Translate a rejection — free
Already rejected? Start there. Still building? Read on to see what gets checked before you submit.
Why apps get rejected — and what can be caught early
Apple's own report groups rejections by kind of problem. The groups matter, because they decide what a check like this can honestly promise:
| Kind of problem | How big (Apple's 2025 report) | Can it be caught before you submit? |
|---|---|---|
| Crashes, bugs, and unfinished apps (Apple's Guideline 2.1 family) | Over 1,354,418 rejections — the biggest group | Partly. Placeholder text, missing demo accounts, and missing notes for the reviewer can all be caught on paper. A crash inside your app can't — anyone who claims a listing check finds crashes is overselling. |
| Design problems (Guideline 4.x) — spam, copycat apps, apps that do too little | 415,532 rejections; Apple also counts 371,000+ apps rejected as spam, copies, or misleading | Mostly. Look-alike apps and crowded categories can be flagged. The final call is a reviewer's. |
| Money and legal problems (Guidelines 3.1 and 5.x) — payments, subscriptions, privacy, other people's content | Fewer rejections, but the highest stakes — subscription problems can end a developer account | Yes, mostly. Missing subscription terms, a missing or broken privacy policy, privacy answers that don't match what your app's outside tools actually collect, and no way for users to delete their account can all be checked on paper. |
That split runs through the whole product: some problems are black-and-white rule checks, some are judgment calls where we show you the safer wording, and some can't be answered from a listing at all — and the report always says which is which.
How the full check will work
- You send us your listing — app name, subtitle, description, keywords, screenshots, your privacy policy link, your answers to Apple's privacy questions, the list of outside tools and libraries inside your app (your SDK list), and the words on your subscription and payment screens.
- First, the black-and-white checks — the rules with one right answer. Is your app name too long (rule 2.3.7)? Does your description promise features the app doesn't have (2.3.1)? Do your screenshots follow the size and content rules (2.3.3)? Does your subscription page spell out the price, the free trial, and how to cancel (3.1.2)? Is your privacy policy there, and does the link work (5.1.1)? Can users delete their account (5.1.1)? Are you sending people outside the app to pay for things Apple requires be bought inside it (3.1.1)?
- Then the pattern checks. Your listing is compared against the same library of known rejection problems that powers the free translator — 29 patterns for Apple in the first version — and every problem found names the exact rule it comes from.
- You get a report, not a pass/fail stamp. Every item is marked one of three ways: fix this before you submit, a reviewer will have to judge this — here's the safer way to say it, or this can't be decided from your listing. No report will ever say "guaranteed approval," because no honest tool can.
Building for Android too? The same founding pre-sale covers Google Play — the yearly deadline for which Android version your app must target, the permission forms, the data-safety section, and how Google steps up from a rejection to closing your account: Google Play Pre-Flight →
Pricing — what the checker will cost, and the one offer on sale today
| Offer | Price | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| One full check (when the checker launches) | $49 | One app, one complete listing check, with the written report. |
| Check credits (when the checker launches) | $99 | Credits for several apps, or for checking again after you've fixed things and resubmitted — the shape working indie studios asked for. |
| Studio (when the checker launches) | $29/mo | Checks across all your apps as you ship them, plus unlimited use of the rejection translator. |
| Founding pre-sale (this page — the only offer you can buy today) | $29 once | One full check credit when the checker ships, plus unlimited translator use. This is the test offer — the deal is explained in the box below. |
For comparison: other review-prep services charge $49 for a single AI review and up to $399 to rescue a rejected app. Our bet is that a check tied to the actual written rules is worth more than a general AI opinion — and this pre-sale exists to test that bet before the checker is built.
Pre-Flight Founding — $29 pre-sale
One full check credit when the checker ships, plus unlimited use of the rejection translator, covering both the App Store and Google Play checks. The deal, in plain words: the full checker gets built only if at least 10 founding pre-sales sell within 30 days of these pages going live. If the goal is missed, the checker is not built and every founding pre-sale is refunded in full — the translator and these guides stay live either way.
Payment is handled by Gumroad — the button takes you to the checkout. Nothing here promises or implies you'll be approved: Pre-Flight checks your listing against the published rules; Apple and Google decide.
Start free: the rejection guides
- App Completeness (Guideline 2.1)
- Spam (Guideline 4.3)
- Intellectual Property (Guideline 5.2.1)
- In-App Purchase (Guideline 3.1.1)
- Subscriptions (Guideline 3.1.2)
- Honest Descriptions & Listings (Guideline 2.3.1)
- Privacy (Guideline 5.1.1)
- User-Generated Content (Guideline 1.2)
- Apps That Do Too Little (Guideline 4.2)
- App Name & Listing Rules (Guideline 2.3.7)
Frequently asked questions
Does Pre-Flight guarantee my app will be approved?
No — and be suspicious of any tool that says it does. Pre-Flight checks your listing against Apple's published rules and flags what reviewers flag. Apple decides, sometimes on judgment calls no checklist can settle. The report marks those cases as judgment calls instead of pretending.
Why a pre-sale instead of just launching the checker?
Because building the full checker on a guess is how small tools die. The translator and the guides are live now and free; the $29 founding pre-sale (10 buyers inside 30 days) is the evidence that developers actually want the full check before we build it. If the evidence doesn't come, pre-sales are refunded and the checker isn't built.
What does the free translator cover?
41 known rejection problems across Apple and Google Play — what went wrong in plain English, how serious it is, the steps to fix it, a checklist for resubmitting, and a draft reply to send the reviewers. Three free translations in your browser, no account: open the translator.
Sources
- Apple, App Store Transparency Report (2025 edition) — 9,100,620 submissions reviewed; 2,093,244 rejected; 387,087 approved after an initial rejection; Performance guideline rejections 1,354,418; Design guideline rejections 415,532. Retrieved October 23, 2026.
- Apple Newsroom — 371,000+ apps rejected for spam, copycat, or misleading content (2025 report coverage).
- Apple, App Review Guidelines — guideline text for every check named above; retrieved October 23, 2026.
- ReviewReady (reviewready.app) — published pricing: AI Review $49/app, Expert Review $199, Rejection Rescue $399; checked October 23, 2026.
Last updated October 23, 2026.
Translate your rejection — free
The translator covers 41 known rejection problems across the App Store and Google Play, all based on the stores' own published rules. Three free translations; the $29 Pre-Flight Founding pre-sale adds unlimited translations plus one full check credit when the checker ships.
The translator works from the message you paste. It can't see your app itself, and it never promises an approval outcome — that decision is always the store's.