EstontincPublished 3 min read
App Store age rating: two new questions from 16 November 2026 and how to prepare your app
Apple is adding two content descriptors to the App Store Connect age rating questionnaire on 16 November 2026, with a deadline of 12 January 2027 for every app. What they cover, how they affect ratings, and a checklist.
The App Store age rating questionnaire is getting two new questions. Starting 16 November 2026, App Store Connect will ask whether your app includes Shared Location and Dating and Relationships features. Apple announced the change on 2 November, and every app must have these declarations completed by 12 January 2027. Apps with Dating and Relationships features receive a minimum age rating of 18+.
This article explains what the two content descriptors cover, how they can change your app's rating, and the steps we use to prepare client apps before the next submission.
What Apple announced
According to Apple's developer news, the new content descriptors help make sure an app's age rating accurately reflects its features. The key points:
- Start date: 16 November 2026, inside the age rating questionnaire in App Store Connect.
- When you answer: when you submit an app update or change your age rating questionnaire.
- Deadline: all apps must have the declarations completed by 12 January 2027.
- Rating impact: apps that include Dating and Relationships receive a minimum age rating of 18+.
The two new age rating descriptors
Shared Location means sharing a real-world location with another person or group. Apple notes that Shared Location may not have an impact on an app's minimum age rating in some regions.
Dating and Relationships covers features that enable dating or relationship connections between real people, and also a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content. That second part matters for apps with AI chat: a companion style chatbot can fall under this descriptor even if the app is not a dating app.
Why it matters for your app
An age rating decides who can find and download your app. A minimum rating of 18+ narrows the audience, so it is worth knowing in advance whether any feature triggers it. Answering incorrectly is also a risk, because the rating is meant to reflect what the app really does, and App Review checks submissions against Apple's guidelines.
Because the answers are required at submission, the change also affects release planning. A small bug fix submitted after 16 November will need the questionnaire completed first. Our guide on how to pass App Store review covers the rest of the submission checklist.
How to prepare your app for the new age rating questions
- List every location feature. Live location, check-ins, family or friend sharing, and maps that show other users.
- List every chat and AI feature. Community chat, matching features, and any AI companion or character chat.
- Decide the answers based on what the app really does today, not on future plans.
- Check the rating impact. If a feature would push the app to 18+, decide whether that fits your audience or whether the feature should change.
- Plan the next update so the questionnaire is completed before submission.
- Finish before 12 January 2027. The deadline applies to every app on the App Store.
These steps are our recommendations from client projects, not part of Apple's announcement.
What it means for your business
Platform rules keep changing after launch. In October alone, Apple updated its App Review Guidelines and introduced subscriptions for organizations, which we covered in selling app subscriptions to organizations. An app that is actively maintained handles these changes in a normal update. An app without an owner tends to discover them when a submission is blocked.
How Estontinc helps
Estontinc is a software house in Malang, Indonesia, with 100+ projects and 50+ clients over more than six years. For iOS apps we can:
- Audit your app's features for location sharing, chat and AI companions.
- Complete the age rating questionnaire and prepare the update for App Review.
- Build and update iOS and Android apps through our mobile app development service.
- Maintain your app after launch with updates, monitoring and bug fixes.
We work under NDA, you own the source code, and we communicate in English, Indonesian or Japanese. Want us to review your app before 16 November? Send the details through the contact page and we will reply within 24 hours.
Frequently asked questions
What are the new App Store age rating questions?
From 16 November 2026, the age rating questionnaire in App Store Connect asks whether your app includes Shared Location and Dating and Relationships features. Apple announced the change on 2 November 2026 to help age ratings reflect app features accurately. The answers are required when you submit an update.
When is the deadline for the new age rating declarations?
All apps must have the new Shared Location and Dating and Relationships declarations completed by 12 January 2027. Before that, you must provide them whenever you submit an app update or change your age rating questionnaire after 16 November 2026.
Does an AI chatbot count as Dating and Relationships?
It can. Apple's definition includes a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content, in addition to dating between real people. If your app has an AI character or companion chat that can turn romantic, review it carefully before answering, because this descriptor sets a minimum age rating of 18+.
Will Shared Location change my app's age rating?
Not always. Apple says apps that include Shared Location may not have an impact on their minimum age rating in some regions. You still need to declare the feature in the questionnaire, so list every way your app shares a real-world location with other people or groups.
Sources
Facts and figures in this article come from these official sources.
- iOS
- App Store
- Mobile apps
- Apple
