Guideline 4.2 rejection (Minimum Functionality): what it means and how to fix it
Apple thinks your app is too thin, usually a website wrapped in an app shell.
What Apple is saying
Apple wants apps to offer something beyond what a website or a simple template already does. Apps that just load a website in a web view, or that have very little content or interaction, get rejected under 4.2. This is the most common rejection for apps built with Lovable, Bolt, Replit, Base44 or wrapped with Capacitor.
Common causes
The app is a web view of an existing website with no native features.
Navigation, menus and pages feel like a browser (web links, browser-style loading, no offline state).
The app has only one or two screens, or mostly static content.
Core features only work by leaving the app for a website.
How to fix it
Add native features that make the app better than the website: push notifications, offline content or an offline screen, haptics, the share sheet, widgets, camera or photo access where it makes sense.
Use native navigation (a tab bar or native back gestures) instead of in-page web menus.
Make sure every core feature works inside the app without redirecting to Safari.
Explain the native features in the review notes, with where to find each one.
Upload a new build and resubmit.
Do you need a new build?
Yes. 4.2 is about the app itself, so it needs a new build with real native functionality.
Reply to App Review
Send this in Resolution Center (App Store Connect → your app → the rejected version) after fixing. Fill in the [brackets].
Hello,
Thank you for the review. In this build we've added native functionality beyond our website: [push notifications for X, offline access to Y, native navigation, Z]. You can find them at [where].
We believe these make the app a meaningfully better experience than the website. Please let us know if you'd like more detail.
Got a 4.2 rejection you'd rather not deal with?
I've shipped 7 apps of my own and fixed real rejections on them. Invite me to App Store Connect (no Apple ID password needed), and I'll fix it, reply to Apple and resubmit. From $45, with unlimited revisions until the original rejection is approved.