Guideline4.3
Guideline 4.3 on White-Label or Multi-Brand Apps
§ 01What this rejection usually means
White-label means one codebase, many store listings. Apple treats that as spam even when each client is a real business. Several skins on one account is the worst shape.
§ 02What Apple’s wording tells you
We noticed your app shares a similar binary, metadata, and/or concept with apps submitted to the App Store.
This is usually not a false positive. You need a product or distribution change, not a clever reply.
§ 03Common causes
- SaaS that ships a branded iOS client per customer from one repo.
- The same IPA with a different plist and icon.
- Multiple bundle IDs submitted by one team in a short window.
§ 04How to diagnose your case
- Count how many store apps share this repo.
- If the number is more than one, plan consolidation or a single multi-tenant app.
- Do not spend the week rewriting review notes.
§ 05What to inspect in your project
- How the brand is injected: target, .xcconfig, remote config
- Whether binaries differ beyond assets and keys
- Which developer account submitted each brand
§ 06What not to do
- Do not open a new developer account per brand as a workaround.
- Do not stagger submissions of the same binary and hope they do not notice.
- Do not appeal on the grounds that each client paid you.
§ 07How to fix it
- Collapse brands into one app if they are the same product.
- If a client must have their own listing, the binary and UX have to be independently justified — rare.
- Tell review you are consolidating, then do it.
§ 08How to verify the fix
- App Store Connect no longer shows a row of near-duplicate listings from your team.
- The remaining app’s first session is the customer’s job, not a theme picker.
§ 09What evidence to prepare
- A written consolidation plan
- List of listings you will remove
- What is unique in the surviving app
§ 10Suggested reply to App Review
Resolution Center · Reply
Hello App Review, We understand the 4.3 concern. These listings were generated from a shared white-label project, which we are consolidating. We will not continue submitting brand variants of the same binary. The remaining app is [name], and we are removing [list]. The surviving product’s purpose is [one sentence]. Thank you.
§ 11Should you appeal?
Appealing a white-label farm almost never works. Change the catalog first.
§ 12Questions people ask next
- Can each restaurant or shop have its own app?
- Apple has allowed some catalog-style exceptions historically, but a factory of near-identical binaries is the textbook 4.3. Do not bet the launch on that exception.