Synthetic example. Not a real customer.

Submission readiness report: Tidewater Habits

Tidewater Habits is a fictional iPhone and iPad habit tracker with an auto-renewable subscription. This example shows how a real report is laid out: scope, findings with evidence and guideline references, a checks summary and the review's limitations. Apple decides approval; this report never claims otherwise.

Scope

Application: Tidewater Habits (fictional), bundle id com.example.tidewater
Build: 1.4.0 (87), installed from TestFlight
Devices: iPhone 16 on iOS 26.0.1; iPad Air (M3) on iPadOS 26.0.1
Testing dates: October 14 to 15, 2026, America/Detroit
Package: App Store readiness, Standard: up to ten workflows, sandbox purchases included
Guidelines version: App Store Review Guidelines as published on October 16, 2026

Access used

TestFlight external tester invitation for the reviewer's test Apple ID.
Demo account tidewater.demo+a with synthetic habit data, supplied by the customer and revoked after delivery.
Sandbox tester account for StoreKit purchases.
Store listing text, six screenshots and the App Review notes draft, supplied as files.
No source code, build file, Apple ID password, certificate or key was requested or received.

Findings

Three likely blockers, two items that need attention and one advisory. Severity reflects how often Apple cites the guideline and how clearly the build conflicts with it, not a prediction of Apple's decision.

ID	Severity	Finding	Guideline
F-1	Likely blocker	No way to delete the account inside the app	5.1.1(v)
F-2	Likely blocker	Subscription paywall does not state the price before purchase	3.1.2
F-3	Likely blocker	Third party sign in without Sign in with Apple	4.8
F-4	Needs attention	Restore purchases is present but produced no result after reinstall	3.1.1
F-5	Needs attention	Screenshots show a streak calendar the build does not have	2.3.3
F-6	Advisory	Notification permission requested at first launch with a generic purpose string	5.1.1(ii)

F-1. Likely blocker

No way to delete the account inside the app

App Store Review Guideline 5.1.1(v)

Evidence

Created the test account tidewater.demo+a on iPhone 16, iOS 26. Settings > Account offers Sign out and Change email only. Support article linked from Settings says to email support to close an account. No deletion path was found in 14 screens exercised.

Fix guidance

Add Delete account under Settings > Account. It must delete the account record and associated data, may confirm identity first, and may state how long deletion takes. A web link is acceptable only to finish a flow started in the app. Revoke Sign in with Apple tokens through Apple's REST API when the account is deleted.

F-2. Likely blocker

Subscription paywall does not state the price before purchase

App Store Review Guideline 3.1.2

Evidence

Onboarding screen 4 shows Start free trial with no price, billing period or renewal text. The price appears only in the StoreKit confirmation sheet. Sandbox purchase of tidewater.plus.monthly completed; the sheet showed the monthly price and a 7 day trial.

Fix guidance

Show the price, billing period, trial length and what the user gets for the price on the paywall itself before the purchase button. Keep the terms and privacy policy links adjacent to the button.

F-3. Likely blocker

Third party sign in without Sign in with Apple

App Store Review Guideline 4.8

Evidence

Welcome screen offers Continue with Google and Continue with email. No Sign in with Apple or equivalent option. Google sign in completed with the test account and created a primary account.

Fix guidance

Add Sign in with Apple, or another login service that limits data to name and email, lets the user hide their email and does not collect interactions for advertising without consent.

F-4. Needs attention

Restore purchases is present but produced no result after reinstall

App Store Review Guideline 3.1.1

Evidence

After a sandbox purchase, deleted and reinstalled build 87 on the same iPhone. Settings > Restore purchases showed a spinner for about 2 seconds and returned to the free tier. Signing in again did restore the entitlement, which suggests entitlements are tied to the account rather than to the App Store receipt.

Fix guidance

Make Restore purchases query current entitlements from StoreKit and grant access without requiring sign in. Show a clear result message in both the success and the nothing-to-restore cases.

F-5. Needs attention

Screenshots show a streak calendar the build does not have

App Store Review Guideline 2.3.3

Evidence

Supplied screenshot 3 of 6 shows a monthly streak calendar. Build 87 shows a weekly strip only; no monthly view was reachable. The description also mentions widgets, which were not present in the build.

Fix guidance

Replace screenshot 3 with a capture from this build or ship the monthly view in this build. Remove the widgets sentence from the description until widgets ship.

F-6. Advisory

Notification permission requested at first launch with a generic purpose string

App Store Review Guideline 5.1.1(ii)

Evidence

The notifications prompt appeared on the first screen before any habit existed. The pre-prompt text read Allow notifications to get the most out of the app.

Fix guidance

Ask after the user creates a first habit and explain the specific reminder the app will send. Reviewers tend to accept prompts that are tied to an action the user just took.

Invented identifiers, accounts and behavior. No real app, developer or customer is described.

Checks summary

Verified means the reviewer observed it on the recorded build and devices. Customer stated means Certari relied on what the customer said or supplied. Not checked means the check applies but was not performed, and it is never shown as passed.

Check	Status	Note
Build installs and launches on both devices	Verified	Cold start, background and foreground, rotation on iPad, airplane mode.
Ten named workflows exercised	Verified	Create habit, log a day, edit reminder, archive habit, view history, export data, start trial, restore purchases, change email, sign out and back in.
Demo account and App Review notes	Verified	Account worked on a clean device. Notes draft lacked the expired subscription account Apple asks for; added to fix list.
In-app privacy policy link	Verified	Settings > Privacy policy opened tidewaterhabits.example/privacy and loaded. Content review of the policy itself is out of scope.
App Privacy answers in App Store Connect	Customer stated	The customer stated the answers list Health and Fitness data, Identifiers and Usage Data. Not compared with the console.
Age rating	Customer stated	The customer stated 4+. Observed content is consistent with that.
Privacy manifest and required reason API entries	Not checked	No build file was shared; the review used TestFlight only.
Export compliance answer	Not checked	ITSAppUsesNonExemptEncryption not read because no build file was shared.
User generated content safeguards	Not checked	Not applicable. The app has no user generated content.

Limitations

Apple decides approval. This report describes what the reviewer observed on build 87 and how it relates to the guidelines in force on the testing dates. It is not a prediction, a certification or a promise.
No build file was shared, so the privacy manifest, required reason API entries, third party SDK manifests and the export compliance key were not inspected.
App Store Connect was not accessed. App Privacy answers and the age rating are recorded as customer statements.
Only the ten named workflows were exercised. Screens outside them were visited but not tested in depth.
This is not a security review. No source code was read and no security controls were tested. The report does not earn a Certari badge.
Guidelines change. Findings reference the guideline text published on October 16, 2026.

Synthetic example. Not a real customer.

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