# iOS 26 App Review checklist: privacy manifest, Liquid Glass, and AI disclosure

Canonical page: https://acceptmy.app/guides/ios-26-app-review-checklist

Fall submissions stack up. Before you hit Submit, check the three things reviewers are bouncing on iOS 26 builds this season: an incomplete PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy, listing screenshots that still show last year's chrome after Liquid Glass, and AI features disclosed only in a privacy policy. Work these this week — a rejection here costs another 24–48 hours in the September queue.

## 1. PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy and required-reason APIs

Confirm a PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy file is in the app target that actually ships — not only in a sample project or an unused framework. Missing manifests still trigger automated rejection mail before a human opens the binary.

Declare every required-reason API your code calls: UserDefaults, file timestamps, disk space, system boot time, and active keyboards. Each category needs at least one reason code from Apple's allowed list, and the code has to match how you use the API. A copied CA92.1 that does not describe your call is a bounce.

Third-party SDKs (analytics, crash reporting, ads, auth, AI) ship their own manifests. That does not cover APIs your app or Capacitor plugins call. Capacitor and Ionic plugins commonly touch UserDefaults and the file system; you still declare those in the app-level manifest.

The App Privacy questionnaire in App Store Connect must match the app plus every SDK: data types, tracking, and linked vs not linked. A nutrition-label mismatch is a common same-week rejection.

NSPrivacyTracking and tracking domains have to agree. If tracking is false, do not list tracking domains. If you contact a domain for tracking, tracking must be true and that domain listed.

Paste the shipping PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy into the Privacy Manifest Validator and fix every invalid reason code before you archive.

## 2. Liquid Glass screenshots and UI vs the listing

Guideline 2.3 still applies: screenshots, previews, and description have to show the app in the submitted build — not a mock, and not last year's chrome.

Building with the iOS 26 SDK applies Liquid Glass to system chrome (navigation bars, tab bars, toolbars, sheets) unless you explicitly opt out. The binary can look different from an iOS 18 or iOS 25 screenshot set even if you did not redesign the app.

Retake screenshots on an iOS 26 simulator or device from the exact archive you upload. The first two screenshots and the preview video get the most reviewer — and shopper — attention.

Do not Photoshop Liquid Glass onto old captures, and do not keep marketing frames that show opaque bars if the live app is translucent. The mismatch is what gets flagged, not the design language itself.

If you opted out of Liquid Glass, the listing must not advertise a glass UI the binary does not have. Same rule in reverse.

Walk the main flows on iOS 26: contrast on translucent bars, readable sheet content, no clipped safe areas. Reviewers have been sending apps back when the UI displays incorrectly on the current OS even when the guideline cited is metadata.

Refresh localized screenshot sets too. A US update with stale chrome in other storefronts is still a 2.3 problem if those locales ship.

## 3. AI disclosure in the user flow — not only the privacy text

If the app generates text or images, summarizes, or sends user content to a model, tell the person they are using an AI-powered feature at the point of use — the generate button, the first run of that screen, or a clear label on the output. A sentence in the privacy policy or the App Privacy label is not a substitute.

Apple's Generative AI guidance is explicit: communicate where the app uses AI, and do not present model output as if a human wrote it.

If personal data leaves the device for a third-party model (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or similar), inform the user and get permission before the first send. Document that same flow in the privacy policy and the App Privacy questionnaire so the three stories match.

Set expectations in the feature itself: what the model can and cannot do, and that results can be wrong. If you offer a way to flag bad output, put it next to the result — reviewers look for this on generative features.

Do not brand a third-party or custom model as Apple Intelligence, and do not copy Apple's reserved signaling. Say whose model it is in language a reviewer can verify.

In Review Notes, write the exact path: "On Home → Rewrite, the banner states this text is generated by [provider]." If the app has no AI, skip this section — do not add a fake disclosure.

## Before you submit this week

Re-archive after any manifest, screenshot, or disclosure change. Reviewers test the build and listing you uploaded, not the one on your laptop.

Then run the full submission checklist — account deletion, Sign in with Apple, IAP restore, and reviewer notes still reject more apps than Liquid Glass does.

## Apple guideline references

Guideline 2.3

Guideline 5.1.1

## Related pages
- [Related page](https://acceptmy.app/free-tools/privacy-manifest-validator.md)
- [Related page](https://acceptmy.app/guides/app-store-submission-checklist.md)
- [Related page](https://acceptmy.app/app-types/ai-app-review-checklist.md)
- [Related page](https://acceptmy.app/guides/how-long-does-app-store-review-take.md)

Last updated: 2026-08-23