Apple is adding two age rating questions. Here is what I would do with my Mac app

On November 2 Apple posted a short note about new age rating content descriptors in App Store Connect. It's easy to skip. It sat between the Taiwan storefront change and the Siri AI news, and it sounds like it's only for dating apps. It isn't. Every app on the App Store has to answer it, Mac apps included, and there's a date on it.

So here's what changes, who it really affects, and the ten minutes of work I'd do this month.

What changes

• Two new questions in the age rating questionnaire, starting November 16, 2026. Apple calls them content descriptors.
• Shared Location: your app shares a person's real-world location with another person or a group.
• Dating and Relationships: your app helps real people make dating or relationship connections, or it has a virtual companion that engages people in sexual or romantic content.
• When you answer: the next time you submit an update, or whenever you edit the questionnaire.
• The deadline: every app must have the new questions answered by January 12, 2027. That includes apps you haven't touched in a year.

What it does to your rating

• Dating and Relationships means 18+. Apple says apps with it get a minimum rating of 18+. That is the highest rating on the App Store, the one Apple added in last year's change along with 13+ and 16+.
• Shared Location depends on the region. Apple says it may not change your minimum rating in some regions, without listing which.
• Brazil is the one place with numbers. Shared Location means A16 there, and Dating and Relationships means A18. If your app qualifies for a lower rating, for example location sharing built for parents and children, Apple points you to Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security to request an official rating. Once it's verified, that rating shows on the App Store in Brazil.

Who this really hits on the Mac

Honestly, few Mac apps share live locations or run dating features. But "virtual companion" is the part I'd read twice. The Mac now has plenty of AI chat apps, and some of them let you build a character that flirts back. If your app lets people do that, even as one mode among many, I'd read Apple's wording carefully and answer honestly. An 18+ rating hurts less than a rejection over a wrong answer later.

Shared Location is wider than it sounds too. It isn't about your app reading the location. It's about passing it to other people. A team app that shows where coworkers are, a trip planner that shares your position with friends, a find-my-stuff app with family sharing: those count. A weather app that uses your location for the forecast doesn't, by Apple's own definition, because nobody else sees it.

If you sell outside the Mac App Store with Developer ID, none of this applies to that copy. Age ratings are an App Store Connect thing.

What happens if you miss January 12

Apple's note doesn't say. Last time, though, there's a hint. When Apple rolled out updated age ratings in 2025, it asked developers to answer the new questions by January 31, 2026, "to avoid an interruption when submitting your app updates." My guess, and it's only a guess, is the same this time: miss the date and your next update gets stuck until you answer. That's the worst week to find out, because you'll find out on release day.

What I'd do this month

These are my own steps, not Apple's.

1. Put January 12 in your calendar, with a reminder a week earlier. Better: answer during your next normal update, which for most of us is before then.
2. Wait until November 16. The questions aren't in App Store Connect before that date, so there's nothing to click yet.
3. Open the age rating questionnaire for each app, under App Information, and answer the two new questions. One app, one questionnaire. If you have a Mac app and an iPhone app as separate records, do both.
4. Answer from what the app does, not what you meant it to do. If people can share their location with each other inside it, that's yes, even if it's a small feature.
5. Check your rating afterwards. If it moved and you don't think it should have, Apple's age ratings values and definitions page is where to read why.
6. Know what your app can touch. If you're not sure whether your app even has location access, look at what it's signed with. The new entitlements explainer reads the output of codesign -d --entitlements and says in plain words what each permission lets your app do, right in your browser.

One more thing from this week

If you sell a subscription, Apple also shipped retention messages on November 4. You can now show a message, an image or a special offer to someone in the middle of cancelling, set up in App Store Connect, with an API (by request) to pick which message each person sees. Apple's note doesn't mention platforms, so I'd check whether it reaches your Mac subscribers before building around it. If you're still deciding between a subscription and a one-time price, the pricing calculator shows what each leaves you after fees.

The MacPip angle

MacPip doesn't use age ratings. Listings here are scanned automatically, and a blue tick only means a person tried the app on a date. So nothing changes on your listing. But if your app is an AI app with a companion mode, I'd rather you sort the App Store side out now than in January.

If you're getting an update ready anyway, the launch checklist has the rest of the boring bits. And if your Mac app isn't on MacPip yet, listing it is free.

Sources

• Apple Developer: Upcoming: New age rating content descriptors in App Store Connect
• Apple Developer: Updated age ratings in App Store Connect (2025)
• App Store Connect Help: Age ratings values and definitions
• App Store Connect Help: Set an app age rating
• iPhone in Canada: Apple to require disclosures of location sharing and dating features in apps
• Apple Developer: Now available: Retention messages for subscriptions

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