Age Rating Accuracy

Skill: Age Rating Accuracy

Purpose

Detects feature patterns that require a higher age rating than commonly submitted, enforcing Guideline 2.3.6 which requires age ratings to accurately reflect the app's content and social features.

Apple Guideline

• Primary: 2.3.6 — Performance: Accurate Metadata — Age Ratings
• Related: 2.3.1
• Reference: references/guidelines/2-performance.md

Real-World Rejection Cases

• Case: Social chat app rated 4+ — reviewer found strangers could message each other — rejected, must be 12+ minimum

Source: Apple Developer Forums (Guideline 2.3.6 enforcement) Root cause: Age rating must accurately reflect content; apps enabling stranger communication require 12+ or 17+ rating — reviewers test social features and will flag a 4+ rating if strangers can interact

Trigger

Invoke on any iOS/macOS project before App Store submission to verify the selected age rating is appropriate for the app's features.

Inputs

| Name | Type | Default | Description | |------|------|---------|-------------| | project_root | path | cwd | iOS/macOS project root | | shared_context | object | nil | Pre-collected context from appstore-full-audit Phase 1 |

Actions

Phase 1: Context Collection

Skip this phase if shared_context is provided.

1. Glob **/*.swift — collect all Swift source files.
2. Glob **/*.m — collect Objective-C source files.

Phase 2: Checks

1. Stranger communication features (12+ minimum)

Grep pattern "message"|"chat"|"inbox"|"direct message"|"DM"|"send.*message"|"message.*stranger" in **/*.swift. If found and app enables communication with unknown users (not just friends/contacts) → 🟠 HIGH. Flag for 12+ age rating review. Reviewer will test whether strangers can contact each other.

1. Alcohol or substance references (17+ consideration)

Grep pattern "alcohol"|"beer"|"wine"|"spirits"|"liquor"|"cocktail"|"whiskey" in **/*.swift. If found as primary app theme or purchasable content → 🟠 HIGH. Flag for 17+ age rating consideration.

1. Gambling or wagering features (17+)

Grep pattern SKProduct|StoreKit near "bet"|"wager"|"casino"|"slots"|"poker"|"gamble" in **/*.swift. If real-money or simulated gambling found → 🟠 HIGH. Flag for 17+ age rating requirement.

1. Unmoderated user-generated content (12+ or 17+)

Grep pattern "post"|"comment"|"UGC"|"userContent"|"community" in **/*.swift. If unmoderated UGC is possible and no contentFilter|moderateContent patterns detected → 🟠 HIGH. Unmoderated UGC apps typically require 12+ or 17+ rating depending on content type.

Phase 3: Output

Collect all findings from Phase 2 and build the prioritised findings list below. Include file paths and line numbers. Omit tiers with no findings.

Output Format

## Age Rating Accuracy — Findings

### 🔴 CRITICAL — Guaranteed rejection
- [ ] TODO:  — `file:line` — Guideline 2.3.6

### 🟠 HIGH — Very likely rejection
- [ ] TODO: Review age rating — app enables stranger-to-stranger messaging; minimum 12+ rating required — `ChatViewController.swift` — Guideline 2.3.6
- [ ] TODO: Review age rating — alcohol purchasing/content found; consider 17+ rating — `DrinkMenuViewController.swift:44` — Guideline 2.3.6
- [ ] TODO: Review age rating — simulated gambling or wagering detected; 17+ rating required — `CasinoViewController.swift` — Guideline 2.3.6
- [ ] TODO: Review age rating — unmoderated user-generated content without content filter requires at minimum 12+ rating — Guideline 2.3.6

### 🟡 MEDIUM — Possible rejection
- [ ] TODO: Manually verify age rating in App Store Connect matches all features — use Apple's rating questionnaire as a checklist

### 🟢 LOW — Best practice
- [ ] TODO: Document the age rating rationale in review notes — helps reviewers understand why certain features are rated appropriately

Tools Used

Glob, Grep, Read

Constraints

• Read-only. No file edits.
• No network calls.
• Skip Phase 1 if shared_context is provided by orchestrating agent.
• Works on Swift, Objective-C, React Native, Flutter projects.

Quick Commands

Run these in your project root to check manually:

# Check for chat/messaging features (may require 12+ rating)
!grep -rn "message\|chat\|inbox\|DirectMessage\b\|\"DM\"" . --include="*.swift" | grep -v "//" | wc -l

# Check for gambling keywords
!grep -rn "bet\b\|wager\|casino\|gambling" . --include="*.swift" -i | grep -v "//"

# Check current age rating in project
!grep -rn "ITSAppUsesNonExemptEncryption\|MinimumOSVersion" . --include="*.plist" | head -5

Swift Anti-Pattern Reference

examples/swift/QualityPatterns.swift

Detection Steps

1. Find target files

• Glob: **/*.swift, **/*.m, **/Info.plist

1. Search for rejection patterns

• Grep alcohol\|tobacco\|gambling\|casino\|betting\|Gambling — regulated content categories
• Grep nudity\|explicit\|adult.*content\|NSFW — mature content indicators
• Grep violence\|gore\|brutal\|Violent — violence content indicators
• Read Info.plist → check CFBundleShortVersionString for existing age rating indicators
• Note: Apple determines age rating from a questionnaire about content (violence level, sexual content, profanity, drug/alcohol references, gambling) — not from hardware APIs used

1. Determine verdict

• Gambling/casino content found (casino\|betting\|roulette) → flag for 17+ content rating review
• Explicit or mature content patterns found → flag for age-appropriate rating review
• Cannot determine age rating from API usage alone — location/camera/messaging APIs do not affect rating
• All content checks clean → 🟢 pass (confirm rating in App Store Connect questionnaire)

1. Report

• Content patterns found that may require a higher content rating
• Note: Age rating is configured entirely in App Store Connect via a questionnaire — this is a content-pattern hint only
• Fix: Review the age rating questionnaire in App Store Connect; select accurate answers for violence level, sexual content, profanity, drug references, and gambling

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: cruisediary
• Source: cruisediary/apple-app-review-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.