The App Store age rating, answer by answer.
Your App Store age rating is not something you choose from a menu. Apple calculates it from a questionnaire in App Store Connect: a list of content descriptors, each marked none, infrequent or frequent, plus the capabilities your app has, such as chat, a social feed or an in-app browser. The highest tier any answer reaches becomes the rating on the store, and it is one of the App Store requirements every app has to clear before it can be submitted, alongside screenshots, a privacy policy and the App Privacy answers.
This page walks through the questionnaire as Apple publishes it: the five tiers and what lands an app in each, the questions added in July 2025 and the January 2026 deadline that came with them, when you can override a rating, how the Google Play content rating differs, and an estimator to run before you open App Store Connect.
See how the rating is calculatedThe short version
Five tiers, set by your answers, adjustable only upward.
Apple's current scale, announced on July 24, 2025, has five tiers: 4+, 9+, 13+, 16+ and 18+. Apple generates the rating from your answers to the age rating questionnaire in App Store Connect. You can raise the result to match a minimum age in your terms, but you cannot lower it. An Unrated result cannot be published on the App Store at all. Answer honestly: App Store Review Guideline 2.3.6 says a mis-rated app can surprise customers or trigger an inquiry from government regulators.
The questionnaire
How the App Store age rating is calculated.
The questionnaire has two kinds of question. Content descriptors are rated by frequency: none, infrequent or frequent. In-app controls and capabilities are simply present or not. Apple publishes which tier every answer lands in, so the whole thing is a lookup table with a "highest wins" rule on top. This is that table, from Apple's age ratings values and definitions for devices on iOS 26 and later.
| Content descriptor | Infrequent | Frequent |
|---|---|---|
| Mature themes | ||
| Profanity or crude humor | 9+ | 13+ |
| Horror or fear themes | 9+ | 13+ |
| Alcohol, tobacco, or drug use or references | 13+ | 18+ |
| Medical or wellness | ||
| Medical or treatment information | 13+ | 16+ |
| Sexuality or nudity | ||
| Mature or suggestive themes | 9+ | 16+ |
| Sexual content or nudity | 13+ | 18+ |
| Graphic sexual content and nudity | Unrated | Unrated |
| Violence | ||
| Cartoon or fantasy violence | 9+ | 13+ |
| Realistic violence | 13+ | 18+ |
| Prolonged graphic or sadistic realistic violence | Unrated | Unrated |
| Guns or other weapons | 9+ | 13+ |
| Chance-based activities | ||
| Simulated gambling | 13+ | 18+ |
| Contests | 4+ | 13+ |
| Capability or feature (present or not) | Group | Rating it carries |
|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted web access | Capabilities | 16+ |
| Social media | Capabilities | 13+ |
| Social media disabled for users under 13 | Capabilities | 13+ |
| User-generated content | Capabilities | 4+ |
| Messaging and chat | Capabilities | 4+ |
| Advertising | Capabilities | 4+ |
| Health or wellness topics | Medical or wellness | 9+ |
| Gambling with real money | Chance-based activities | 18+ |
| Loot boxes | Chance-based activities | 9+ |
| Parental controls, age assurance | In-app controls | 4+ |
Apple's own examples make the edge cases concrete: Health or Wellness Topics "may include: calorie tracking, dieting advice, or exercise recommendations", and Unrestricted Web Access "may include: embedded browser functionality or browser app".
Try it
Estimate your App Store age rating
Answer as Apple's questionnaire asks. The estimate takes the highest tier any answer reaches in Apple's published table, which is how the table reads. The questionnaire in App Store Connect is the only thing that sets the real rating.
