# App Review Guideline 2.3.7 rejection: "Free" and price words

> A single word like "Free" in your subtitle can get an app rejected under Guideline 2.3.7. Which price words count, which look similar but don't, and how to find the hidden ones in every language you sell in.

- Canonical page: https://obelisk.club/blog/app-review-guideline-2-3-7-free-price-words
- Author: Peter Zhang
- Published: 2026-10-30
- Tags: app-review, app-store, guideline-2-3-7, metadata, pricing, rejection, indie

If nothing in the build changed, a **Guideline 2.3.7 (Accurate Metadata)** rejection usually means a price word such as "Free" sits in your app name, subtitle, screenshots or previews, in some language. The fix is to delete the word (not rephrase it) in every localization and say in your reply what you removed. One of our apps was rejected twice in April 2026 over the single word "Free" in its subtitle; deleting that one word was the whole fix.

## What Apple says

The guideline itself is short on examples. The current text of 2.3.7 says not to pack metadata with "pricing information, or other irrelevant phrases just to game the system", and that "Metadata such as app names, subtitles, screenshots, and previews should not include prices, terms, or descriptions that are not specific to the metadata type."

So the strictest places are the **name, subtitle, screenshots and previews**. In our experience "free" counts as price information there, even when it is true. To see which guidelines your own message cites, paste your rejection message into the [App Review rejection decoder](/tools/app-review-rejection-decoder).

## Why it happens

- **It reads as a selling point, not a price.** "Free photo editor" feels like a description. To review, it is a claim about price in a field that is not for price.
- **It hides in other languages.** After those rejections, a slow read of the listing, one language at a time, turned up more 「免费」 that nobody had noticed. Apple enforces 2.3.7 in every language it accepts metadata in, so a clean English listing proves nothing about the Chinese one.
- **Search by eye misses it.** You read your own subtitle as a phrase, not word by word.

## Which words count

These are the patterns worth looking for before you submit, learned from those rejections:

- A currency sign or code with a number: "$0.99", "9.99 USD".
- Discounts and sales: "50% off", "price drop", "on sale", "discounted".
- The word **free** on its own: "free trial", "free version", "free download" all count.
- Chinese: 免费, 折扣, 特价, 优惠, 促销, 降价.

These look similar but describe the app, not its price, so they can stay: "ad-free", "gluten-free", "stress-free", "free-form", and "free storage" or "free space" in the sense of how much room is left.

## How to fix it

1. **Delete the word, do not rephrase it.** "No cost", "0 dollars" or a synonym is the same claim.
2. **Check every localization,** name and subtitle first, then screenshots and previews (text baked into images counts), then promotional text and description.
3. **Say what the app does with the freed space.** A subtitle is 30 characters; a concrete feature is worth more than a price claim anyway.
4. **Resubmit and say what you removed** in your reply, field by field.

If the app has paid features, describe them in the description instead. That has its own rule; see [2.3.2: paid features in the description](/blog/app-review-guideline-2-3-2-paid-features-description).

## FAQ

### Why was my app rejected for the word "Free" in the subtitle?

Guideline 2.3.7 says names, subtitles, screenshots and previews should not include prices, and in our experience "free" counts as price information there even when it is true. Delete the word and resubmit.

### Can I write "no cost" instead of "Free" in my App Store subtitle?

No. A synonym such as "no cost" or "0 dollars" is the same claim about price. Delete the word and use the space for what the app does.

### Is "ad-free" allowed in an App Store subtitle?

Words like "ad-free", "gluten-free", "stress-free" or "free-form" describe the app, not its price, so they can stay. "Free trial", "free version" and "free download" all count as price words.

### Do I need to check other languages after a 2.3.7 rejection?

Yes. Apple enforces 2.3.7 in every language it accepts metadata in, so a clean English listing proves nothing about the Chinese one. Check names and subtitles first, then screenshots and previews, then promotional text and description.

## One-minute check

Paste the name, subtitle, keywords, promotional text and description for each language into our [App Store metadata checker](/tools/app-store-metadata-checker). It runs in your browser and flags the patterns above, plus length limits. Then look at your screenshot captions yourself: text inside images is the one place a paste-in check cannot see.

More release checks for indie developers are on the [toolkit page](/toolkit). Related: [2.3.8, when the store name and the home-screen name differ](/blog/app-review-guideline-2-3-8-app-name-mismatch).

*These notes are from Obelisk Club's own submissions. Apple's wording changes; check the current App Review Guidelines and your own message.*