Guideline 3.2.2(x) - Unacceptable Business Model: Forced Ratings Gating Functionality

Apple is rejecting your app because it forces, incentivizes, or manipulates users into leaving App Store ratings or reviews as a condition for accessing app functionality, content, or rewards. This includes gating features behind a rating prompt, offering in-app currency for reviews, requiring a review before advancing in a game, or repeatedly showing rating prompts that cannot be easily dismissed. Apple draws a clear line between asking for ratings (acceptable, using SKStoreReviewController) and requiring, coercing, or incentivizing them (unacceptable). The standard rating prompt from SKStoreReviewController is Apple's approved mechanism -- it can be shown up to three times per 365-day period, and the user can easily dismiss it. Custom rating prompts that mimic the system dialog, rating gates that block progression, and reward-for-review schemes all violate this guideline. Apple considers these practices manipulative because they inflate ratings artificially and mislead other users.