Capabilities and features your app includes
Content descriptors, by frequency
Mature themes
Profanity or crude humor
Infrequent 9+ · Frequent 13+
Horror or fear themes
Infrequent 9+ · Frequent 13+
Alcohol, tobacco, or drug use or references
Infrequent 13+ · Frequent 18+
Medical or wellness
Medical or treatment information
Infrequent 13+ · Frequent 16+
Sexuality or nudity
Mature or suggestive themes
Infrequent 9+ · Frequent 16+
Sexual content or nudity
Infrequent 13+ · Frequent 18+
Graphic sexual content and nudity
Infrequent Unrated · Frequent Unrated
Violence
Cartoon or fantasy violence
Infrequent 9+ · Frequent 13+
Realistic violence
Infrequent 13+ · Frequent 18+
Prolonged graphic or sadistic realistic violence
Infrequent Unrated · Frequent Unrated
Guns or other weapons
Infrequent 9+ · Frequent 13+
Chance-based activities
Simulated gambling
Infrequent 13+ · Frequent 18+
Contests
Infrequent 4+ · Frequent 13+
Estimated rating
Select what applies above to see the tier your answers reach.
Tier by tier
What each App Store age rating actually means.
Read the tiers as thresholds. An app sits at the highest tier any single answer reaches, so a 4+ app can still have chat, user-generated content and advertising, and one in-app browser is enough to move an otherwise clean app to 16+.
4+
9+
13+
16+
18+
Unrated
- Parental controls and age assurance
- User-generated content
- Messaging and chat
- Advertising
- Infrequent contests
- Infrequent profanity or crude humor
- Infrequent horror or fear themes
- Health or wellness topics
- Infrequent mature or suggestive themes
- Infrequent cartoon or fantasy violence
- Infrequent guns or other weapons
- Loot boxes
- Social media, with or without under-13 restrictions
- Frequent profanity, horror themes, cartoon violence or weapons
- Infrequent alcohol, tobacco or drug references
- Infrequent medical or treatment information
- Infrequent sexual content or nudity
- Infrequent realistic violence
- Infrequent simulated gambling
- Frequent contests
- Unrestricted web access
- Frequent medical or treatment information
- Frequent mature or suggestive themes
- Frequent alcohol, tobacco or drug references
- Frequent sexual content or nudity
- Frequent realistic violence
- Gambling
- Frequent simulated gambling
- Graphic sexual content and nudity, at any frequency
- Prolonged graphic or sadistic realistic violence, at any frequency
- May be distributed through alternative marketplaces or websites in the EU
2025 to 2026
What changed, and the January 31, 2026 deadline.
On July 24, 2025 Apple announced an updated age rating system that added 13+, 16+ and 18+ to the existing 4+ and 9+, replacing the old 12+ and 17+ steps. Ratings for every app on the App Store were updated automatically to the new system, and the new values show on devices running iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26 and watchOS 26.
Four new sections, one deadline
Apple also added a required set of questions covering in-app controls, capabilities, medical or wellness topics, and violent themes, and gave developers until January 31, 2026 to answer them for every app. Its notice is specific about the consequence: not responding by the deadline "will result in an interruption when submitting your app updates in App Store Connect". If an app of yours has never had those sections answered, expect to be stopped at the next update until they are.
Older devices still see the old scale
Devices on OS versions earlier than 26 display the earlier 4+, 9+, 12+ and 17+ ratings, and App Store Connect shows both sets for your app under Operating Systems Earlier than Version 26. Apple publishes both tables on the same page, and setting them side by side shows where the line moved:
| Answer | Earlier than OS 26 | OS 26 and later |
|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted web access | 17+ | 16+ |
| Frequent medical or treatment information | 17+ | 16+ |
| Frequent mature or suggestive themes | 17+ | 16+ |
| Gambling | 17+ | 18+ |
| Frequent simulated gambling | 17+ | 18+ |
| Frequent realistic violence | 17+ | 18+ |
| Frequent sexual content or nudity | 17+ | 18+ |
| Frequent alcohol, tobacco or drug references | 17+ | 18+ |
| Frequent contests | 12+ | 13+ |
| Infrequent medical or treatment information | 12+ | 13+ |
| Infrequent simulated gambling | 12+ | 13+ |
| Social media | Not listed | 13+ |
| Guns or other weapons | Not listed | 9+ or 13+ |
| Health or wellness topics | Not listed | 9+ |
| Loot boxes | Not listed | 9+ |
The pattern: everything that was 12+ is now 13+, and the old 17+ split in two, with open web access, heavy medical content and heavy mature themes at 16+ and real gambling, frequent realistic violence, frequent sexual content and frequent substance references at 18+.
