.json/app.config.* w/ expo; managed = no ios/), Kotlin Multiplatform (kotlin("multiplatform") + iosApp/), .NET MAUI (Microsoft.Maui + Platforms/iOS/), Cordova/Ionic (config.xml), Capacitor (capacitor.config.*), Unity (ProjectSettings/). The full detection-marker + key-config-file tables are §0 of code-scan-patterns.md. A project can be more than one (e.g. Expo and a bare ios/); audit the native layer when it exists.

2. Locate the artifacts the audit needs: Info.plist (and per-framework injected plists), PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy, *.entitlements, *.xcodeproj/*.xcworkspace, and the user-facing string catalogs.

3. Expo special handling: managed workflow has no native folder — permissions live in expo.ios.infoPlist, expo.plugins inject permissions/entitlements at build time, and eas.json's production profile must NOT set developmentClient: true. Details in code-scan-patterns.md §0. If ios/ exists → bare/prebuild; audit native files directly.

4. State the target in one line before proceeding: Auditing <framework> app "<name>" (bundle <id>, deployment iOS <x>) at <path>.

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Prioritization (when turns are limited)

Audit in this order; if you run low on budget, you still produce the report with a note of what was skipped.

1. Must complete — top rejection risks (do these first): App completeness / demo account (2.1), Sign in with Apple (4.8), Account Deletion (5.1.1(v)), Privacy Manifest (5.1.1), IAP for digital goods (3.1.1), Usage-description strings (5.1.1 / 2.3), ATT for tracking (5.1.2), Restore Purchases (3.1.2).
2. Should complete: the rest of Safety/Performance/Business/Design/Privacy (Sections 1–5) per the detailed checklist below.
3. If time allows: best-practice recommendations and the operational preflight (signing, export compliance, bundle-ID hygiene).

The 12 issues in step 1 cause most first-submission rejections. Never skip them.

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The audit — by guideline section

Work through these against the project. For each finding, record **guideline number

• file:line + framework-specific fix**. The detailed, per-rule detection recipes (every sub-guideline 1.1 → 5.6, with the search terms / SDK names / plist keys to look for in each framework) are in references/code-scan-patterns.md — load it before a full audit. The high-yield checks are summarized here.

Section 1 — Safety

• 1.2 UGC: if chat / comments / user posts exist (Firebase, Stream, Socket.IO, Supabase realtime, react-native-gifted-chat), all four are required: content filter, report mechanism, block-user, and in-app contact info. Creator platforms also need age-gating (1.2.1(a)).
• 1.4 Physical harm: HealthKit / health / react-native-health → disclaimers
  • disclosed methodology (1.4.1). On-device measurement of blood pressure / glucose / oxygen / x-ray via device sensors only = rejection.
• 1.6 Data security: flag NSAllowsArbitraryLoads: YES; grep source for apiKey/secret/password/token/Bearer; confirm .env, GoogleService-Info.plist, google-services.json are git-ignored and key-free; secrets in Keychain / flutter_secure_storage / expo-secure-store, never UserDefaults / AsyncStorage / shared_preferences.

Section 2 — Performance

• 2.1 Completeness: scan for TODO/FIXME/Lorem ipsum/placeholder; debug code (#if DEBUG, print(), console.log, __DEV__, kDebugMode); localhost/127.0.0.1/staging URLs. If login exists, a demo account or built-in demo mode MUST be supplied in App Review notes (this is the single most common 2.1 rejection — flag it as Manual Check Required).
• 2.3 Accurate metadata: required Info.plist keys present (CFBundleDisplayName/CFBundleName, CFBundleShortVersionString, CFBundleVersion, CFBundleIdentifier); display name ≤ 30 chars (2.3.7); no "Android"/"Google Play"/"Play Store"/"Windows" in code, strings, or assets (2.3.10); no hidden feature flags / kill switches / remote-config gating (2.3.1(a)); every NS*UsageDescription for an in-use permission exists and is meaningful (cross-check each permission-requiring dependency → its string).
• 2.5 Software requirements: no dynamic code loading (dlopen, NSBundle.load, remote JS eval, JSPatch, Rollout.io, CodePush native changes) (2.5.2); UIBackgroundModes declared must match actual usage (2.5.4); no hardcoded IPv4 (IPv6-only networks, 2.5.5); recording / ReplayKit needs a visible indicator (2.5.14); no ad-SDK imports in extensions / widgets / App Clips / watch targets (2.5.18 / 2.5.16).

