App Store Connect Age Rating: Rate Your App 4+ to 18+

You set your app's age rating in App Store Connect. You answer a questionnaire about the app's content and features, and Apple calculates the rating: 4+, 9+, 13+, 16+ or 18+. You don't pick the number. You can only raise it. Guideline 2.3.6 asks you to answer honestly, because this rating drives parental controls.

I publish my own iOS apps with Expo. On the App Store, Solys and TradaZen show 9+ and Nolera shows 4+, for three different reasons I'll walk through below. This guide is based on the App Store Connect help pages and Apple's announcements, which I reread on October 15, 2026.

Apple's new age rating system

Apple announced the change on July 24, 2025: "The updated age rating system adds 13+, 16+, and 18+ to the existing 4+ and 9+ ratings." So the 13+, 16+ and 18+ tiers join 4+ and 9+, and the rating can vary by country.

What changed for you:

• Every app was automatically re-rated based on its previous answers. The new ratings show up starting with iOS 26.
• New questions are mandatory: in-app controls, capabilities, medical or wellness topics, violent themes.
• The deadline was January 31, 2026. On its upcoming requirements page, Apple asked developers to answer before that date so their app updates wouldn't be blocked.
• A question about social networking was added on July 9, 2026. Since September 2026, your answer is required to submit a new app or an update.

On an iPhone still running something older than iOS 26, the App Store keeps the old scale, with 12+ and 17+. App Store Connect shows it in a separate section, "Operating Systems Earlier than Version 26".

Filling out the questionnaire step by step

These steps come from the Set an app age rating help page. Your role must be Account Holder, Admin, App Manager or Marketing.

1. In Apps, open your app, then App Information under General.
2. Under Age Ratings, click Set Up Age Ratings, or Edit if you've already answered.
3. First screen: check the controls your app offers (parental controls, age verification) and its capabilities (unrestricted web access, user-generated content, social networking, messaging, advertising).
4. Then answer section by section: mature themes, medical or wellness, sexuality or nudity, violence, chance-based activities. Each type of content is rated None, Infrequent or Frequent. Gambling and paid loot boxes are yes or no questions.
5. The last step shows the Calculated Rating. Under Age Categories and Override, choose Not Applicable, Made for Kids or Override to Higher Age Rating.
6. Click Save.

Two options deserve a closer look. Override to Higher Age Rating raises the displayed rating above the calculated one. It becomes mandatory if your terms of use set a higher minimum age. Made for Kids puts the app in the Kids category, only if the calculation gives 4+ or 9+. You can't undo that choice after approval.

Apple doesn't give any numeric threshold between "Infrequent" and "Frequent". My advice: answer based on the worst screen a user can reach, not the average one.

Which features raise your age rating?

The table below cross-references Apple's values and definitions with the features we code most often in an Expo app. My reading of the table: a single answer is enough, and the final rating is the highest tier you hit.

App feature	Age rating
Advertising	Stays at 4+
Messaging, chat	Stays at 4+
User-generated content	Stays at 4+
Parental controls	Stays at 4+
Infrequent contests	Stays at 4+
Paid loot boxes	9+ minimum
Wellness topics	9+ minimum
Social feed	13+ minimum
Occasional simulated gambling	13+ minimum
Frequent contests	13+ minimum
Unrestricted web browser	16+ minimum
Frequent simulated gambling	18+
Real-money betting	18+
Open AI chatbot	Depends on its output

There's also an "Unrated" tier, for explicit violence or sexual content. An Unrated app can't be published on the App Store.

Chat and user-generated content: 4+ on paper

Messaging, user-generated content and advertising sit at the 4+ tier. These features don't raise the rating, but what they let through can. User-generated content also requires filtering, reporting and blocking, covered in the guideline 1.2 guide. For ads, rule 2.5.18 requires ads that fit the app's age rating.

Social networking: 13+ minimum

A feed that distributes, amplifies or lets people react to user content counts as social networking. Apple's announcement about Time Allowances says that an app declaring this feature gets at least 13+. There's an option to turn it off for users under 13, as long as you check their age range with the Declared Age Range API.

AI and chatbots: count what they can produce

The 2025 announcement spells it out: "you must consider how all app features, including AI assistants and chatbot functionality, impact the frequency of sensitive content appearing within your app to make sure it receives the appropriate rating." In plain terms, when you assess how often sensitive content appears, you also count what your AI assistant can write.

A chatbot that talks about anything can produce profanity, medical advice or mature themes. Either you restrict it and test its limits, or you answer the questionnaire for what it can say. Rule 4.7.5 goes further for software offered inside the app, chatbots included: flag anything that goes beyond the age rating and restrict access by age. Sharing data with a third-party AI falls under a different rule, explained in the guideline 5.1.2 guide.

