App Store review is Apple’s practice of inspecting every iOS app before it can be published, measuring it against a published rulebook called the App Store Review Guidelines. Because iOS permits installing apps only through the App Store, review functions as a single gate that all third-party software must pass. This makes Apple both the platform owner and the gatekeeper of what can run on hundreds of millions of devices.
The guidelines themselves set the criteria. Apple’s published document states that the guidelines establish the “technical, content, and design criteria” used to review apps, and it warns that attempts “to cheat the system - for example, by trying to trick the review process, steal user data, copy another developer’s work, manipulate ratings or App Store discovery” will result in apps being removed and developers expelled from the Apple Developer Program. Apple also makes developers responsible for everything bundled into an app, “including ad networks, analytics services, and third-party SDKs.”
A defining feature of the guidelines is that they are explicitly a moving target. Apple describes the document as “a living document” and notes that “new apps presenting new questions may result in new rules at any time.” In practice this means the rules expand as new categories of software appear, covering privacy, content restrictions, payment handling, and the mandatory use of Apple’s in-app purchase system for digital goods.
This curated, single-gate approach is the canonical example of the walled garden in computing. Supporters argue it raises a baseline of security, privacy, and quality, screening out malware and protecting non-technical users. The model proved influential enough that other platforms, including Google Play, adopted their own review processes, even where, unlike iOS, side-loading remained possible.
The same control has made App Store review one of the most contested topics in modern software. Developers have objected to opaque or inconsistent rejections, to the requirement to route digital purchases through Apple’s payment system, and to the 30 percent commission that accompanies it. These complaints fed antitrust scrutiny and litigation in multiple jurisdictions, turning what began as a quality-control step into a central question about who controls distribution on dominant computing platforms.