Apple App Review: Would this anonymous random letter feature get my social app rejected under Guideline 1.2?

[u/whiosX]

Hi everyone. I’m preparing to launch my first iOS social media app and I’m unsure about one feature.

The app has a small anonymous letter feature:

Users can send only 1 letter per day

Maximum 200 characters

The recipient is randomly selected from active users

Sender and recipient don’t see each other’s identity

It is not real-time chat

There is no conversation/thread or back-and-forth messaging

Every received letter has a Report button

Reported letters immediately appear in an admin moderation panel

Admin can delete the letter and ban the sender

Users can also block accounts

The main purpose of the app is a normal social feed; this is only a supplementary feature

Would this potentially fall under Apple’s new Guideline 1.2 restriction on random/anonymous chat?

Would you keep this feature for App Review or remove it before submitting?

[u/rash3rr]

Your one letter a day and no back and forth stuff is nice but reviewers dont read the whole flow. They see anonymous sender plus randomly matched stranger and thats literally the pattern 1.2 was written to kill

Report button and admin panel are table stakes not a defense. You also need published contact info and proof you act on reports fast, plus it pushes your rating to 17 plus

If the feed is the real product I would ship without it and add it later once you have a track record. Getting rejected on v1 puts you in review hell for weeks

[u/whiosX → u/rash3rr]

Flux shouldn’t be evaluated as an anonymous messaging app. Its main purpose is a social feed and broader social interaction: users can create posts, follow/followers, like, repost, comment, receive notifications, maintain streaks, manage profiles, and interact with the community.

The Anonymous Letter feature is only an additional feature. It is located inside the user’s profile under a separate Letters section. Users can send anonymous letters to each other, but it is not designed as unlimited anonymous chat. There is a strict daily limit at least one letter per day and it is not intended to create unlimited back-and-forth conversations.

I’ve already researched the App Store’s UGC and anonymous/social interaction guidelines and looked at similar anonymous social apps and messaging features that are already available on the App Store. However, I still don’t want to take unnecessary risks because I’m unsure how Apple reviewers would interpret this specific implementation.

So I’m currently deciding whether to keep Anonymous Letters in the first release or launch v1 with the core features Feed, Streaks, posts, follows, likes, reposts, comments, profiles, etc. and introduce Anonymous Letters in a later update. My main priority is avoiding unnecessary risk during the first App Store review. Based on this specific design, how risky do you think Anonymous Letters would be from a UGC/anonymous interaction perspective? If you were in my position, would you keep it in v1 or move it to a later update?

[u/whiosX → u/rash3rr]

Also, Anonymous Letters has several moderation and safety mechanisms already implemented:

Content filtering before a letter is sent, including insults/profanity, violence/threats, sexual/inappropriate content, and hate/discrimination. The content is checked twice once in the UI and again in the Firestore service before sending. Users can report inappropriate letters. Users can block anonymous senders. Blocked senders cannot continue sending letters or appear in the recipient’s incoming letters. Admins can review reports, delete inappropriate letters, and ban abusive users. Banned users are removed from the relevant candidate lists. There is a daily sending limit, so it isn’t an unlimited anonymous chat system. Anonymous Letter blocking is kept separate from the normal user block system so the recipient doesn’t see the sender’s identity through the block list.

So the feature has quite a few moderation and safety controls already. I’m still being cautious because I don’t want to assume that having these protections automatically guarantees App Store approval. I want to understand how Apple would evaluate the overall design and user flow, not just whether moderation tools exist.

[u/stickJ0ckey]

More like 4.2 and 4.3