App Store rejection
Guideline 4.8 - Design - Login Services
Your app signs people in with Google, Facebook or another third-party account, and Apple wants an equivalent option next to it. We add it properly, or make the case for your exception, and stay on it until it's approved. Fixed price, half paid only after approval.
Free triage within 12 business hours.
Paste the rejection, get a straight answer
Free first read. We reply within 12 business hours with what's behind it and a fixed price.
What the message is about
Guideline 4.8 applies when your app uses a third-party or social login service to set up or sign in to the user's main account. Then Apple wants another login option offered as an equivalent, one that:
- limits data collection to the user's name and email address,
- lets users keep their email address private,
- doesn't collect interactions with your app for advertising without consent.
Sign in with Apple meets these requirements.
What it actually means
Either your app gets an equivalent login option, or it fits one of the exceptions the guideline lists. For example, apps that only use your own company's account system, or business and education apps that require an existing company or school account.
If an exception applies, the reviewer has to be able to see that. A plain "Sign in with Google" button looks like a personal login, even in a business app.
Why guessing is expensive
- Adding a Sign in with Apple button is the easy part. Linking it to existing accounts, handling hidden email addresses and supporting account deletion is where it breaks.
- A rushed version can create duplicate accounts for the same person, and that's hard to clean up later.
- Arguing for an exception your app doesn't fit brings the same rejection back.
- Even when the exception applies, it can come back with every update until the app makes it obvious.
What we do
- Check whether your app needs the equivalent option or fits an exception.
- If it needs one, add Sign in with Apple end to end: the button, your server, account linking and deletion.
- If an exception applies, make it visible in the app and in the review notes, so it doesn't come back with every update.
- Write the reply to App Review and stay on it through every round.
You keep your code and your account. We never ask for your Apple ID password. If we need access, it goes through an App Store Connect user with the App Manager role.
Fixed price
Reviewer Reply
$99
Regular price: $190When your app fits an exception: the case for it in your reply to App Review and the review notes, followed until Apple decides. No code changes.
Rejection Fix
$249
Regular price: from $490Sign in with Apple or another equivalent option added in the app and on your server, the new build, the reply to App Review and every round for the same issue.
Several apps rejected at once? Send them all, we'll quote per app.
50% to start, 50% after Apple approves the submission. If Apple does not approve the submission for the guidelines we fixed, we keep working on those guidelines at no extra cost for up to 3 resubmissions within 60 days. If it still is not approved, you do not pay the second half.
Proof
4.3(a) Design Spam · App concept review
So I was facing this issue where one of my app got design spam twice. And seeing other on X also getting it more frequently now I got real demotivated and there was this fear in me that my next app will probably get design spam too because already there are other similar apps. In my case I was not having an issue with binary or metadata as I create things from ground up the main issue was app concept.
After talking to team I got to know that we can do consultation call with apple review team even before submitting build. The team also emphasized that first screenshot should highlights your unique features that no one have.
Going forward I will now try consultation calls with the apple team and also will highlight my unique features instead of the most popular and famous one.
An app we worked on went through 7 rejections and was approved on round 8.
Questions
Do I have to use Sign in with Apple?
The guideline asks for an equivalent option with specific privacy features. Sign in with Apple meets them, which is why it's the usual choice.
My app only has email and password login. Does 4.8 apply?
Not if your app only uses your own account system. 4.8 is about third-party and social login.
Our app is for businesses and uses company Google accounts. Is that an exception?
It can be. The guideline excludes business and education apps that require an existing company or school account. The app and the review notes have to make that clear.
What happens to users who already signed up with Google?
Nothing has to change for them. The new option is added next to the existing ones.
How fast do you answer?
Free triage within 12 business hours.
Do you need my Apple ID password?
No, never. Access goes through an App Store Connect user with the App Manager role.
Send us your rejection
Paste Apple's message and list the login options your app has now. We'll tell you if an exception applies or what to add, and give you a fixed price.
Prefer X? DM us at @verdict_studio
Got it. Free triage within 12 business hours.
Written by Ivan Bilousov, founder of Verdict Studio · Updated