Guideline 5
Guideline 5 - Legal: Remove Watermark Feature
Our Take
Apple is rejecting your app under the top-level Legal guideline because treats watermark removal as facilitating an activity that is not legal in every region where the app is distributed. Watermarks are used to assert ownership, attribution, and licensing, and a tool that strips them can be used to launder or redistribute other people's copyrighted content without permission.
This rejection cites 'Guideline 5 - Legal' with no dotted subsection because Apple is treating the whole app concept/feature as legally problematic rather than pointing at a single privacy or IP clause. It commonly hits photo/video editors, social-download utilities (e.g. tools that save clips from TikTok/Instagram/other platforms and offer to strip the platform watermark), 'AI object remover' apps that market watermark erasure specifically, and screenshot/screen-recording tools that advertise removing on-screen marks.
The trigger is almost always in your metadata and UI, not just the binary: an explicit 'Remove Watermark' button, a feature bullet in the App Store description or screenshots, a subscription/IAP unlock literally named 'Remove Watermark,' or onboarding copy promising to erase watermarks.
Reviewers read the store listing, so even if the feature is buried, marketing it is enough to draw the citation.
Note this is separate from removing your OWN app's export watermark (that is allowed) — the problem is removing watermarks from third-party or arbitrary content. If you get rejected under this scenario, appealing is your best course of action.
Resolution Guide
Remove the watermark-removal feature from the binary
Delete the button, tool, filter, or code path that erases watermarks from user-supplied or downloaded content. Removing the UI entry point is not enough if the underlying capability is still reachable — strip the actual processing code so a reviewer can't surface it through settings, a deep link, or a paywall unlock.
Scrub every mention from your App Store metadata
Edit the app name, subtitle, description, keywords, promotional text, and screenshots to remove 'remove watermark,' 'watermark remover,' 'erase watermark,' and equivalents. Apple reads the listing; marketing the feature will re-trigger the rejection even after you pull it from the binary.
Rename or remove any watermark IAP/subscription
If you sell an unlock literally named 'Remove Watermark,' delete that product or repurpose it (e.g. 'Premium Export,' 'HD Export'). Update the paywall copy and the StoreKit product display names in App Store Connect.
Distinguish your own watermark from third-party ones
Removing the watermark your OWN app adds to exports is allowed; offer 'Remove [YourApp] watermark' only. What is NOT allowed is a general tool that strips watermarks from arbitrary/imported images or from other platforms' content. Reframe the feature to only affect your app's own overlay.
Reconsider a pure 'watermark remover' concept
If the entire app is a watermark remover, there is no fix short of repositioning the product (e.g. a legitimate photo editor / object-removal tool that does not advertise or facilitate stripping others' watermarks). Apple states app concepts that are illegal are not allowed, so a rename alone won't save a single-purpose watermark stripper.
Resubmit with a clear reviewer note
In App Review notes, state that the watermark-removal feature and all references have been removed, and that any remaining watermark control applies only to your app's own export overlay.
Prevention
Example Rejection Email
Consider Appealing
Only appeal if you genuinely do NOT strip third-party watermarks — e.g. the reviewer misread a feature that removes only your own app's export watermark, or 'watermark' in your copy refers to your own overlay. In that case, reply factually explaining exactly what the feature does, with a screen recording showing it only affects your app's own mark. If the app does remove watermarks from imported or downloaded third-party content, do NOT appeal — Apple is consistent here and an appeal will fail; remove the feature and its metadata and resubmit. If the entire app concept is a watermark remover, appealing is pointless; the concept itself is disallowed and the product needs repositioning.
Before & After
A video downloader offers a 'Save without watermark' toggle that strips the TikTok watermark from downloaded clips, and the App Store description lists 'Remove watermark' as a headline feature
The watermark-stripping code path is removed, the toggle is gone, and the store listing no longer mentions watermark removal — the app only downloads content the user is authorized to save, with the original marks intact
What changed: Apple flags the feature because it facilitates redistributing third-party content stripped of attribution — removing both the capability and the marketing resolves the Guideline 5 citation.
A photo editor sells a 'Remove Watermark' IAP that erases watermarks from any imported image
The IAP is repurposed to 'Remove [AppName] Export Watermark' and only removes the watermark the app itself adds on export; imported images are never altered to strip existing marks
What changed: Removing your own app's export watermark is permitted; a general tool for stripping others' watermarks is not. Scoping the feature to your own overlay is the compliant path.
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- Guideline 5.1.1 - Data Collection and Storage: Incomplete Privacy Manifest
- Guideline 5.1.1 - Data Collection and Storage: Missing Purpose Strings
- Guideline 5.1.1 - Data Collection and Storage: Privacy Manifest Missing
- Guideline 5.1.1 - Data Collection and Storage: Privacy Nutrition Label Mismatch
- Guideline 5.1.1 - Data Collection and Storage: Privacy Policy
- Guideline 5.1.1 - Privacy: ATT Framework Without Tracking Usage Description