The WebView that bumps you to 16+

Apple defines unrestricted web access like this: "Users can navigate to any webpage within the app or freely browse the web." With Expo, that's a react-native-webview that lets users go to any site. My reading: a WebView limited to your own pages, like your terms of use or help pages, doesn't allow free browsing.

Simulated gambling and loot boxes

Simulated gambling means betting without real money. Occasional gives you 13+. Frequent gives you 18+. Paid loot boxes give you 9+, and 18+ on the Brazilian App Store. The line between games and real money is covered in the guideline 5.3 guide.

My three apps: what the App Store shows

I reread the French listings on October 15, 2026 and compared each rating to Apple's table.

• Solys, 9+. Only descriptor: "Health or Wellness Topics". That topic alone is enough to go from 4+ to 9+.
• TradaZen, 9+. Only descriptor: "Infrequent: Contests", for the leagues and leaderboards. Infrequent contests stay at 4+ in the table: the 9+ is a choice, made with the Override to Higher Age Rating option. No gambling answer is checked: nobody bets anything, you take a position on a past chart.
• Nolera, 4+. An AI puts together outfits from your wardrobe and tries them on you. AI alone doesn't raise the rating: what it generates does. Trying on clothes doesn't match any sensitive content in the questionnaire.

What does guideline 2.3.6 say?

The rule sits in section 2.3, "Accurate Metadata", of the App Review Guidelines: "Answer the age rating questions in App Store Connect honestly so that your app aligns properly with parental controls. If your app is mis-rated, customers might be surprised by what they get, or it could trigger an inquiry from government regulators."

In plain terms: answer honestly so the app works with parental controls. A wrong rating surprises families and can draw the attention of regulators. Hence the rejection title: "Guideline 2.3.6 - Performance - Accurate Metadata". The same rule adds that movie, music or game apps must follow each country's rating display requirements.

Rule 2.3.8 completes the picture. Your icon, screenshots and previews must stay appropriate for a 4+ audience, even if the app is rated higher. Phrases like "For Kids" are reserved for the Kids category. The other listing rules are in the guideline 2.3.10 guide.

Impact on visibility and parental controls

The rating mostly decides who can download your app:

• Screen Time. A parent can block apps above a given rating. According to Apple Support, a blocked app isn't deleted: it stays grayed out on the Home Screen.
• 18+ in Australia, Brazil and Singapore. Since February 24, 2026, the App Store blocks these downloads until the user has been confirmed as an adult. The laws that require you to read the user's age in your app are in the App Store age verification guide.
• Time Allowances. Since iOS 27, parents can limit time spent per category: Entertainment, Games, Social. Your App Store category and your social networking answer decide where your app lands.

Apple never says the age rating affects search ranking. A rating that's too high locks you out of kids' accounts. A rating that's too low exposes you to 2.3.6.

Changing the age rating after release

In the App Store Connect properties table, the age rating is required, but it's not among the fields you can edit without a new version. So you change your answers in App Information, then submit a new version. The Made for Kids choice, though, stays locked after approval.

Before every version that adds a feature, go back through the questionnaire: chat, AI, social feed, browser or store. It's also the right time to review your App Privacy declarations, which work the same way.

Check your listing before you submit

The Review Kit bundles my pre-submission checklist, my fixed rejections and Claude Code skills that review your project and your listing. For an overview of rejection reasons, read why Apple rejects an app. The whole release process is on the publish an app on the App Store page.

Want to know what's still blocking you? Take the free diagnostic: it sends you my Apple anti-rejection checklist.

Frequently asked questions

How do I change the age rating in App Store Connect?

Open App Information, click Edit, then go through the questionnaire again. The age rating can't be changed without a new version: the new rating ships with your next submission.

What does guideline 2.3.6 mean?

It asks you to answer the age questionnaire honestly, so the app works with parental controls. A mis-rated app can be rejected under the title "Guideline 2.3.6 - Performance - Accurate Metadata".

Does an app with chat automatically get rated 18+?

No. Messaging and user-generated content sit at the 4+ tier. What circulates in the app is what can raise the rating, along with the safeguards required by guideline 1.2.

Why does the App Store still show 12+ or 17+?

The iPhone viewing the listing runs a version older than iOS 26. Those devices keep the old scale, which appears in a separate section of App Store Connect.

Can I choose a higher age rating myself?

Yes, with Override to Higher Age Rating, in the last step of the questionnaire. It's mandatory if your terms of use require a minimum age higher than the calculated rating.