Every app on the App Store is reviewed before it goes live: by machine checks first, then by a person. These guidelines are what that review looks for. They are the rules the store already applies, written down in one place.
1. Safety and security first
- Every submission goes through the security review before anything else. Code loaded from the internet, code built from text at run time, and hidden or disguised behaviour are refused.
- An app can reach only the sites it lists, and only with a true reason for each. Everything it sends there must be in its privacy label.
- Every permission needs a true reason that a person can read.
- If an app turns out to be harmful, the store revokes it: it leaves the store and WispOS turns off installed copies at their next check.
2. A safe haven: no ads, no selling data, no tracking
The App Store is a place people can install apps without being advertised to, sold or followed. Every app keeps three rules:
- No ads. An app shows no advertising: no ad network, ad SDK, sponsored placement or paid promotion of other products. Charging for the app, or for things inside it, is fine.
- No selling or sharing data. What an app collects is for the app's own job and the person using it. It is never sold, rented, traded, or given to anyone else for their own use, such as advertisers, data brokers, or analytics and attribution companies.
- No tracking. An app doesn't follow people across other companies' apps or sites, or combine what it knows about them with other companies' data. It keeps only what it genuinely needs, such as an account for a multiplayer game or a person's own saves, and lists all of it in its privacy label.
The review refuses an app whose privacy label says it tracks people, and an app that lists a known ad or tracker server among the sites it reaches. Ad or tracking code bundled inside an app is shown to the reviewer, who asks for it to be taken out. Selling or sharing data can't be seen in a package, so a person reads the privacy label and every site the app reaches with this rule in mind. An app found breaking any of the three later is taken off the store.
3. Your own app, not a copy
- An app in the same genre as one on the store is welcome; the same app with minor changes isn't.
- Every submission is compared with every app on the store (code, art and sounds, and the words a person reads) and gets a similarity score from 0 to 100. Renaming, recolouring, a new icon or retuned numbers don't change it much.
- 70 or more (or code alone 85 or more) is a near-copy and is refused. You can appeal once: a person compares the two apps side by side and decides. Nothing is decided by machine.
- 40 to 69 is held for a person, who compares the two the same way before it can be approved.
4. One app, not a store
An app can't be an app store of its own: it doesn't install, sideload, sell, list or carry other apps. Send each of your apps on its own; the store shows them all under your developer name.
5. Honest listings
- The name, description and screenshots show the app as it is.
- The privacy label is true: what the app collects and why. An app that tracks people isn't accepted (section 2).
- Updates keep the same publisher, and raise both the build and the version.
6. Agents and chat cards
Instructions in an app's agent or chat cards stay within the app's job. They never ask a person for personal data, tell them to ignore anything, or steer Wisper beyond the app. An agent that changes itself after review isn't accepted.
7. Content and age ratings
Every app carries one age rating, and it must match the app's most mature content, including anything the app can reach.
| Rating | For |
|---|---|
| 4+ | Everyone. No objectionable content. |
| 9+ | Mild or cartoon violence, mild scary scenes, or content that may not suit young children. |
| 13+ | Infrequent mild language, realistic violence, simulated gambling, mild suggestive themes, or chat with other people. |
| 16+ | Frequent language, stronger violence or mature themes, or unrestricted web content. |
| 18+ | Intense violence, strong mature or suggestive themes, or content for adults only. |
An app still rated on the earlier tiers keeps working: 12+ is shown as 13+, and 17+ as 18+.
Apps for children. An app rated 4+ or 9+ that collects any data or reaches the network is checked by a person for children's privacy before it can be approved.
Not accepted at any rating: sexual content involving minors, pornography, content that promotes violence against people or groups, real-money gambling, content that breaks the law, and anything that takes or shares a person's data without asking.
8. Review decisions
- A reviewer may approve an app, ask for changes, or turn it down, and says why. Every step is shown on this site and emailed to you.
- Approved apps go live with the store's next publish, at least weekly.
- The store may take an app off the store later if it stops meeting these guidelines.
Versions
- Version 2026-10-29, effective October 29, 2026 (current draft) · you're reading this one
- Version 2026-10-17, effective October 17, 2026