Apple updates its iOS application rules

Published are new App Store guidelines

The App Store Review Guidelines of Apple have been updated. They introduce a range of new rules, including better guidelines in regard to applications for children. All this results from its upcoming educational policy changes and the early expansion this year of the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

The new rules of COPPA do not allow developer to collect information from kids under the age of 13 without parental consent that could be verified. The restrictions relate to audio, video and photographs.

Some of the relevant passages are as follows:

17.3 Application may use age-gating mechanisms or ask for date of birth only with the aim of complying with applicable privacy statutes of children, but are also required to include some entertainment value or functionality of use in regard to the age of a user.

17.4 Applications that transmit, collect or are able to share personal data like address, name, photos, location, e-mail, drawings, videos, the ability to chat, persistent identifiers or other personal data from a child must comply with privacy statutes applicable for children.

On "Kids Apps" Apple has created a new section. It prepares for the implementation of iOS 7. As part of efforts for increasing the usage of iOS devices in schools, children under the age of 13 will be allowed by Apple to operate individual account on iTunes for the first time.

There must also by a privacy policy included in applications for children under the age of 13. It may not include the advertising of behavior and must ask for permission from parents before children are allowed to engage in commerce or link out of the application.

In the App Store's Kids Category application must be made explicitly for children under the ages of 5, between the ages of 6 and 8 and of ages 9-11."

The new guidelines of Apple include provisions that relate to gambling:

– Applications offering real-money gaming are required to be free. They are also forbidden to use in-app purchases, offering players currency or credit to be used in such games.
– Applications offering real-money gaming like poker, sports betting, horse racing and casino games must be accompanied by the necessary licensing from a jurisdictional authority as well as permissions in the locations where the application is used. They must also be restricted to such locations and must be free for play on the App Store.
– All applications using IAP in order to purchase currency or credit for the purposes of real-money gaming must be rejected.
The complete guidelines are made available on the developers' website of Apple.