Adjusting the result
Overrides, Made for Kids and regional ratings.
Override to a higher rating
Under Age Categories and Override you can choose Override to Higher Age Rating and pick any tier above the calculated one. The App Store then displays the rating you chose while the content descriptors still reflect your questionnaire answers. It is not always optional: if your EULA sets a minimum age above what Apple calculated, you must override to a rating that matches. The override applies in every region where the app is available and may map to a different value in regions with their own requirements. There is no override downward.
Made for Kids
If the calculated rating is 4+ or 9+, you can select Made for Kids and an age range to list the app in the Kids category. That selection cannot be changed once App Review approves the app, and the app and all later updates have to follow the Kids category guidelines. It is not available for visionOS apps. Treat it as a commitment, not a placement.
Australia, Brazil, Korea and Vietnam
The same answers can display as a different value in four regions, and App Store Connect shows each one after you save:
- Australia: social media and loot boxes display as 16+, and any simulated gambling, even infrequent, displays as R 18+.
- Brazil: a separate AL to A18 scale, with different pictograms for self-rated apps and for ratings issued by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Fixed-odds betting apps need a Brazilian license from the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets.
- Korea: an All, 12+, 15+, 19+ scale. Frequent simulated gambling requires a Rating Classification Number from GRAC, and an RCN is locked once the app is approved.
- Vietnam: a 00+, 12+, 16+, 18+ scale required by Article 38 of Decree 147.
One more rule sits outside the questionnaire. Guideline 2.3.8 requires your icon, screenshots and previews to adhere to a 4+ rating whatever the app itself is rated, so a game rated 18+ still needs store assets a child could see.
The other store
Google Play's content rating is a different questionnaire.
Google Play does not rate apps itself. You fill in the International Age Rating Coalition questionnaire in Play Console and, in Google's words, "each rating authority uses its own methodology to assign ratings", so one set of answers produces an ESRB rating for the Americas, a PEGI rating for Europe, USK for Germany, ClassInd for Brazil, ACB and GRAC for games in Australia and Korea, and an IARC generic rating everywhere else. Google's content rating requirements page lists every scale.
| App Store | Google Play | |
|---|---|---|
| Who assigns the rating | Apple, generated from your questionnaire answers | Independent rating authorities (ESRB, PEGI, USK, ClassInd, ACB, GRAC, IARC generic), each from the one IARC questionnaire |
| Scale | 4+, 9+, 13+, 16+, 18+, plus Unrated | Differs by territory: ESRB Everyone to Adults Only, PEGI 3 to 18, USK 0 to 18, ClassInd L to 18, IARC generic 3+ to 18+ |
| Where you answer | App Store Connect, App Information, Age Ratings | Play Console, Policy, App content, Content rating |
| When you must complete it | Before publishing; the questions added in 2025 had a January 31, 2026 deadline | New apps, existing apps without a rating, and any update that changes your answers |
| Adjusting the result | Override upward only; Made for Kids if the calculated rating is 4+ or 9+ | Authorities can change your rating after review; you appeal through the link in your certificate email |
| Regional differences | Region-specific values for Australia, Brazil, Korea and Vietnam | Each authority covers its own territories; a refused classification removes the app in that territory only |
| Cost of a wrong answer | Guideline 2.3.6: a mis-rated app can surprise customers or trigger a regulator inquiry | Misrepresentation of your app's content may result in its removal or suspension |
Two practical differences. Google can reject an update for misrepresenting content and a rating authority can override your result after the fact, so keep the two questionnaires consistent with each other and with the binary. And the Play questionnaire is only in scope if you ship to Google Play: Newly's current version ships iOS through App Store Connect and does not produce Android release builds, so for an app built there the IARC questionnaire is not part of shipping today.
