2.4 Hardware Compatibility

Overview

2.4 Hardware Compatibility

2.4.1 To ensure people get the most out of your app, iPhone apps should run on iPad whenever possible. We encourage you to consider building apps so customers can use them on all of their devices.

2.4.2 Design your app to use power efficiently and be used in a way that does not risk damage to the device. Apps should not rapidly drain battery, generate excessive heat, or put unnecessary strain on device resources. For example, apps should not encourage placing the device under a mattress or pillow while charging or perform excessive write cycles to the solid state drive. Apps, including any third-party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining.

2.4.3 People should be able to use your Apple TV app without the need for hardware inputs beyond the Siri remote or third-party game controllers, but feel free to provide enhanced functionality when other peripherals are connected. If you require a game controller, make sure you clearly explain that in your metadata so customers know they need additional equipment to play.

2.4.4 Apps should never suggest or require a restart of the device or modifications to system settings unrelated to the core functionality of the app. For example, don’t encourage users to turn off Wi-Fi, disable security features, etc.

2.4.5 Apps distributed via the Mac App Store have some additional requirements to keep in mind:

(i) They must be appropriately sandboxed, and follow macOS File System Documentation. They should also only use the appropriate macOS APIs for modifying user data stored by other apps (e.g. bookmarks, Address Book, or Calendar entries).

(ii) They must be packaged and submitted using technologies provided in Xcode; no third-party installers allowed. They must also be self-contained, single app installation bundles and cannot install code or resources in shared locations.

(iii) They may not auto-launch or have other code run automatically at startup or login without consent nor spawn processes that continue to run without consent after a user has quit the app. They should not automatically add their icons to the Dock or leave shortcuts on the user desktop.

(iv) They may not download or install standalone apps, kexts, additional code, or resources to add functionality or significantly change the app from what we see during the review process.

(v) They may not request escalation to root privileges or use setuid attributes.

(vi) They may not present a license screen at launch, require license keys, or implement their own copy protection.

(vii) They must use the Mac App Store to distribute updates; other update mechanisms are not allowed.

(viii) Apps should run on the currently shipping OS and may not use deprecated or optionally installed technologies (e.g. Java)

(ix) Apps must contain all language and localization support in a single app bundle.