Answer Apple’s Social Media Questions or You Can’t Submit
From September 2026, App Store Connect requires social-media capability answers before you can submit an update. What counts as a feed, what a share button is not, and the 13+ floor.
Quick answer
Do I have to answer Apple’s social media questions to submit an App Store update in September 2026?
Yes. Starting September 2026, App Store Connect requires answers about social media capabilities before you can submit a new app, an update, or notarization for alternative distribution. A social media capability is the ability to redistribute, amplify, or interact with user-generated content through a social feed or similar discovery method. Declaring those capabilities adds a Social Media content descriptor and a 13+ floor, unless social features are disabled for anyone under 13 via the Declared Age Range API. A share-to-Instagram button or Sign in with Apple is not automatically a social feed.
- September 2026: no submit, no update, no notarization until you answer
- Social capability = redistribute, amplify, or interact with UGC in a feed or similar discovery surface
- The Social Media Time Allowance follows capabilities, not your App Store category
- Declaring the capability without an under-13 off-switch sets a 13+ floor
- Share sheets and Sign in with Apple are not, on their own, a social feed
On this page
This is not a ranking tip. It is a submit blocker. If you have not answered the social-media items in the age-rating questionnaire, App Store Connect can refuse the version. That applies to new apps, updates, and notarization for alternative marketplaces. The questions have been in Connect since July 9, 2026. September is when they stop being optional.
Apple’s July note is the definition you should paste next to the form. Age rating questionnaire now includes social media questions : a social media capability is “the ability to redistribute, amplify, or interact with user-generated content through a social feed or similar discovery method.” The rest of Time Allowances — Entertainment versus Games buckets, parent schedules — lives in the Time Allowances guide. This page is only the question that can stop a submit.
What counts as a feed
Read the capability as a parent would, not as your marketing site would. Apple’s What’s new in App Store page adds the practical test: feeds that let people engage with and amplify user-generated content through views, likes, comments, and shares. A “community” tab that ranks other people’s posts is a feed. A private note to yourself is not.
| Surface | Declare social capabilities? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Public or semi-public feed of other people’s posts | Yes | Redistributes and amplifies UGC through discovery |
| For You / Explore / remix ranked for many users | Yes | Apple’s “similar discovery method” language |
| Likes, comments, shares, views on that UGC | Yes, with the feed | Those controls are how the feed amplifies content |
| Share sheet to Instagram, Messages, or Mail | Not on its own | You are sending content out, not hosting a social feed |
| Sign in with Apple, Google, or email login | No | Authentication is not a discovery surface |
| Private 1:1 chat or sending a file to one person | Not automatically | No many-to-many UGC discovery; do not hide a public feed behind this answer |
A feed that spreads other people’s content is the test. A share button, a login, or a 1:1 send is not automatically the same capability.
The 13+ floor, and the one way around it
The Time Allowance category for Social Media is based on capabilities, not on the App Store category you picked. A photo utility with a public remix feed can sit in Photo & Video for discovery and still be Social Media for Screen Time. If you indicate the app includes social media capabilities, Apple places it in that Time Allowance category and applies a minimum age rating of 13+. The product page also gets a Social Media content descriptor in the age-ratings section.
- Has social capabilities, no under-13 gate: 13+ floor, Social Media Time Allowance for everyone, Social Media descriptor on the page.
- Has social capabilities, disabled for anyone under 13: not in Social Media Time Allowance for users under 13; still Social Media at 13+. Age rating can land below 13+ based on the rest of the questionnaire.
- The under-13 path requires the Declared Age Range API (at minimum) so the client can actually check age. A settings toggle with no age signal does not qualify.
- No social capabilities: this question does not move your rating. Entertainment and Games Time Allowances still follow your categories.
What “required in September 2026” actually blocks
Apple’s wording is consistent across the July questionnaire note and What’s New: beginning in September 2026, responses are required when submitting new apps or updates to the App Store, or when submitting apps for notarization for alternative distribution. You can already answer today. Waiting for the submit error on a Friday is how a quiet bug-fix version slips a week.
Sources, verified 2026-09-07:
- Apple Developer News — Age rating questionnaire now includes social media questions (July 9, 2026)
- Apple — What’s new in App Store (Time Allowances / social media capabilities)
- Apple Developer News — Introducing Time Allowances (June 8, 2026)
- App Store Connect Help — Set an app age rating
- Apple — Declared Age Range API
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The questionnaire is the gate. The listing still has to match.
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Social media questionnaire questions
Does a share-to-Instagram button mean I have social media capabilities?
Not by itself. Apple’s test is a social feed or similar discovery method that redistributes, amplifies, or interacts with UGC inside the app. Exporting a file or image through the share sheet is not automatically that feed. If you also rank other users’ posts, declare the feed.
Is Sign in with Apple a social media capability?
No. Sign in with Apple is authentication. It does not create a feed. Login, cloud sync, and sending a file to one person are not, on their own, the capability Apple defined.
What happens if I do not answer by September 2026?
You will not be able to submit a new app, an update, or notarization for alternative distribution until the social-media questions are answered. The form has been available since July 9, 2026. Answer it before you need a submit.
Do social media capabilities always mean a 13+ rating?
They do if you declare the capabilities and do not disable them for anyone under 13. If those features are disabled under 13 and you use the Declared Age Range API, the rest of the questionnaire decides the rating and it can be lower than 13+. The app still sits in Social Media Time Allowance for users 13 and above.