Apple adds location and dating declarations to App Store age ratings

Apple adds location and dating declarations to App Store age ratings

2 November 2026: Apple is adding two questions to the age rating questionnaire in App Store Connect from 16 November: whether an app includes Shared Location, and whether it includes Dating and Relationships features. Developers answer them with their next update or questionnaire change, and every app on the store must have them completed by 12 January 2027.

Not yet independently verified. The date of Apple's notice is taken from its developer news feed (2 November); the page we read does not print it. Apple has not said what happens to an app that misses 12 January. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Apple says the new content descriptors are there so that age ratings reflect an app's features and local regulations, not only its content.

What each declaration covers

Apple defines the two features this way:

• Shared Location: sharing a user's real-world location with another person or a group.
• Dating and Relationships: features that enable dating or relationship connections between real people, or a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content.

The second definition reaches beyond dating apps. A social app with a matching feature, or an AI companion app whose character can turn romantic, falls inside it, and Apple says declaring Dating and Relationships gives the app a minimum age rating of 18+. Shared Location may not change the minimum rating in some regions.

Brazil sets its own ages

Brazil is singled out. Its local rules require an A16 rating for apps with Shared Location and A18 for Dating and Relationships, so a family safety or delivery-tracking app that shares location will carry a 16+ rating in Brazil by default.

Apple's own example is location sharing designed for parents and children. Developers who believe a lower rating applies can ask Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) for an official rating.

Who has work to do before January

The deadline falls on teams that do not ship often. An app that is updated every fortnight will meet the new questions in its next submission; an enterprise, government or long-tail consumer app that last shipped in the summer has to have someone sign in to App Store Connect and complete the questionnaire before 12 January.

Product teams should also check the answer, not only give it. Ride-hailing, field-service, fleet and event apps often share a live position between people, and a rating that rises to 16+ in Brazil or 18+ everywhere changes who can download the app and how it appears in parental controls. Apple has not said what happens to an app that has not answered by the deadline.

Our catalogue lists 12 app store optimisation tools, the products most teams use to watch how a rating change moves their store listings.

Related on TrustList:

• Apple tightens App Store rules on hidden features and AI imagery
• Poland makes Apple drop "tracking" from its app consent prompts

Sources

• Apple Developer News: Upcoming age rating requirements in App Store Connect, 2 November 2026