App Store rejection guide

Guideline 4.2 (Minimum Functionality): how to fix it

Last reviewed 18 October 2026

A 4.2 rejection means the reviewer didn’t see enough app in your app. It hits web wrappers, brochure apps and template apps most often, and it’s fixable once you know what Apple is looking for.

Short answer

Apple thinks your app is a repackaged website, mostly marketing, or too limited to be useful. Add features that work like an app and that a website can’t offer, make them obvious to the reviewer, and if it’s built from a template, make sure the right company submits it.

What Apple is saying

“features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website”
Apple, App Review Guideline 4.2

Apple wants apps to be useful, unique and “app-like”, with lasting value. The parts of 4.2 that cause most rejections:

4.2: the app is essentially a website, or doesn’t offer lasting entertainment or adequate utility.
4.2.2: the app is mainly marketing material, adverts, web clippings, a content aggregator or a collection of links. Catalogues are the exception.
4.2.3: the app needs another app installed to work, or downloads large resources on first launch without telling people the size first.
4.2.6: the app comes from a commercial template or app-generation service but wasn’t submitted by the owner of its content.

The usual causes

A web view around your mobile website, with the browser’s look and the same pages people already get in Safari.
A brochure app: company info, a contact form and links, with nothing to do.
A content feed pulled from a website or social accounts, with no features of its own.
One small feature that doesn’t justify a standalone app.
An app-builder or template app submitted by the agency that made it rather than the business it’s for.

How to fix it

Add things a website can’t do well. Offline access, the camera, location, widgets, Sign in with Apple, Apple Pay for physical goods, saved preferences, or notifications people actually want. Pick the ones that make sense for your customers.
Rebuild the key screens natively. Native navigation, lists and forms instead of web pages with browser behaviour. Web views can stay for some content, as long as the app around them is a real app.
Give people a reason to come back: their account, history, progress, bookings or saved items.
Cut the brochure. Move marketing pages to the website and keep the app for tasks.
If it’s a template, check who submits. The business that owns the content should publish from its own developer account, or the template provider can host every client in one app with a picker. Apple gives restaurant-finder and event apps as examples.
Point the reviewer at it. List the app’s features in the review notes, add a demo account, and attach a short screen recording if anything is hard to find.
Reply to App Review with what changed, then resubmit. Our reply and appeal guide covers what to write.

Be honest about the product

Sometimes the right answer is that the product works better as a website for now. If customers only need to read information or fill in one form, a fast mobile website may serve them better than an app Apple doesn’t want. We’ll tell you which it is on a call.

4.2 often arrives together with Guideline 4.3 (Spam) for template apps, so read both if your app shares code with others.

Questions founders ask

Can an app that uses web views be approved?

Yes. Many approved apps show some screens as web content. What gets rejected is an app that is mostly your website in a wrapper, without features of its own.

Will adding push notifications fix a 4.2 rejection?

Usually not on its own. The reviewer looks at whether the app as a whole does more than the website, so notifications help only alongside real features.

Do cross-platform apps like Flutter or React Native get rejected under 4.2?

Not because of the framework. Cross-platform apps are approved all the time; what matters is what the app does and how it feels to use.

More rejection guides

Based on Apple’s App Review Guidelines as last updated by Apple on 16 October 2026. Apple changes them from time to time, so check the current text on Apple’s developer site.