No beta labels or unfinished UI indicators
Why it matters
Visible Beta, Alpha, Preview, or v0.3.1 labels signal to App Review and Play Console reviewers that the submitter is using the public store as a test environment, which violates Apple Guideline 2.2 (Beta Testing) — TestFlight is the only sanctioned beta channel. Debug overlays, raw JSON error dumps, and ungated developer panels leaking into production builds also trip the same guideline and cause immediate rejection, often with a terse reviewer note that wastes a full resubmission cycle.
Severity rationale
High because beta indicators cause immediate rejection under Apple Guideline 2.2 and Play policy.
Remediation
Strip beta/alpha badges from production UI, bump the user-visible version to 1.0.0 or higher, and gate every debug surface behind a compile-time flag. In React Native use __DEV__; in Flutter use kDebugMode; in Swift use #if DEBUG. Example in src/components/Header.tsx:
{__DEV__ && <DebugPanel />}
Remove any process.env.IS_TESTFLIGHT branches that leave visible artifacts in the App Store build.
DetectionPro
The detection method for this pattern is part of AuditBuffet Pro.
The full method (what to look for, pass and fail conditions, and how results get reported) ships inside the App Store Review Blockers Audit. The pattern definition, severity rationale, and remediation remain openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
Taxons
History
- 2026-04-18·v1.0.0·Initial import from app-store-review-blockers·automated