# Guideline 1.3 - Safety - Kids Category
> Apple rejected the kids app under Guideline 1.3 or 5.1.4: links or purchases without a parental gate, third-party analytics or ads, or no privacy policy.
Canonical: https://app369.com/fix/app-store-guideline-1-3-kids-category/
Last updated: 2026-11-10
Guideline 1.3 sets the rules for apps in the Kids Category, and 5.1.4 adds the privacy rules for apps made for kids. The rejection usually points at a link, a purchase, an analytics or ads SDK, or missing privacy details.
**Short answer**
Put every link out of the app and every purchase behind a parental gate. Remove third-party analytics and advertising SDKs unless they meet Apple’s limited exceptions, such as analytics that collect no IDFA or identifiable information about the child. Add a privacy policy. If the app is not really for kids, leave the Kids Category and take “for kids” wording out of the metadata.
Rather not fix it yourself? [**App Fix Ticket**](https://app369.com/fixed-price/flutter-firebase-bug-fix/) starts with a fixed-price diagnosis, then a fixed price for the fix before any fix work.
## **What 1.3 and 5.1.4 reject, and the fix**
1. 01 ### **Links or purchases without a parental gate**
> “These apps must not include links out of the app, purchasing opportunities, or other distractions to kids unless reserved for a designated area behind a parental gate.” [**Apple, Guideline 1.3**](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#1.3) A web link, a social button, a store link or an in-app purchase that a child can reach directly breaks 1.3. Put each one behind a parental gate. Apple’s own page on parental gates explains what it expects.
2. 02 ### **Third-party analytics or ads SDKs**
> “Apps in the Kids Category should not include third-party analytics or third-party advertising.” [**Apple, Guideline 1.3**](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#1.3) Check the build for analytics, ad network and attribution SDKs, including ones a plugin pulled in. Remove them, or keep only analytics that send nothing that could identify the child or the device.
3. 03 ### **Personal data without a privacy policy**
> “the parental gate requirement for the Kid’s Category is generally not the same as securing parental consent to collect personal data under these privacy statutes.” [**Apple, Guideline 5.1.4**](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#5.1.4) Collecting a name, email, photos, chat or location from a child needs a privacy policy and compliance with children’s privacy laws such as COPPA. A parental gate is not the same as parental consent to collect that data.
4. 04 ### **The app left the Kids Category but still looks like it**
> “it will need to continue to meet these guidelines in subsequent updates, even if you decide to deselect the category.” [**Apple, Guideline 1.3**](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#1.3) Also check: Apple says that once customers expect the app to follow the Kids Category requirements, it must keep meeting them in later updates even if you deselect the category. An app outside the category also can’t use terms in its name, subtitle, icon, screenshots or description that imply the main audience is children (5.1.4, 2.3.8).
Checked against the vendor’s docs on November 10, 2026: [Apple: App Review Guidelines, 1.3 Kids Category](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#1.3); [Apple: App Review Guidelines, 5.1.4 Kids](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#5.1.4); [Apple: App Review (replying and appeals)](https://developer.apple.com/distribute/app-review/).
## **Rather hand it over?**
Fixed scope, fixed price, paid upfront. The work happens in writing; no call needed.
**Resubmit before Apple’s holiday slowdown**
Pay for the Diagnosis and send the rejection and access to the app by Monday, December 7 (US Eastern). The Diagnosis is back by Thursday, December 10. Pay for the Fix that day and it arrives as a pull request by Thursday, December 17, in time to build and resubmit before December 20.
In past years Apple said reviews may take longer around the holidays: [December 20 to 26 in 2024 (opens in a new tab)](https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=iwvebnw2), [December 22 to 27 in 2023 (opens in a new tab)](https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=uijoypq9), [December 23 to 27 in 2022 (opens in a new tab)](https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=xpkhwg3l). Apple hasn’t posted its 2026 dates yet (checked October 30). Approval stays Apple’s decision.
- [from $450**App Fix Ticket**One reproducible bug in an existing mobile or web app, diagnosed and fixed.**See scope and start**](https://app369.com/fixed-price/flutter-firebase-bug-fix/)
[**All 127 Fiverr reviews**](https://app369.com/reviews/)
Related: [**App Store Guideline 2.3.8 metadata**](https://app369.com/fix/app-store-guideline-2-3-8-metadata-all-audiences/) · [**App Store Guideline 5.1.1**](https://app369.com/fix/app-store-guideline-5-1-1-data-collection/) · [**App Store Guideline 3.2.2**](https://app369.com/fix/app-store-guideline-3-2-2-unacceptable/) · [**App Store Guideline 3.1.1**](https://app369.com/fix/app-store-guideline-3-1-1-in-app-purchase/)
Questions
## **More on this rejection**
**Should I reply to App Review or appeal? **+
Reply first. Apple says you can correspond with App Review in App Store Connect to resolve the issues before resubmitting, which is the place for a demo account, a screen recording or an explanation. Appeal to the App Review Board only if you believe App Review misunderstood the app or treated you unfairly. Apple allows one appeal per rejected submission and asks for specific reasons the app complies.
**Can a kids app use any analytics? **+
In limited cases. Apple allows third-party analytics only when the service does not collect or transmit the IDFA or identifiable information about children, their location or their devices.
**Can you fix it for me? **+
Yes, through the App Fix Ticket: you send the rejection message and access to the app, Simon writes a diagnosis of what App Review hit and how to fix it, then fixes the code so you can resubmit. Each step has a fixed price, paid upfront. Approval stays Apple’s decision; the ticket covers the fix.
A different error?
## **Describe it and get a written quote**
Send the error and what you were doing. You get a written scope, a fixed price and a timeline; Simon replies by email, usually within one business day.
[**Describe your problem **→](https://app369.com/contact/) [**All fixes**](https://app369.com/fix/)