App Store Age Ratings in 2026: 8 Questions About the New Tiers, the Questionnaire, and Regional Ratings

Age ratings are no longer a form you fill in once and forget. Apple’s questionnaire in App Store Connect turns your answers about content descriptors, in-app controls and capabilities into one of five global age tiers — 4+, 9+, 13+, 16+ or 18+ — and then adds region-specific values on top for Australia, Brazil and Korea. If your last release added chat, ads, loot boxes or a web view, the rating users and parental controls see may already be wrong.

Below are the eight questions developers actually ask, answered from Apple’s App Store Connect help and the App Review Guidelines: what each tier’s descriptors mean, which controls you have to declare, how Made for Kids and overrides work, and what happens when a regulator issues a region-specific rating.

1. Who fills it in, and where does it live?

An age rating is a required app information property that helps users judge the content of an app, and it is what feeds parental controls. You set it in App Store Connect: Apps → select the app → under General, App Information → Set Up Age Ratings. The required role is Account Holder, Admin, App Manager or Marketing, so an operations account without one of those roles cannot touch it.

Two details that surprise people: ratings can differ by OS version, so Apple shows the values for devices on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26 and watchOS 26 separately from the ratings that apply to earlier OS versions; and an app left Unrated cannot be published on the App Store, although it may be published on alternative app marketplaces or websites.

2. What are the five tiers, and what pushes an app up?

The rating is derived from your answers, not picked from a menu. Apple groups the content descriptors by tier in its age rating values and definitions reference:

• 4+ — no objectionable material, but the app may include parental controls, age assurance, user-generated content, messaging and chat, advertising, and infrequent contests.
• 9+ — mature themes, infrequent profanity or crude humor, infrequent horror or fear themes, health and wellness topics, infrequent mature or suggestive themes, infrequent cartoon or fantasy violence, infrequent guns or other weapons, and loot boxes.
• 13+ — social media (disabled for users under 13), frequent profanity and crude humor, frequent horror or fear themes, infrequent alcohol, tobacco or drug references, infrequent medical or treatment information, infrequent sexual content or nudity, frequent cartoon or fantasy violence, infrequent realistic violence, frequent guns or other weapons, infrequent simulated gambling, frequent contests.
• 16+ — unrestricted web access, frequent medical or treatment information, frequent mature or suggestive themes.
• 18+ — frequent alcohol, tobacco or drug references, frequent sexual content or nudity, frequent realistic violence, gambling, frequent simulated gambling.
• Unrated — infrequent or frequent graphic sexual content and nudity, or prolonged graphic or sadistic realistic violence. Content in this group cannot be published on the App Store.

3. Why does “unrestricted web access” alone mean 16+?

Because it is a single descriptor on the 16+ list. An app that ships a browser, or a web view a user can navigate freely, declares that capability and lands at 16+ no matter what else it contains. The same logic runs the other way: user-generated content, messaging and chat, or advertising appear in the 4+ group as long as the required controls and moderation are in place — the tier is driven by the descriptors’ declared frequency, not by the mere presence of the feature.

4. Do in-app controls change the rating?

Yes, and they are the first step of the dialog. Before any content question, Apple asks you to review the list of in-app controls and capabilities and select the ones your app includes that can restrict content — parental controls and age assurance live in that list. Only after that do you walk the progress bar answering each content description and setting the frequency for it. Frequency is what separates a 9+ from a 13+ on the same descriptor: “infrequent” versus “frequent” violence, profanity or simulated gambling.

5. Can I override the calculated rating?

The Age Categories and Override step gives you four paths. Not Applicable when you accept Apple’s calculation. Made for Kids — available only when the calculated rating is 4+ or 9+ — also shows the app in the Kids category on the App Store; it cannot be changed once App Review approves it, it binds every later update to the Kids category guidelines, and it is unavailable for visionOS apps. Override to Higher Age Rating raises the displayed rating above Apple’s calculation (upward only): the content descriptions still reflect your questionnaire answers, and the override applies in all regions, which can map to a different rating value per region. Unrated is there for apps distributed through alternative app marketplaces or your own website in the EU. One trap: if your EULA sets a minimum age above the rating Apple calculated, you must override to a rating that adheres to that requirement.

6. What are the region-specific ratings?

• Australia — 16+ where the app has social media (disabled for users under 13) or loot boxes, and R 18+ where it includes infrequent simulated gambling, as required by Australia’s guidelines for the classification of computer games. If the regulator notifies Apple that your app does not meet those guidelines or needs a region-specific rating, App Review messages you and you must re-submit the app for review.
• Brazil — the App Store uses different rating pictograms and descriptors for self-rated apps than for ratings officially issued by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP); where the MJSP has issued a rating or descriptor, Apple updates your regional rating on your behalf so it displays correctly in Brazil. Apps with fixed-odds betting (gambling) features need a valid Brazilian fixed-odds betting license from the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) to be distributed in Brazil, and you provide it when submitting a new app update.
• Korea — where the Korean Games Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) issues a region-specific rating that differs from your existing one, App Review may contact you. You then add your Rating Classification Number (RCN) under App Information → Age Ratings → Republic of Korea → Add RCN, select the rating GRAC gave you, tick the confirmation that it is the official rating, and save. RCN and rating can be edited before you submit for review; while the app is in review they are view-only.

7. How do existing apps stay on the right side of the rules?

Three guidelines in the App Review Guidelines keep a rating honest after launch. 2.3.6 requires you to answer the age rating questions honestly so the app aligns with parental controls — a mis-rated app can surprise customers “or it could trigger an inquiry from government regulators.” 2.3.8 requires icons, screenshots and previews to be appropriate for all audiences, held to a 4+ standard even when the app itself is rated higher. 2.5.18 requires display ads to be appropriate for the app’s age rating. And apps with user-generated content must let users identify content that exceeds the app’s age rating and limit access with an age restriction mechanism based on verified or declared age — Guideline 1.2 for creator-style apps, with the same requirement repeated in 4.7.5 for the software indexes inside mini-app style products.

In practice, re-open the questionnaire whenever a release adds chat, a social feed, third-party ads, loot boxes, contests or a browser surface. The answer set changed, so the derived rating probably did too — and changing the app after approval without updating the rating is exactly the gap regulator inquiries look for.

8. Where do I see and edit the result later?

App Information shows your global rating plus the region-specific panels, and clicking a panel lists the countries and regions the value applies to; ratings for devices on OS versions earlier than 26 sit in their own section. Click Edit at the top of App Information to change any answer later. There is also an optional Age Suitability URL field, where you can point users at a dedicated page explaining your app’s age suitability — worth filling in if you already publish a parent-facing page. Portfolio operators can manage ratings through the App Store Connect API instead of the console.

Sources

• Set an app age rating — App Store Connect Help
• Age ratings values and definitions — App Store Connect Help
• App Review Guidelines — Apple Developer