New age rating descriptors in App Store Connect: what to declare by January 12, 2027

On November 2, 2026 Apple published a developer news post, Upcoming: New age rating content descriptors in App Store Connect. It adds two questions to the age rating questionnaire, sets a deadline for every app in the store, and spells out what the answers do to the rating, in Brazil in particular.

We ship several of our own apps, so this is a maintenance task for us, not a news item. Below is what Apple says, what we read into it, and a plan for going through a list of apps. Facts come from Apple's pages; our interpretation is marked as such, and we list the points where the sources say nothing.

What changes and when

Starting November 16, 2026, App Store Connect shows new content descriptors in the age rating questionnaire. Apple's stated purpose is to make sure ratings reflect an app's features and follow local regulations.

You have to declare these two descriptors when you submit an app update or change the age rating questionnaire. Independently of that, all apps must have the declarations completed by January 12, 2027.

The two descriptors

• ✦Shared Location. Sharing of real-world location with another person or group.
• ✦Dating and Relationships. Features that enable dating or relationship connections between real people, and/or a virtual companion that engages the user in sexual or romantic content.

Note the second definition: it covers two different things. One is features that connect real people for dating or relationships. The other is a virtual companion that engages a user in sexual or romantic content. An app can trigger the descriptor through either.

Effect on the rating

Global

Apple states two consequences in the announcement:

• ✦Apps that include Dating and Relationships get a minimum age rating of 18+.
• ✦Apps that include Shared Location may see no change to their minimum rating in some regions.

Read the second sentence carefully: it does not promise that the rating stays the same everywhere. Apple says only that the minimum rating may be unaffected in some regions.

Brazil

Local regulations in Brazil require an A16 rating for Shared Location and A18 for Dating and Relationships. For comparison, in Apple's own table of self-rated Brazil values on the age rating values page, A16 already covers things like unrestricted web access and social media, and A18 covers frequent sexual content, gambling and loot boxes. We read that table on November 4 and it does not yet list the two new descriptors.

There is a way out if the rating looks wrong for your app. Apple's example is location sharing designed specifically for parents and children: if you think the app qualifies for a lower rating in Brazil, you can request an official rating directly from Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP). After the rating is verified, it appears on the App Store in Brazil. Apple's values page adds that once the MJSP issues a rating or descriptor for an app, Apple updates the regional rating on the developer's behalf.

The MJSP page that Apple links from the announcement describes the rating system in general and points to an electronic filing service. It does not explain, in the part we could read, how an app developer files. Plan time for that, and contact the ministry's classification office if you need the steps.

One more thing from earlier in the year. In a February 24 post Apple said it blocks users in Brazil, Australia and Singapore from downloading apps rated 18+ unless they are confirmed as adults, and that developers may have separate duties to confirm adulthood. Our reading is that an A18 label in Brazil falls into the same bucket, but Apple's announcement does not say this directly. If you end up with A18 in Brazil, check this with Apple's own documentation before you promise anything to users.

Where this sits among the 2026 changes

The questionnaire has been growing all year. On July 9 Apple added social media questions, with answers required from September 2026, tied to the new Time Allowances feature. On August 12 it changed age ratings for the Republic of Korea. Both posts follow the same pattern: Apple derives the rating from your answers, and regional values then differ.

Our reading: the questionnaire is part of the submission, like the Review Notes we discuss in our article on the October App Review Guidelines, and it deserves the same care as privacy labels, where a wrong answer is also visible to users.

How we would decide for our own apps

This section is our interpretation. Apple's announcement gives two definitions and no examples, so we turn them into questions. Treat the answers as a draft for your own decision, not as Apple's ruling.

Shared Location

1. 01Does the app send the user's real-world location to another person or group? Not a city name typed by hand, but actual location.
2. 02Who receives it: friends, family, a group, or the public on a map? The definition covers "another person or group", which is wide.
3. 03Is the app built for parents and children? Then Apple's own example points to the Brazilian official-rating route.
4. 04Do you only use location for the app itself, for example to find a nearby service, without showing it to other users? The definition is about sharing with another person, so this looks like a different case, but we would still write down the reasoning.