In App Store Connect
How to set the age rating, step by step.
The rating is app-level metadata. It lives under App Information on the app record, not in the build, the certificate or the provisioning profile apple issues for signing, so nothing in Xcode or a build pipeline sets it. If you build with Newly, the build is compiled and submitted to App Store Connect for you; the questionnaire is still yours to answer on the app record. These steps follow Apple's set an app age rating help page.
- 1
Open App Information
In App Store Connect, select the app, then under General in the sidebar click App Information. You need the Account Holder, Admin, App Manager or Marketing role.
- 2
Click Set Up Age Ratings
It sits below Age Ratings. For an app that already has a rating, click Edit at the top of the App Information page instead.
- 3
Declare in-app controls and capabilities
The first dialog lists parental controls, age assurance, unrestricted web access, user-generated content, social media, messaging and chat, and advertising. Select what your app includes, then click Next.
- 4
Rate each content descriptor
Work through the progress bar section by section, choosing None, Infrequent or Frequent for every descriptor, from profanity and horror themes to realistic violence and simulated gambling.
- 5
Check the calculated rating
Apple shows it under Additional Information. If it looks wrong, go back and change an answer. The rating follows the answers, never the other way round.
- 6
Choose Not Applicable, Made for Kids or an override
Not Applicable is the default. Made for Kids is available only if the calculated rating is 4+ or 9+. Override to Higher Age Rating raises the displayed rating, and you must use it if your EULA sets a minimum age above what Apple calculated.
- 7
Add an age suitability URL if you have one, then Save
The URL is optional. After saving, App Information shows your global rating, each region-specific rating, and the values devices on OS versions earlier than 26 will display.
From there the rest is the ordinary submission flow: attach a build, add screenshots and review notes, and submit. That is covered in publishing to the App Store.
Getting it wrong
Six answers that quietly mis-rate an app.
A mis-rated app is one of the less obvious reasons why apps get rejected from the app store: reviewers compare what the binary does with what the questionnaire claims. These are the answers that most often disagree with the app.
Calling an embedded browser a web view
If a user can reach any page, that is Unrestricted Web Access and it carries 16+. A web view locked to your own pages is not.
Skipping the calorie counter
Apple's examples for Health or Wellness Topics are calorie tracking, dieting advice and exercise recommendations. That answer alone is 9+.
Marking a feed with likes and comments as user-generated content only
A feed that amplifies user content is Social Media, which is 13+. User-generated content on its own stays at 4+.
Screenshots that match the app instead of a 4+ rating
Guideline 2.3.8 requires icons, screenshots and previews to adhere to a 4+ rating even when the app itself is rated higher.
Under-rating to look friendlier
Guideline 2.3.6 says a mis-rated app can surprise customers or trigger an inquiry from government regulators. Reviewers see the binary, not your intentions.
Picking Made for Kids for the placement
It cannot be changed once App Review approves the app, and every later update has to follow the Kids category guidelines.
Sources
Where the specifics came from.
Every tier, descriptor and date on this page comes from one of these four pages, read in September 2026. Guidelines 2.3.6 and 2.3.8 are quoted from the App Store Review Guidelines.
FAQ
App Store age ratings, answered.
You do not pick it from a list. Apple calculates the App Store age rating from your answers to the questionnaire in App Store Connect: content descriptors such as violence, profanity or medical information, each marked none, infrequent or frequent, plus capabilities such as messaging, user-generated content, social media and unrestricted web access. The highest tier any answer reaches is the rating, on a scale of 4+, 9+, 13+, 16+ and 18+. You can raise the result to match a minimum age in your terms, but you cannot lower it.
Know your answers before the questionnaire asks.
Decide what your app will and will not include, the browser, the feed, the calorie counter, and the rating follows. Describe the app, and Newly builds it and submits the build to App Store Connect, from $25 a month. The questionnaire stays yours, and now you know what every answer costs.