(Continued from the post above. Screenshots 13-16 are the App Store listings referred to in 2b.)
3. A rule we cannot find
The sentence "API keys can only be used to unlock content if those API keys can be purchased with In-App Purchase..." is not in the App Review Guidelines (Last Updated Oct 16, 2026); the words "API key" do not appear there at all. Guideline 3.1.1 bars an app's "own mechanisms" to unlock "features or functionality within your app", such as "license keys". A provider's key is not our mechanism and gates nothing in our app. If the notes rest on 3.1.3(b), that paragraph covers features users "have acquired in your app on other platforms or your web site"; our users acquire nothing from us.
4. No answer since Oct 31
Oct 31: two replies on macOS, answering both points and asking which content or feature the key unlocks.
Nov 3: reply on iOS asking where the quoted sentence is written, which providers' keys it means and which function it considers unlocked.
Nov 3 and Nov 5: two App Review Board appeals.
Nov 7: replies on both iOS and macOS, and a Contact Us request.
The only response so far is the Nov 6 macOS rejection, which repeats the Oct 31 note. None of our questions has been answered.
What we ask
Which sentence of which guideline applies to a free app where users enter a key for their own provider account? If a change is needed, tell us what it is and we will make it. Please also confirm that someone has looked at the Window menu item in build 357. We are glad to answer in App Store Connect or join a short call.
Thank you for reading.
Apple ID 6822788527
Topic:
App Store Distribution & Marketing
SubTopic:
App Review