Apple to Require Location Sharing and Dating Disclosures for App Store Apps From November 16

Apple is asking developers to tell it whether their apps include real-world location sharing or dating features. The point is to make sure each app gets an appropriate age rating. The requirement starts on November 16, and if your app touches either area, you'll need to act through App Store Connect.

If you build or publish apps, the practical effect is a new set of disclosures with a hard deadline of January 12, 2027. If you're a parent or a regular user, it means age ratings on some apps may start to look different. Here's how it works.

What the Shared Location and Dating and Relationships disclosures cover

There are two disclosure categories, and they're named exactly that way: Shared Location and Dating and Relationships. Shared Location is about apps that share a person's real-world location. Dating and Relationships is about apps built around connecting people romantically or in relationships.

Both feed into the age rating Apple assigns to an app. Rather than guessing from an app's description, Apple wants developers to state plainly whether these features are present, so the rating reflects what the app actually does.

Which apps need the Dating and Relationships disclosure

According to Apple, the Dating and Relationships disclosure applies to apps that allow dating or relationship connections. That covers connections with a real person, but it also covers connections with a virtual companion that engages in sexual or romantic content. So an app doesn't have to match people up with each other to be in scope.

That second part matters for companion-style apps. If your app lets users form a romantic or sexual relationship with a virtual character, Apple's wording points to the same disclosure that a traditional dating app would make. If you're unsure where your app falls, it's worth reading Apple's own guidance in App Store Connect before you answer.

Age rating changes: the 18+ minimum for dating apps

The biggest rating change is for Dating and Relationships. Any app that includes it must carry a minimum age rating of 18+. There's no way around that once you've made the disclosure, so apps that currently sit at a lower rating will need to move up.

Shared Location is less clear-cut. Apple says that apps with this feature may not see a change to their minimum age rating in some regions, but the details on which regions, and what the rating would be, weren't spelled out. Until Apple says more, treat the Shared Location outcome as something to check for your own markets rather than assume.

Moving your data to a new phone

Rating rules are one thing, but plenty of readers will also be dealing with a more everyday task: switching devices, or moving between Android and iPhone, without losing photos, contacts and messages. There are a few ways to do it, including built-in setup tools, cloud backups, and third-party apps. Smart Transfer is one of those apps, and it covers Android and iPhone in a single tool.

Its Clone feature moves pictures, videos, contacts, messages, apps and more between Android and iOS phones and tablets over Wi-Fi, which is the kind of Data transfer that saves you from starting over on a new device. That includes the Sms Transfer side of a switch, since messages are part of what it moves. For sending individual items, Share Nearby works with people on the same Wi-Fi, while Share Remotely handles File Transfer across networks, including to other countries. If you'd rather transfer things directly between devices, or you want anywhere file transfer without being on the same network, that's the part to look at.

Key dates and how to submit disclosures in App Store Connect

The timeline has two dates. Apple will require the Shared Location and Dating and Relationships disclosures starting November 16. Then, by January 12, 2027, apps need to have those disclosures submitted through App Store Connect.

That gives developers a window rather than a single cutoff, but there's no reason to wait until the last week. Review which of your apps have location sharing or dating features, including any virtual companion features, and submit the answers in App Store Connect. Apple hasn't been quoted here on what happens after the deadline, so stick to the dates you've been given.

Brazil's A16 and A18 ratings and the rating request option

Brazil has its own rating scheme, and the requirements there are specific. Apps with Shared Location are required to have an A16 rating, and apps with Dating and Relationships are required to have an A18 rating. So in Brazil, even location sharing alone brings a firm minimum.

There is an option for apps that might deserve something lower. Apps that may qualify for a lower rating in Brazil, such as an app that offers location sharing between parents and children, can request a rating from Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Whether any particular app would actually get a lower rating isn't stated, so developers of family apps will want to look into that request process directly.

If your app has location sharing or dating features, the next step is simple: make the disclosures in App Store Connect well before January 12, 2027, and plan for the 18+ minimum if Dating and Relationships applies.