Dating and Relationships

1. 01Does the app exist to connect real people with romantic or relationship intent, or does it have a feature that does this, even if it is not the main purpose?
2. 02Does the app include a virtual companion, character or AI persona that engages the user in sexual or romantic content? This is the part of the definition that is easy to miss in apps that did not start as dating products.
3. 03Is the romantic or sexual behavior something the user can turn on, or something the product is designed to do? The definition says the companion engages the user in such content. How Apple treats an opt-in setting is not stated.
4. 04Does a general messaging or social feature get used for dating in practice? The definition speaks of features that enable dating connections; the announcement does not say where the line is.

Calls, messaging and companions

Two kinds of apps deserve a second look. Calls and messaging apps already answer a separate questionnaire item, Messaging and Chat, whose definition includes voice and video. That is a different descriptor from the new ones, and in our reading a calls app does not trigger Dating and Relationships merely by having calls. The check is whether it has a feature that matches the new definitions, for example sharing a live location in a conversation, or matching strangers. If you ship something like our private calls without phone number approach, it is worth walking the feature list with these questions.

AI-companion style features are the other group. If a character can engage the user in romantic or sexual content, the second half of the Dating and Relationships definition is written for exactly that. In our reading, that is a case to declare rather than to argue about.

What the sources leave open

We did not find answers to these in Apple's announcement, the age rating values page or the page on setting an age rating, and we do not guess:

• ✦What happens to an app that has not completed the declarations after January 12, 2027.
• ✦Whether an app with no update before the deadline must still open App Store Connect and fill the questionnaire. The announcement says all apps must have the declarations completed, so we assume yes.
• ✦In which regions Shared Location has no effect on the minimum rating.
• ✦Any examples or edge cases for either definition, such as a one-time location share or a companion that is only mildly flirtatious.
• ✦Whether the new descriptors will appear as labels on the product page, as the social media descriptor does.
• ✦How a request for an official Brazil rating is filed for an app, and how long it takes.

For rules that matter to your launch, ask Apple through the usual channels and keep the answer.

Timeline

What to do

• ✦List every app you have in the store, including old ones that no longer get updates, with the owner and the last submitted version.
• ✦For each app, answer the Shared Location and Dating and Relationships questions on paper first, and keep a one-line reason for each answer.
• ✦Check the roles in your team: Apple's help says the Account Holder, Admin, App Manager and Marketing roles can set an age rating.
• ✦Fill in the new questions at your next submission, and for apps that will not be updated before the deadline, edit the questionnaire in App Store Connect.
• ✦Find out which of your apps are available in Brazil, and which of those declare Shared Location or Dating and Relationships.
• ✦If an app is a parent and child location tool, look at the MJSP route for an official Brazil rating and start early.
• ✦If a Dating and Relationships declaration pushes an app to 18+, check what that does to your audience, ads and store copy.
• ✦Remember that an override can only go to a higher rating, and that it applies in every region where the app is sold.
• ✦Put January 12, 2027 into the team calendar with a reminder in December.
• ✦Re-read the age rating values page after November 16: when we read it, it did not mention the new descriptors yet.

Sources

• ✦Apple Developer News: Upcoming: New age rating content descriptors in App Store Connect (November 2, 2026)
• ✦App Store Connect Help: Age ratings values and definitions, including Brazil values
• ✦App Store Connect Help: Set an app age rating
• ✦Apple Developer News: Age requirements for apps distributed in Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Utah, and Louisiana (February 24, 2026)
• ✦Apple Developer News: Age rating questionnaire now includes social media questions (July 9, 2026)
• ✦Apple Developer News: Updates to age ratings for the Republic of Korea (August 12, 2026)
• ✦Brazil Ministry of Justice and Public Security: indicative rating (classificação indicativa)
• ✦ONLYAPPS: App Review Guidelines, October 16, 2026