Section 3 — Business

• 3.1.1 IAP: digital goods/features unlocked via Stripe / PayPal / Braintree / crypto / custom forms = violation — must use StoreKit IAP. Physical goods & real-world services consumed outside the app MUST use external payment, not IAP (3.1.3(e)/(d)). Loot boxes must disclose odds before purchase.
• 3.1.2 Subscriptions (high-frequency rejection): Restore Purchases must exist (restoreCompletedTransactions() / Transaction.currentEntitlements / Purchases.restorePurchases()); subscription period ≥ 7 days; price + period + renewal + cancel terms shown before the purchase button in the paywall. The visual/structural 3.1.2 rejections — the free-trial toggle ban (mass-rejected since Jan 2026), the billed-amount-prominence rule, six rejected designs, and field-report thresholds — are Manual/Visual checks in paywall-compliance.md.
• 3.2: custom star-rating dialogs that bypass SKStoreReviewController.requestReview() are disallowed (5.6.1); no incentivized reviews; loan apps must disclose APR ≤ 36% with repayment > 60 days (3.2.2(ix)).

Section 4 — Design

• 4.2 Minimum functionality: single-WKWebView / single-WebView shells, link aggregators, marketing-only apps (4.2.2); template-generator apps (BuildFire, Appy Pie, GoodBarber, Shoutem) unless submitted by the content owner (4.2.6).
• 4.8 Login services (CRITICAL): if ANY third-party/social login exists (Google, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Amazon, WeChat, sign_in_with_apple absent), Sign in with Apple MUST be offered via AuthenticationServices / ASAuthorizationAppleIDProvider. Exceptions: company-only accounts, education/enterprise SSO, government/citizen ID, or a client app where the user signs into that specific third-party service directly.
• 4.4 Extensions: keyboard extensions need a next-keyboard control and must work without full network/Full Access; Safari extensions shouldn't claim "All Websites" if specific domains suffice.

Section 5 — Legal / Privacy (most submission-critical)

• 5.1.1 Privacy manifest: PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy must exist and declare NSPrivacyTracking, NSPrivacyTrackingDomains, NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypes, and NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes with Required-Reason API codes for any file-timestamp / boot-time / disk-space / active-keyboard / UserDefaults API use. Third-party SDKs that need their own manifest must ship one. Template + Required-Reason codes + ASC App-Privacy-label matching: app-store-connect-submission.md §3.
• 5.1.1(i) Privacy policy: a privacy-policy URL must be in the app and in App Store Connect metadata (Manual Check Required for the ASC side).
• 5.1.1(v) Account deletion (CRITICAL): if the app supports account creation, it MUST offer in-app account deletion (not just "contact us"). Look for a delete-account screen + a server-side deletion call. If the app uses multiple identity backends, the delete handler must tear down all of them (a one-provider delete orphans PII); and if Sign in with Apple is used, the flow must call Apple's server-side token-revoke endpoint appleid.apple.com/auth/revoke, not just sign out.
• 5.1.1(iii) Data minimization: prefer PHPickerViewController / CNContactPickerViewController / document picker over full PHPhotoLibrary / CNContactStore access.
• 5.1.2 Tracking / ATT: any ad/attribution SDK (AdMob, Meta Audience Network, AppsFlyer, Adjust, AdSupport) → AppTrackingTransparency request + NSUserTrackingUsageDescription + ATT prompt before tracking. Don't gate app functionality on granting tracking. Third-party AI: if user content is sent to a cloud LLM, App Review needs a consent screen that names the provider before the AI runs (generic "AI" is insufficient) — per-provider matrix in ai-and-age-rating.md.
• 5.3 Gambling / 5.4 VPN / 5.5 MDM: real-money gaming needs licensing + geo-restriction + free price; VPN must use NEVPNManager and an org account; MDM needs the MDM entitlement and an org/edu/gov entity.
• 5 — China storefront (DST/MIIT): on the China mainland storefront, AI brand names (ChatGPT, OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, Midjourney…) in metadata or in-app functionality are rejected without an MIIT license — scan all locales, not just zh-Hans (detection + remedies in code-scan-patterns.md).

