Guideline 5.1.1(v) account deletion, in plain English
“you must also offer account deletion within the app”
Guideline 5.1.1(v) says that if people can create an account in your app, they must also be able to delete it from inside the app. Deleting means removing the account and the data that goes with it, not just switching it off, and the option has to be easy to find. The same rule says not to make people sign in when the app has no real account-based features.
Checked against Apple’s guidelines on (Apple’s version of ). Apple’s reviewers make the final call.
What Guideline 5.1.1(v) means
Apple's account deletion guidance spells out what passes. The option should be easy to find, usually in account settings. It must offer to delete the whole account record with its personal data; offering only to deactivate or disable the account isn't enough. If people have to finish on a website, the app must link straight to the page where they do it.
People must be kept informed. If deletion takes time, say how long and confirm when it's done; a manual process is acceptable. If you must keep some data by law, say what stays. And if the person has an auto-renewable subscription, tell them billing continues through Apple and ask them to cancel it first; you may offer to delete the account when the subscription ends, as long as deleting now is offered too.
Apple allows a confirmation step and even re-authentication, such as a code sent to the account's email, but apps that make deletion unnecessarily hard won't pass, and apps outside regulated fields should not send people to a phone call, email or support chat to delete.
Some cases surprise people. Accounts the app creates automatically, sometimes called guest accounts, need a delete option too. Content the person shared with others, like posts, photos and reviews, should go with the account. And a deletion flow built for GDPR or CCPA must be offered to everyone, wherever they live.
Why apps are turned down under Guideline 5.1.1(v)
The app supports account creation but not account deletion
There is a sign-up screen but nowhere in the app to delete the account, or the only route is an email to support.
The app only deactivates the account
Delete actually hides or suspends the account while its data stays on the server.
Deletion is hard to find or hard to finish
The option is buried, opens a generic web page instead of the deletion page, or adds steps beyond a reasonable confirmation.
The app asks people to sign in to use features that need no account
A login wall in front of an app whose main features don't depend on an account, which the account sign-in part of 5.1.1(v) rules out.
How to fix it and resubmit
- Add Delete Account where people expect it, in the account or settings screen, and make it reachable in a couple of taps.
- Make it delete the account record and everything tied to it on your server, including what the person shared with others, and say what you must keep by law, if anything.
- Add one clear confirmation. For people with an auto-renewable subscription, say that billing continues through Apple and link to where they can cancel it.
- If the app uses Sign in with Apple, revoke the person's tokens with Apple's REST API as part of deletion.
- Let people use the parts of the app that don't need an account without signing in, say in the review notes where Delete Account is, and resubmit.
How Borel helps
The legal links Borel writes into apps show Delete Account whenever someone is signed in, next to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. It asks for confirmation, then permanently deletes the account and its data from the app's Borel cloud.
Borel's submit gate refuses to send an app to Apple when people can create an account in it but can't delete it, and tells you in a plain sentence to ask Borel to add Delete Account. Reviewers often test deletion on the demo account; Borel signs in with that account before every submission and makes it again if it's gone, and the review notes it drafts say where Delete Account is.
Questions people ask
Is deactivating an account enough for Apple?
No. Apple's guidance says offering only to temporarily deactivate or disable an account is insufficient. You can offer deactivation as an extra choice, but deleting the account and its personal data must be offered too.
Can people delete their account on my website instead?
They must be able to start the deletion inside the app. If they need a website to finish, the app has to link directly to the page where they complete it, not to your home page.
Does account deletion have to happen instantly?
No. Apple accepts a manual process that takes a reasonable time, as long as you tell people how long it will take and confirm when it's done.
What about people who have a subscription when they delete their account?
Apple asks you to tell them that billing continues through Apple and to ask them to cancel first, for example with the manage subscriptions screen. You can also schedule deletion for when the subscription ends if deleting now is offered as well.
Related guidelines
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