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Publishing your Apple TV app: the App Store listing, App Privacy and age rating

How to test your Apple TV app in TestFlight, fill in the App Store listing, answer Apple's App Privacy questions and set the age rating before review.

Written by Robert Blessing

Once your Apple TV app is built, it is in your App Store Connect account, in TestFlight. From there you create the App Store listing and submit it for review. Apple only lets the account owner do this, so this part is yours; this article walks you through it.

Your app page on apps.tappla.com (the link we sent you) has an Apple TV section with screenshots of your app, ready to upload, and the answers below already worked out for your app.


Try it on your own Apple TV first

  1. In App Store Connect, open Apps → your app → TestFlight.

  2. Under Internal Testing, click + next to the group and add your own Apple ID.

  3. On your Apple TV, install TestFlight from the App Store and sign in with that Apple ID. Your app shows up there.


Fill in the listing

Open Apps → your app → the tvOS version (1.0 for a first release).

  1. Previews and Screenshots: upload the screenshots from your app page. Apple takes 1 to 10 at 1920×1080 or 3840×2160 and wants them to show the app in use.

  2. Description, keywords, support URL: your own words; the support URL can be your website.

  3. Build: select the build that is in TestFlight.

  4. App Information: pick a category (most channels use Entertainment) and answer the content rights question. If any of your videos come from other creators, answer Yes and confirm you have the rights to show them.

  5. Privacy policy: add your privacy policy URL. Apple TV also asks for the policy as text, because a television cannot open a link. Paste a short version of your policy there.

  6. App Privacy and age rating: see below.

  7. Click Add for Review, then Submit.

Selling in the EU? Apple then asks for your trader status under the Digital Services Act and shows your contact details on EU store pages. If you don't want that, remove the EU countries under Pricing and Availability.

Encryption: Apple won't ask. The app only uses standard HTTPS, and that answer is already in the build.


App Privacy: what the app collects

Apple asks: "Do you or your third-party partners collect data from this app?"

The app has no analytics, no advertising, no crash reporting, and it reads no advertising identifier and no location. It loads your catalogue, your images and your videos. So for most apps the answer is No, and the label reads Data Not Collected.

Two things can change that. Check both before you answer.

1. If your app has members-only or paid videos

When a viewer activates their television to watch locked videos, the app sends a random device ID that it generated itself, so we can remember what that television may play. It is not a hardware identifier and it is not tied to a person, but it does leave the device. Then answer Yes and declare:

  • Identifiers → Device ID, purpose App Functionality, not linked to the user's identity, not used for tracking.

If every video in your app is free to everyone, this does not apply.

2. Where your videos are hosted

Your videos stream from your video host (for example Bunny, Vimeo or your own CDN), not from us. If your host's dashboard shows you views, watch time or a breakdown by country, the host records that from your viewers' televisions. Then answer Yes and declare:

  • Usage Data → Product Interaction and Location → Coarse Location, purpose Analytics, not linked, not used for tracking.

We can't see inside your hosting account, so this one is yours to check. The same reasoning applies to the other stores; see What data does my Fire TV app collect?


Age rating

Apple asks two kinds of questions.

  • About the app: answer No throughout. The app has no user-generated content, no chat, no web browser, no ads, no gambling or contests, and no parental controls.

  • About your content (violence, language, mature themes and so on): answer for the videos in your channel. Only you know them, and Apple works out the rating from your answers. If your catalogue changes later, you can update the rating with your next version.


After you submit

Review usually takes a few days. If Apple asks a question or rejects the app, forward us the message from the Resolution Center and we'll answer it with you.

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