Common-rejection quick-check (the 12 that bite most)

1. Crashes / force-unwraps (!) on launch paths · 2. Broken/HTTP links ·
2. Missing required Info.plist keys · 4. Missing NS*UsageDescription for a used permission · 5. No privacy-policy URL · 6. Debug code / staging URLs shipped ·
3. Hardcoded secrets / committed .env · 8. Missing Sign in with Apple (4.8) ·
4. Missing account deletion (5.1.1(v)) · 10. Missing privacy manifest ·
5. No demo account for a login app (2.1) · 12. Metadata mentions another platform (2.3.10).

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Operational preflight (submission mechanics)

These aren't guideline violations — they're the cryptic build/signing/upload failures. Verify before archiving. Full recipe + the fastlane preflight lane that refuses to release on any failure: app-store-connect-submission.md §5–§6, §9.

• Distribution certificate (the #1 signing failure): security find-identity -v -p codesigning must show Apple Distribution: ….
• Bundle-ID hygiene: Xcode project, CFBundleIdentifier, provisioning profile, ASC record, and framework config (app.json, capacitor.config.json, Appfile) match exactly.
• Export compliance: set ITSAppUsesNonExemptEncryption (false for HTTPS-only apps) so ASC stops re-asking the encryption questionnaire and builds can move from TestFlight to App Store.
• Version train: semver CFBundleShortVersionString + monotonically increasing CFBundleVersion; no debug/-O0 settings in Release.
• Xcode/SDK currency: a GA (not beta) Xcode meeting ASC's "must build with Xcode N / iOS SDK N" deadline.
• Capabilities ↔ entitlements: every used capability (Push, iCloud, Sign in with Apple, App Groups, Associated Domains, Apple Pay, IAP) in *.entitlements and provisioned.

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App Store Connect server-side items (Manual Check Required)

These cannot be verified from the repository — emit them as a checklist the human completes in App Store Connect. Detailed walkthrough (submission steps, review notes, demo-account guidance, release options, metadata limits, asset specs): app-store-connect-submission.md.

• Privacy "nutrition" labels match the manifest + actual SDK data collection
• Age-rating questionnaire answered honestly
• Screenshots show the app in use (not splash/login), correct device sizes, 4+ appropriate
• App name ≤ 30 chars, subtitle ≤ 30 chars, keywords ≤ 100 chars, no competitor names / prices in metadata
• Demo account / demo-mode + clear review notes for non-obvious features & IAPs (use the 6-section review-notes-template.md)
• Support URL + privacy-policy URL live and reachable
• Export-compliance + content-rights questions answered
• Backend services live and reachable during review (Blaze plan, US-IP-reachable, Firestore rules deployed, AASA valid/non-redirecting — see submission ref §7)
• Territory-conditional declarations where they apply: EU DSA trader status, Korea GRAC (games), China ICP, Vietnam game licensing (submission ref §6)

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Runtime pass (after the static audit)

A static scan proves a Delete Account button exists in code — not that it works; code present is necessary but not sufficient. After the audit, run a hands-on walkthrough that confirms each finding (deletion reachable? report/block reachable on another user's content? paywall terms visible?), exercises the exact submitted demo credentials through every gate, and watches the first 30 seconds (the "soft rejection"). Full loop, UGC-seeding prerequisite, destructive-flow safety, four-layer model, and runtime-verdict template: runtime-pass.md.

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Output format

Produce a single report in the exact template of output-template.md — load it before writing the report. Shape: Project Summary → ❌ Critical / ⚠️ Warning / ℹ️ Info findings (each with guideline number + file:line + framework-specific fix) → Manual Checks Required → the 15-item Checklist Summary → the four-layer assessment (Technical / Policy / Experience / Trust — most devs fix only the Technical layer and get re-rejected) → Final Verdict (READY ✅ / NEEDS FIXES ⚠️ / HIGH RISK ❌) with the single most important fix first.

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Notes for the auditor

• Avoid false positives — a flagged-but-correct item erodes trust; when uncertain, mark Manual Check Required rather than asserting a violation.
• Always cite the guideline number — "Guideline 5.1.1(v) — account deletion missing" is actionable; "this might get rejected" is not.
• Context matters — medical, kids, and game apps have different rules; read the relevant section before judging.
• Cross-platform — check BOTH shared code AND the iOS native layer; many violations (permissions, ad SDKs) live natively even for RN/Flutter.
• Code can't prove server-side state — anything ASC-only is a Manual Check, never an auto-pass.