Guideline 1.2: User-generated content

Guideline 1.2 - Safety - User-Generated Content

We found in our review that your app includes user-generated content but
does not have all the required precautions. Apps with user-generated
content or social networking services must include:

- A method for filtering objectionable material from being posted to
  the app
- A mechanism to report offensive content and timely responses to
  concerns
- The ability to block abusive users from the service
- Published contact information so users can easily reach you

Next Steps

Please revise your app to implement all of the precautions listed above.

What it actually means

Your app lets users create content that other users can see (comments, chat, profiles, photos, reviews, shared posts, anything) and Apple checked whether you built the safety net that has to come with that. The guideline requires four specific things, and reviewers check for all four:

1. A way to filter objectionable material before or as it's posted.
2. A way for users to report offensive content, with timely responses from you when they do.
3. A way for users to block other users.
4. Published contact information so users can reach you.

"User-generated content" is broader than you might think. A comment box counts. A public profile with a free-text bio counts. And if your app has an AI feature whose output users can publish or share inside the app, that output is user-generated content too; the user directed its creation, so the same four requirements apply to it.

Why AI-built apps hit this

Social features are one prompt away. You tell Lovable or Cursor "add comments" or "add a community feed," and you get a working feed: posting, liking, maybe replies. What you don't get, because you didn't ask, is the moderation plumbing: no profanity filter, no report button, no block button, no admin view for handling reports. The AI built the feature; Apple rejects the feature without its safety layer.

The other common path is AI-generation features. If users can generate images or text in your app and publish them where others see them, a reviewer treats that as UGC, and the same rejection arrives even though nobody ever "posts" in the traditional sense.

How to fix it

1. List every place users can publish content. Comments, chat, usernames, bios, photos, AI outputs that get shared. Each one needs to be covered; reviewers test the ones you forgot.
2. Ask your AI tool for the full moderation set, by name. Prompt it with the four requirements explicitly: "add a content filter for posts, a report button on every piece of user content, a block-user option on every profile, and make reported content hidden from the reporter immediately." Vague prompts got you here; specific ones get you out.
3. Decide how reports reach you. Reports need to land somewhere you actually look; an email inbox is fine to start. Apple's requirement is "timely responses to concerns," so pick a channel you'll check.
4. Publish contact information. Put a working support email (or contact form link) inside the app, where a settings or about screen works, and in your App Store Connect support URL.
5. Test it as a stranger. Create a second account, post something, then confirm you can report it and block its author from the other account. If you can't complete that loop, the reviewer can't either.

What to write in Resolution Center

Adapt this to what you actually built; don't send it unmodified:

Hello,

Thank you for the review. We've added the required user-generated content
precautions:

- Content filtering: [describe your filter, e.g. automated filtering of
  objectionable material before posts appear]
- Reporting: every piece of user content now has a report option, and
  reports are reviewed at [your support email] with responses within
  [timeframe]
- Blocking: users can block any other user from their profile or from any
  piece of their content
- Contact information: our support email is published in the app under
  [screen name] and in our App Store support URL

These can be verified by [brief steps, e.g. long-pressing any post].

Thank you,
[Your name]

How to avoid it next time

Treat moderation as part of the feature, not an add-on. Any time you prompt an AI tool to build something users can post, including AI-generation features with shareable output, put the four requirements in the same prompt: filter, report, block, contact. They're cheap to build alongside the feature and expensive to retrofit under rejection pressure. And before submitting, run the stranger test: second account, post, report, block.

Related guides: 1.1: Objectionable content (the content itself is the problem, rather than missing moderation) and 5.1.1: Data collection & privacy (what you must disclose about the data those social features collect).